With Chef Lê Kiên of VeJo restaurant

Preparation: 45 minutes

Serves: 4

Vietnamese spring rolls (nem) are an iconic dish that have long been popular throughout the world. Wherever there are Vietnamese, there are likely to be Vietnamese spring rolls. Here Chef Lê Kiên of VeJo restaurant in Hà Nội gives his recipe for some supreme vegetarian rolls.

Ingredients: 

• Dried wood ear mushrooms: 30g
• Dried fragrant mushrooms: 40g
• Carrots: 120g
• Yam beans: 100g
• Bean sprouts: 150g
• Glass noodles: 100g
• Green onions: 80g
• Shallots: 80g
• Cashew nuts: 150g
• Black pepper: 3g
• Vegetarian fish sauce: 10g
• Cooking oil: 2 tbsp
• Rice paper: 30 sheets

Crispy vegetarian spring rolls

Method: 

1. Peel and slice the shallots, slice green onions into 1cm strips and ground the cashew nuts

2. Soak the wood ear, dried fragrant mushrooms and glass noodles before finely chopping them into small pieces. After this, peel yam beans, cut the carrots into ultra thin strip and chop the bean sprouts to a similar small size

3. Heat cooking oil in a frying pan, then add shallots to brown as well add the chopped wood ear and fragrant mushroom. Stir fry to release the flavours

4. Add all the chopped roots and stir fry until they are softer, though still crisp, and the sauce reduced

5. Add the ground cashew nuts

6. On a flat hard surface place a sheet of rice paper, then add a tablespoon of the vegetable filling before rolling into the familiar spring roll shape

7. Heat cooking oil to 180-200 degrees Celsius then fry the spring rolls for about 5 minutes or until a beautiful golden colour

Use the vegetarian fish sauce to make a dipping sauce. Fresh lettuce, coriander, purple basil, marjoram and fresh bean sprouts work as an ideal accompaniment to these crispy vegetarian rolls. VNS