Goi guon are better known as Vietnamese shrimp spring rolls. They're filled with cold and cooked rice noodles, herbs, lettuce, pork slices, bean sprouts, and shrimp. Mom had the ingredients organized on the table, ready for wrapping.
In process:
The finished product:
Mom's favorite touch is a stalk of chive wrapped in the roll. Chives found in Asian markets are much more mature and thicker than those found in American stores, so the stalks look almost like scallions. They add a crunchy and mild touch to the roll.
D. gave me an awesome new camera for X'mas and it takes videos, so here's one of Mom wrapping a spring roll. The key to spring rolls are neatness and tightness. The shrimp is laid down first and this is a typical practice. With the shrimp showing through the skins, the roll is identified as goi cuon. If it was grilled pork (nem nuong) or shredded pork (bi), leaving the primary ingredient visible helps "label" it. After the shrimp, the pork is laid down, then the lettuce (Mom used two small leaves in this case), vermicelli, bean sprouts, and herbs. The materials are laid towards the top third of the circular rice paper wrapper. The sides are folded in, a chive stalk placed at the base of the pile of materials, and everything rolled snugly. The roll needs to be tight, but not so tight that the skin breaks. There's nothing worse than a loosely wrapped roll, which falls apart when you bite into it.
Look for these videos to pop up occasionally, as they're part of an archive of my mom's recipes and dishes. No need to turn on the sound, because there's no narration. You might, however, pick up random conversation.
0 bites: