Chả Giò Chay (Vietnamese Vegetarian Spring Rolls)

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These Chả Giò Chay or Vietnamese Vegetarian Spring Rolls are cooked to a golden brown crisp and enjoyed with a vegan ‘fish’ sauce for dipping.

You can also enjoy these by wrapping them in large pieces of lettuce along with some rice noodles, fresh herbs, and pickled radish and carrots (Đồ Chua), which is how they’re commonly enjoyed.

WHAT ARE CHA GIO CHAY OR VIETNAMESE VEGETARIAN SPRING ROLLS?

Cha Gio Chay are Vietnamese Fried Vegetarian Spring Rolls. ‘Chay’ in Vietnamese translates to Vegetarian. Though of course this version is vegan and the rolls are filled with a mix of wood ear and fresh mushrooms, vermicelli noodles, tofu, and carrots before being rolled in flour spring rolls wrappers.

This spring roll recipe is also of course vegan but chay directly translates to vegetarian in Vietnamese.

For this recipe, you can cook these vegetarian spring rolls in 2 ways:

Deep fry the rolls in oil for the perfectly golden brown and crisp outside (my preferred way of cooking!)
Bake the rolls in the oven for a lesser-oil alternative (still really crispy!)

THE INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED

For the filling:

Dried wood ear mushrooms
Dried mung bean vermicelli noodles
Extra firm tofu, mashed
Shiitake or other fresh mushrooms of choice
Oil, for cooking
Onion, diced
Carrot shredded
Salt, or to taste
Sugar
Soy sauce
Dark soy sauce, to colour (optional)
White pepper
Corn starch

THE FILLING

Wood Ear Fungus

TO PREPARE THESE:

Simply rehydrate these by soaking them in boiling hot water for 10-15 minutes or until completely rehydrated and tripled in size. Once rehydrated, slice into thin strips.

VERMICELLI NOODLES

I used mung bean vermicelli noodles for this recipe. You can also use rice vermicelli if you’d like but I find that starch-based noodles are a lot chewier.

TO PREPARE THE NOODLES

Pour in boiling hot water in a bowl with the dry noodles and leave the noodles to sit for 10-15 minutes or until chewy and cooked to your liking.

Drain the noodles from the water and run through cold water to stop the cooking.

Once they’re chewy to your liking, chop them up. I used a pair of scissors to cut the noodles into 1″ long pieces.

COOKING THE FILLING

Mash the tofu in a bowl then set aside. You can press the tofu beforehand but it’s not necessary since the water will evaporate during cooking. Set aside.
For the fresh mushrooms, mince or slice them into very small pieces.

Heat a large pan or wok over medium high heat. Once hot, add in the oil.
Sauté the onion until translucent, around 1-2 minutes.

Add in the carrot and cook for 1-2 minutes before adding in the crumbled tofu.
Mash the tofu if there are some big chunks. Leave everything to cook for 3-4 minutes over medium heat. This will allow some water from the tofu to evaporate.

Season the filling with salt, sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce (if using) and pepper, to taste. Mix everything together.

Add in the cornstarch to the mixture. Mix well until the filling starts to thicken. The corn starch will help bind everything together and it’ll thicken from the moisture of the tofu and carrot.
Taste the filling and feel free to season more, if needed.
Turn off the heat and transfer to a bowl to cool before wrapping into rolls.

MAKING THE FILLING IN ADVANCE

You can also opt to prepare the filling in advance and just store it in the refrigerator until ready to use. I made mine 2 days in advance.

WRAPPERS

For the spring roll wrappers, make sure they have been thawed and are at room temperature. This way it will be easier to separate them—they’ll be pliable and won’t break apart easily.

WRAPPING THESE VIETNAMESE VEGETARIAN SPRING ROLLS

Before you start, prepare a bowl with water to use to seal the edges of the wrapper.
Add around 2-3 tbsp of filling on a wrapper. This may depend on the side of your wrapper. Compress the filling and try to squeeze out any air pockets.
You can watch the video below or see the photos above for a complete step-by-step on how to wrap the spring rolls.

Shape the filling and pack it as tight as you can to get rid of any air bubbles

Fold the left and right sides towards the centre.

Fold the roll towards the top edge.

Dab some water on the top edge to help seal the roll

And it’s done. There you have your vietnamese spring rolls or cha gio that’s ready to be fried.

Repeat these steps for the rest of the rolls!

COOKING THE SPRING ROLLS

You can either bake or fry these. Though I really recommend deep frying these for the crispiest rolls!

BAKING THE ROLLS

To bake the spring rolls, preheat your oven or oven toaster to 380F/200C.
Place the rolls on a lined baking tray. I used parchment paper on mine. Brush some oil on both sides of the rolls.
Leave to bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly golden brown and crisp, flip halfway through cooking if needed. Note that these rolls won’t turn as evenly golden brown and crisp as those cooked in the oil but still crispy!

Important to note for frying:

Make sure the oil is very hot before you add in the rolls.
Do not turn off the heat until you have removed al the cooked rolls from the oil.

FRYING THE ROLLS

Add enough oil to submerge at least half of a spring roll.
Once the oil has small bubbles and is very hot, lower the heat to medium high. Carefully add in a few rolls (depending on the size of your pan). The spring rolls should immediately sizzle.