Spring Rollસ્પ્રિંગ રોલ
Crisp fried rolls stuffed with shredded vegetables and noodles. Ready-made spring roll sheets cut the work in half, and they are sold in most supermarkets now.
Ingredients
Tap an ingredient to tick it off while you shop or measure.
- 10 spring roll sheets
- 2 cups shredded cabbage, carrot, capsicum, spring onion
- ½ cup boiled noodles (optional)
- 5 garlic cloves and ginger
- 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp vinegar, salt, pepper
- 2 tbsp flour mixed with water, to seal
- Oil for deep frying
Method
- Fry the garlic and ginger, then toss the vegetables on high for 2-3 minutes; keep them crunchy.
- Season with soy, vinegar, salt and pepper, fold in the noodles and let it cool completely.
- Place filling on a sheet, fold in the sides, roll up and seal the edge with the flour paste.
- Fry in medium-hot oil until golden and crisp.
- Slice and serve hot with chilli sauce.
Tips
- A wet filling splits the rolls, so let the moisture cook off.
- Chilling the rolls for 10 minutes before frying helps them hold their shape.
Storing and reheating
Rolled uncooked spring rolls freeze for a month. Separate them with butter paper or they stick together, and fry them straight from frozen rather than thawing, which wets the sheets and tears them. Fried rolls start going soft within twenty-five minutes. To crisp them again, give them five minutes at 180C in an oven or air fryer.
What you can swap
- No spring roll sheets? Use samosa patti, or thin maida rotis cooked dry on a tawa. Rotis give thicker, less crisp rolls.
- Without soy sauce, use half a teaspoon of dark soy with a little salt, or skip it and increase the pepper and vinegar. The filling looks paler but tastes right.
- Use a cornflour and water paste to seal instead of flour paste. It holds better and the edge does not open in the oil.
- No spring onion? Slice a regular onion thin and toss it in for the last thirty seconds only, so it keeps some crunch.
What to serve with it
These are the first thing out at a home party, or an evening snack, with chilli-garlic sauce, schezwan chutney or plain ketchup. In India they have become part of the Indo-Chinese repertoire, as common on a street cart as in a home kitchen.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not cut the vegetables into squares. Shred everything long and thin. Square pieces poke out inside the roll and tear the sheet at the fold.
- Do not roll too loose or too tight. Loose rolls let oil in; tight ones split while frying. Wrap the sheet snugly around the filling and no more.
- Do not leave the ends open. Fold both sides in before rolling, or oil gets inside and the filling turns greasy.
- Do not fry on low heat. Medium to high is right. On low heat the sheet absorbs oil and the rolls come out heavy and slick.
Questions people ask
The frozen sheets tear when I separate them. What should I do?
Take the packet out of the freezer and leave it unopened for fifteen to twenty minutes. Then lift the whole stack from one corner rather than pulling off individual sheets. Keep the separated ones under a damp cloth, because left in the open air they dry and start splitting at the edges within five minutes.
How do I keep them crisp for a party?
Roll them all ahead, keep them in the fridge, and fry only once people have arrived. Drain the fried rolls in a single layer on a rack rather than piling them on a plate, where the ones underneath steam and soften. Do not cover them.
Can spring rolls be made in an air fryer?
Yes. Brush them with oil all over and cook at 180C for twelve to fifteen minutes, turning once. The sheet crisps but you will not get the blistered surface or the deep golden colour of frying. Do not skip the oil, or the sheet ends up dry and papery.
