The "Other" Spring Roll

The word "spring roll" is usually accompanied by thoughts of rice paper filled with fresh vegetables, herbs, and some kind of meat. The most typical ones we eat at home are filled with stewed pork or fresh baked fish. It wasn't until recently that my mom started to make Bò Bía, a Vietnamese spring roll filled with scrambled eggs, chinese sausage, and dried shrimp. Sounds weird doesn't it? Sort of like a breakfast spring roll burrito, but not. Well no matter how strange, it was delicious nonetheless, and now me and my sister beg my mom to make it on a regular basis. And I also begged her for this recipe! 

Most spring rolls are known to be delicate in flavor and light/ healthy but these must be the bad sheep in the family because they explode in your mouth with intense flavor from the dried shrimp and dipping sauce. They are also much heavier than their goody-two-shoes cousins, making them more of a full meal rather than an appetizer. In conclusion, I LOVE these things!

Vietnamese Shrimp and Sausage Spring Rolls/ Bò Bía

Yields: enough for 4 - 6 people

Printable Recipe

For the spring rolls:

10 eggs, lightly beaten

1 package of Chinese sausage/ Lap Cheung (8 links), sliced

1 cup of small dried shrimp

1 small onion, thinly sliced

3 carrots, peeled and julienned

2 medium jicama, peeled and julienned

3 tbsn. olive oil

iceberg lettuce

fresh mint

1 package of rice paper, banh trang

For the sauce:

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

10 tbsn. of hoisin sauce

2 tbsn. peanut butter

4 tbsn. water

1/4 cup of roasted peanuts, chopped

In a medium pan, heat 1 tbsn. of olive oil over medium high. Add the jicama and carrots and cook until tender, about 7 - 9 minutes. Move the vegetables onto a large plate. Using the same pan, heat the other tbsn. of olive oil. Next add the onion, cook for about 3 minutes, then add the dried shrimp. Cook together until onion is tender and flavors are melded, about 5 - 8 more minutes. Remove from pan onto the plate. Next, add the sliced sausage and heat through, letting it get a little crispy. No need to add extra oil for the sausage. Remove from pan onto the plate, side by side with the other ingredients, this way you can make easy spring rolls using an assembly line. Next add the last tbsn. and heat through. Cook the eggs, scrambled style, about 3 - 5 minutes. Set on large plate as well. 

To assemble, fill a large bowl with warm water. Take one sheet of rice paper and submerge into the warm water, then shake off any excess water and lay it on a plate. First lay down some lettuce and mint leaves. You do not want to overstuff your spring roll or else it will just rip apart and become very un-fun to eat. Add about 2 tbsn. of the egg, 4 slices of the sausage, 1 tbsn. of the jicama/ carrot slaw, and 1/2 tbsn. of the shrimp mixture. To roll, first bring the top flap over the filling, tuck in the sides, and roll the whole thing forwards, similar to how you would roll a burrito. Repeat until all fillings are used. Watch the video below to see the details!

In a small saucepan, heat the garlic over medium high until slightly browned. Next add the hoisin sauce and the peanut butter. Stir constantly to make sure they become well combined. Next add the water to dilute the sauce a little. Remove from the heat and mix in the peanuts. The recipe for this sauce varies from person to person as preferences are different, so just add less or more of any ingredient to find a combination that suits you well. Once well combined it is ready to eat with your perfectly rolled spring rolls. Enjoy!