Cambodian Cooking School: Spring Rolls – Recipe Tuesday

Success! A fresh dish of Spring Rolls

When we visited Siem Reap, Cambodia we knew the second stop after Angkor Wat was going to be the Champey Cooking Class.  Our hotel staff mentioned it was one of the best in the area so we had to see it for ourselves.  We had a great time cooking up some delicious food!

For our Recipe Tuesday post this week, we are sharing one of the favorites from our lesson, Fresh Spring Rolls (Nem Srors).

Veggies fresh picked from the market for our spring rolls

After a quick stop at the market to pick up all of the fresh ingredients we started slicing, dicing, chopping, and rolling until we managed to come up with the dish you see above.  It is an easy recipe and can be modified to include veggies and meats for your own taste.

These will soon be fresh spring rolls!

Spring Rolls

Shrimp 50 g (10-12 small)               Oyster sauce 1 tsp
Chicken broth 1 tsp                          Sugar 1 tsp
Lettuce Leaves 10 pieces                Carrot julienne 10 g (1/2 large carrot)
Khmer (glass) noodles 15 g             Bean sprout 10 g (large handful)
Fried garlic and corn oil 2 tbsp        Cucumber sticks 20 g  (1/2 large)
Rice paper wrapper 3 pieces

1) Lightly fry the shrimp in a hot pan with the oyster sauce, chicken broth, and sugar for about 1 minute.  Set aside to cool slightly.

2) Fill a large, shallow dish with water and soak a rice paper wrapper for just a few seconds until softened.  Carefully place the wrapper on a plate leaving a bit of the rice paper hanging off the edge for easier rolling.

3) Place a lettuce leaf near the edge of the rice paper and add 1/3 of the cut up vegetables, and noodles on top of the lettuce leaf.

4) Fold the lower edge of the wrapper up snug against the ingredients. Roll one full time then fold in the left and right sides of the wrapper and continue rolling.

5) After you finish rolling the spring rolls, drizzle lightly with the fried garlic and corn oil mixture to help prevent the rolls from sticking.  Cut them at a diagonal into two halves.

Serve with peanut dip or sauce of your choosing.

Peanut Dip:

Palm sugar 1 tbsp               Lemon juice 2 tbsp
Hot water 1 tbsp                 Chicken broth 2 tsp
Fish sauce 2 tsp                  Chopped garlic cloves 2
Shallots 5g                           Sweet and sour sauce 1 tbsp
Roasted peanuts 2 tsp

Caramelize the palm sugar, add the hot water and boil.  Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients to taste.

Cheryl and Lisa learning from the Chef at The Champey Cooking Class