Square Spring Roll (Ram Goi)

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Title: Square Spring Roll (Ram Goi)
Categories: Vietnamese, Appetizers, Ceideburg 2
Yield: 2 servings

1/2 lb Raw shrimp, shelled and
-deveined
Black pepper
1/2 ts Granulated sugar
2 Scallions, both white and
-green parts
1/2 lb Pork butt
1 ts Fish sauce (nuoc mam)
1 Clove garlic
1 tb Vegetable oil
10 Dried rice papers (banh
-trang)

For dieters or the cholesterol conscious++an oven baked version of
spring rolls. In Vietnam these are often baked over charcoal. Cut
the shrimp into small pieces and sprinkle with the black pepper and
the sugar. Slice the scallions crosswise into very thin slices. Slice
the pork into thin pieces, 3 x 2 x 1/8 inch.

Combine half the slice scallion with the shrimp and meat, the fish
sauce and a dash of black pepper.

Chop the garlic fine; place on a platter near the stove, along with
the remaining scallions.

Heat the oil and fry the garlic and remaining scallion briefly until
they brown slightly. Add the pork-shrimp mixture and keep stirring
over high heat until cooked, about 5 minutes.

Cut or break the 10 rice papers into quarters. Place the cut rice
papers on a flat surface. Using a pastry brush, or your fingers,
paint water over the entire surface of each of the pieces; this is to
make the brittle papers become soft and flexible. Try working an
about 10 quarters at a time. This will help you work faster. While
some of the wrappers become pliable, you can be filling the others.

Place 2 pieces of shrimp and 2 small pieces of pork on the pointed
end of a paper, arranging the filling in a square shape. Bend the
pointed end over the filling and roll twice, then fold the sides over
and continue to roll into a 2-inch-long cylinder about 1 inch thick.
Place on a tray, with the open end on the underside to prevent
unrolling, while you fill the remaining rolls. Place the rolls in
the oven, directly on the oven rack, without preheating. (They can
be crowded together while baking so that you can get many onto 1
rack.) Again, be certain to place them open end down; turn the oven
to 350 degrees and bake them for about 40 minutes, 20 minutes on each
side.

NOTE: These can be filled several hours before cooking, covered with
a plastic wrap, and refrigerated. Or they can be baked and then kept
at room temperature for several hours. They never lose their
crispness. Use bamboo chopsticks or tongs for turning the rolls.

From "The Classic Cuisine of Vietnam", Bach Ngo and Gloria Zimmerman,
Barron's, 1979.

Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; April 14 1991.

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