Baked spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce

January 13, 2022

   

On my most recent weekday off, I decided to make lunch my primary project and picked out Hetty McKinnon's baked spring rolls from her recent Chinese Takeaway series on ABC Everyday. This is a clever technique that I've used before - by turning your oven way up, and brushing or spraying your spring rolls with oil, it's possible to make golden, crunchy spring rolls without the hassle of deep-frying. (Grilling leftover spring rolls also helps bring back the crunch they lose in the fridge.)

McKinnon's spring rolls are stuffed with mung bean vermicelli, carrot, celery, water chestnuts and spring onion. I loved the distinct crunchiness of the water chestnuts and will use them again; celery, I'm less fond of. I gather that shiitake mushrooms are another common filling for Cantonese spring rolls, and I'll be keen to reduce the vermicelli volume a little and get some mushrooms into the mix.

To round this out for lunch, I served the spring rolls with lettuce leaves. It really freshened up the meal on a hot day, but I suspect it's more of a Vietnamese technique and doesn't match the origins of this recipe.

The other fun thing going on with McKinnon's recipe is making your own sweet chilli sauce! It's easy to make within the time the rolls take to bake, and a bit livelier than the years-old bottle in my fridge. That said, there's no harm it falling back on whatever bottled sauce you have on hand: soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sweet chilli sauce, plum sauce, and Chinkiang vinegar are all common and delicious. 

   

Baked spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce

(slightly adapted from a recipe by Hetty McKinnon, 

published on ABC Everyday)

spring rolls

80g mung bean vermicelli (also called glass noodles)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 clove garlic, minced

100g carrot (1 medium for me), peeled and finely diced

70g (1 stick) celery, finely diced

80g canned water chestnuts, finely diced

1 spring onion, finely sliced

1 teaspoon tamari

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

250g packet 20cm x 20cm spring roll pastry sheets, defrosted

spray oil

sweet chilli sauce

1/4 cup caster sugar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon cornflour

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon salt

Place the vermicelli in a heatproof bowl, pour boiling water over them, and allow them to soak and soften for 5 minutes. Drain them and use kitchen scissors or a knife to roughly chop them into shorter lengths.

Set a frypan over medium heat. Pour in the sesame oil, then add the garlic, carrot and celery and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the vermicelli, water chestnuts, spring onion, tamari, salt and pepper. Mix everything together well, and after a minute or so in the pan, turn off the heat and allow the filling to cool for at least 10 minutes (and even overnight in the fridge).

Preheat an oven to 230°C. Get your rolling stuff set up at a table, with a chopping board in front of you, the vermicelli mixture close to hand with a spoon in it, spray oil accessible, and two greased baking trays ready for rolls. Take the spring roll pastry sheets out of their plastic and wrap them in a damp towel.

Peel off one spring roll sheet and place it in a diamond shape on the chopping board. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling about 5 cm away from the corner closest to you. Roll the corner over the filling to enclose it, then fold in the two long, adjoining sides. Roll the parcel just a little more away from you to secure the filling, then spray the remaining pastry strip with oil before completing the roll. Place the roll on a baking tray and repeat with the remaining filling and pastry.

Spray all of the rolls with oil, and bake them for 15 minutes. Flip each roll over and bake for a further 10-12 minutes, until they're golden and crispy. 

While the spring rolls are baking, place all of the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Stir them until well combined, and cook until just thickened.

Serve the spring rolls as soon as they're baked, with little dipping bowls of sauce on the side.