6 oz. ground pork
2 oz. shrimp, minced
1 oz. crab meat, coarsely chopped, optional
some shredded carrots
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
3 dashes ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fish sauce
salt to taste
1 small egg, lightly beaten (use only half)
Vietnamese rice paper
oil, for deep frying
Chop the soaked mung bean noodles into shorter threads. In a bowl, mix the ingredients together (except Vietnamese rice paper) to form a sticky filling. To roll the Vietnamese spring rolls (cha gio), place a piece of the rice paper on a clean, wet kitchen towel. Dip your fingers in a bowl of warm water and run them all over the entire rice paper to soften it. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling on the moist rice paper, fold the rice paper over the filling, tuck in the sides, then roll to form a cyclinder about 3 inches long. Heat oil over medium heat in a wok or a large frying pan. When the oil is heated, gently put in a few rolls in the oil. Fry them slowly until they turn light brown. Dish out and drain the excess oil by lining them over some paper towels. Serve immediately with nuoc cham or roll it up with a fresh lettuce leaf and some aromatic herbs and then dip into the nuco cham.