Foodbuzz 24 x 24: Spring for Spring Rolls

To celebrate spring, we decided to host a Spring for Spring Rolls Party. We recently started a Facebook page and our readers on Facebook won us a year's supply of olive oil from California Olive Ranch and a new mixer from Viking from a contest so we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to say thank you by inviting 15 of our local Facebook readers to the party, many we have never met, but who were loyal readers. While most people associate spring rolls (or summer rolls) with the typical pork and shrimp filling, we wanted to expand on that and showcase other amazing dishes you can wrap with rice paper which are not called spring rolls but are made exactly the same way.

So we had the nem nuong cuon (grilled pork patty rolls), bo bia (chinese sausage, fried egg, carrots, jicama), and the traditional pork and shrimp spring roll.

We also introduce this plate designed specifically to hold rice paper which many of our readers didn't know about.  It's made of plastic and has perforated bottom and is stackable. This means you can dip multiple rice papers ahead of time and stack them on top of one another and not worrying about them sticking together. With the perforated holes, it drains the water in case you soaked too much water on the rice paper so no more soggy paper. No extra plates need as well.  We love using these and you can find them in your Vietnamese markets sold in sets of about 12 for less than $10.

Just as important as the roll itself, is the quality of the dipping sauces. There are many different dipping sauces you can use for spring rolls--although there are some that are supposed to go with certain rolls but really, it's a matter of personal preference.  We had your traditional nuoc mam cham, a peanut sauce, and a nem nuong cuon (grilled pork patty rolls) sauce similar the the famous Brodards dipping sauce.

Heres some of our readers enjoying themselves! Krissy and Daniel of The Food Addicts (right) not only rolled by helped style some of the photos! Thanks guys!

We also used a table top grill for nem nuong (grilled pork patty)  for some reader interaction. Those sitting in front of it had to grill! : )

For the bo bia (spring rolls with chinese sausage, fried egg, jicama, carrots) we had a platter of ingredients to assemble. At first look at the ingredients you wouldn't think it goes well together, but it does and is delicious!

During the party we brought out a surprise hiding in our oven, a 4 lb whole roasted catfish with scallion oil (ca nuong mo hanh)...it was big hit!  Traditionally this dish is served with 7 courses of fish and wrapped in rice paper with fresh veggies. 

Finally for dessert, we put together a simple dessert called che Thai, basically a Vietnamese fruit cocktail with jackfruit, longon, toddy palm, rambutan, agar jelly, and coconut jelly.  It was a refreshing and delicious way to finish the meal.

Thank you Foodbuzz 24 x 24 (24 meals in 24 hours) for helping make this event possible! Recipes for this feast will be posted at a later date so stay tuned! Also if you haven't joined our Facebook page join now since thats how we notify readers of any future events, get togethers, and workshops!

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