Chả Giò

Chả Giò is Vietnam's bite-sized crunchy spring rolls that has a crispy shell with a soft veggie and meat filling dunked in a tangy sauce. These are also called as Nem Rán in the north.

The main structure of a roll of chả giò is commonly seasoned ground meat, mushrooms, and diced vegetables such as carrots, kohlrabi and jicama, rolled up in a sheet of moist rice paper. The roll is then deep fried until the rice paper coat turns crispy and golden brown.

The ingredients, however, are not fixed. The most commonly used meat is pork, but one can also use crab, shrimp, chicken, and sometimes snails (in northern Vietnam), and tofu (for vegetarian chả giò- 'chả giò chay). If diced carrots and jicama are used, the stuffing is a little bit crunchy, matching the crispy fried rice paper, but the juice from these vegetables can cause the rolls to soften after a short time. If the rolls are to be stored for a long time, mashed sweet potato or mung beans may be used instead to keep the rolls crispy. One may also include bean sprouts and rice vermicelli. Eggs and various spices can be added to one's preference. Sometimes, the ingredients can include julienned taro root and carrots if jicama cannot be found. Taro roots give it a fatty and crunchy taste.

It can be eaten by itself, dipped into nước chấm or nước mắm pha (fish sauce mixed with lemon juice or vinegar, water, sugar, garlic and chili pepper), or served with rice vermicelli (in bún chả giò). Usually it is served with a dish of rau sống ( raw vegetable) containing several kinds of vegetable such as lettuce, coriander, etc.