No two spring rolls are alike but what sets a good spring roll apart from a great one is that it must taste delicious on its own, even without dipping sauce. These fried spring rolls are spectacular with or without sauce, and good luck eating just one. (I like one or ten of these with sweet chile sauce, for what it’s worth.)
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces glass noodles
- 6 dried wood ear mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil, plus more for shallow-frying
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon minced cilantro stems
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 4 ounces ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 ounces mung bean sprouts
- 20-30 spring roll wrappers
- 3/4 cup sweet chile sauce, for serving
- Soak the glass noodles in a bowl of warm water and soak for about 20 minutes, until pliable. Drain and cut into 4-inch lengths with kitchen scissors. Set aside.
- Soak the dried wood ear mushrooms in a bowl of hot water for about 20 minutes. Rinse, drain, and squeeze dry. Slice the mushrooms into 1/4-inch wide strips, discarding any hard, knobby ends. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, cilantro stems, and pepper, and fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the chicken, mushrooms, fish sauce, and oyster sauce, and saute, breaking up the chicken with a wooden cooking spoon, for about 3 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Add the bean sprouts, glass noodles and water and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute, until the noodles are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove the pan from heat and allow the filling to cool completely.
- To assemble the spring rolls, take 1 spring roll wrapper and lay it on the work surface with one corner pointing toward you. Place 2 tablespoons filling along base of wrapper. Fold bottom over filling, then fold in left and right sides. Tightly roll up to completely enclose filling.
- Heat oil (enough to be 1-inch deep) in a frying pan to medium-high. Shallow-fry spring rolls, a few at a time, and cook, turning carefully occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels and serve with chile sauce.