From Chiko Roll to Hanoi

Last week I discovered a vendor doing brisk trade in Haiphong's contribution to the spring roll collection. That if they can be called rolls! Known as nem cua be, they are more parcel than roll, held together with a strip of rattan until they come out of the oil. Apart from the design aspects, this spring roll is unique because into the mix of normal ingredients, crab is added.

While I was getting these crunchy specimens into me, I got to thinking about spring rolls in my life...which is something only a truly food-obsessed nut could think, utter, write! Spring rolls in my life...I mean really!

Anyway...

I remember Chiko rolls growing up in 70s Australia. I'm not sure that I associated them with Asia back then but they were, in hindsight, my introduction to one of the region's most morish snacks, the spring roll. Deep fried in fish and chip shops, these pastry-covered rolls are in fact far removed from their Asian counterparts in almost every respect, except perhaps shape.

Later, in Chinese restaurants, my sisters and I indulged in serves of crisp golden dough-covered spring rolls filled with mostly cabbage, dipped in soy sauce. My dad used to make off-coloured remarks about what else was in them. In the 90s, when the term foodie gained currency in Australia, anyone purporting to be one was stomping up and down Melbourne's 'Little Saigon' in search of the best Vietnamese fried and fresh spring rolls, the latter known as 'summer rolls'.

I was there, too, getting carried away by the ingredients in the Asian grocery stores and the live fish in the fishmongers' windows.

And then I lobbed into spring roll land.

Vietnam.

Upon arrival, in Saigon's Ben Thanh market eight years ago, I gourmandised myself on the fresh spring rolls (goi cuon). In Nha Trang every year since, while on holidays, my default lunch has been nem nuong, a meal requiring a bit of work at the table rolling together many of the country's bounty of special ingredients. This variation on the spring roll theme remains one of my culinary epiphanies.

In Hanoi, the fried spring roll (nem ran) is surprisingly a side player in the city's famed barbeque dish, bun cha. When ordered, the spring rolls are cut into bite size chunks with scissors. Another spring roll of sorts is pho cuon, available at dozens of eateries all packed into the streets of Truc Bach village. Here, quickly stir-fried beef is combined in fresh sheets of rice noodle with fresh coriander and mint.

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The list of rolls, not to mention the variety of accompanying dipping sauces, goes on.

It's quite a collection and I don't intend to stop until I have eaten the full set.

Money Matters

Two serves of nem cua be - 40,000VND (USD$2.10,AUD$2.35)

Nem Vuong Pho Co
58 Dao Duy Tu
Old Quarter
(on the door step of late night bar, 'Half Man Half Noodle')

Comments

[Johanna-maria Wagner]

mmmh you're making my mouth water... i can't wait to travel vietnam, as soon as we're settled here in s'pore, i will be planning my first trip - and obviously follow your recommendations! thanks.

[deb]

I love the spring rolls wrapped in lettuce leaves and also when they are served with a vermicelli salad here in Footscray. But, there is a dodgy cafe near work in the city and I get me a chiko roll from them about 2 or 3 times a year. I blame it on nostalgia (that or gluttony...hard to tell)

[the lacquer spoon]

Sticky, nem cua be is rolled up with rice paper and eaten together with the stuffing, right? It reminds me of a Chinese style deep-fry which my mum would cook when I was little. Sliced beef, shiitake mushroom and spring onion wrapped in glossy inedible paper, that's so fun to uncover the dinky gift one by one. Nem cua be, chiko roll, my mum's recipe, all share "delish" :)

[henno]

Please sir yes! Those crab ones look spectacular - don't they add crab to the cut-up ones they serve with bun cha in HN? It's very hard to find pho cuon down here, only place we've seen them is at the Wrap 'n Roll franchise. A real pity.

[Sticky]

JMWagner - hope you enjoy Hanoi when you come...mind you, S'pore isn't a bad city for food:-)

Deb - yeah those rolls wrapped in lettuce and V/mese mint are the ones I remember fondly from Vic St years ago....Springvale and Footscray, too.

LSpoon - yes, that's right...the deep fried rice paper is one of the highlights, definitely eaten...the parcels your Mum made sound intriguing - what was actually in them?

Henno - yes...some specialize in crab ones in the normal shape, served with the bun cha but these are crazy square ones;-)

[the lacquer spoon]

Well, they're sliced spring onion, sliced shiitake mushroom and sliced tender beef seasoned with soy & oyster sauce wrapped in paraffin paper, and deep fried. I don't know why Mum gave up cooking such a tasty dish, but it's still served in some Chinese restaurants :)

[Cooking Gallery]

Lovely, lovely pictures. I love Vietnamese cuisine and would love to visit this country one day...!

[Lauren aka Ms Baklover]

I recently discovered a take on Vietnamese spring rolls that was new to me - much fatter than the classic cigarillo-shaped versions and wrapped with rice paper rather than wheat spring roll wrappers. The rice paper became very crispy and almost translucent. They were on the menu as "authentic Vietnamese spring rolls"

I do remember that rice paper roll obsession that hit Melbourne in the 90s! I remember many a family party with a platter of goi cuon bought from the Noodle Box on Bridge Rd. Now I make them myself, although not as often as I would like.

[UGG Classic Upside]

Yes. never put off till tomorrow what you can do today
I believe you will do it.Throw BOTH these assholes out of court and out of town. Find another city to mooch off.