The Best Egg Rolls EVER

If you like egg rolls or cha gio, you are going to love these! Authentic Vietnamese and waaaaay better than any from a restaurant.

This recipe is from my mom. The only adjustment I made was I doubled the quantity of shrimp… because shrimp comes in two pound bags… and what am I going to do with the other one pound of defrosted shrimp? This is not an everyday simple recipe at our house but something more time consuming and special to make for parties and other celebratory occasions. Somehow my husband and I always find ourselves up until 2am frying egg rolls before all our kids’ birthdays.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground pork
• 2 pounds raw shrimp
• 1 pound carrots
• 2 oz bean thread noodles (also known as cellophane or glass noodles)
• 6 pieces dried black mushrooms
• 2 shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 90 egg roll wrappers (Menlo brand is the best!)

Directions:

• Soak your bean thread and dried mushrooms in a bowl of water until soft (about 20 minutes).
• Get your egg roll wrappers out of the freezer (they have to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes)
• Brown your ground pork in a skillet on the stovetop.
• Peel and make sure your shrimp is all deveined… because who wants to eat shrimp intestine?
• Place everything (except the egg and the ground pork) in the food processor and chop everything until its finely chopped then mix the cooked ground pork in.
• Wrap (using one Tbsp of filling per egg roll), sealing the wrappers with the egg, then deep fry until golden brown. At our house we heat the oil and fry up a box of shrimp chips first, then fry the egg rolls next. We also usually make these a day ahead and reheat them on a sheet pan at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes.

This recipe makes 90 egg rolls but if you’re going to take the time to make this, you’ll want to make 90 and share with all your neighbors and friends… who are going to LOVE you. Trust me… there won’t be much leftovers. Enjoy!