Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls (Cha Gio)

Place the dried glass noodles and dried wood ear mushrooms in a medium bowl. Cover with warm water and soak for 15 minutes until softened. Drain well and squeeze out excess moisture.

Using scissors or a knife, roughly chop the rehydrated noodles and mushrooms into small, manageable pieces, about 2-3 centimeters in length.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground pork, crab meat, chopped noodles, mushrooms, shredded carrot, minced shallot, fish sauce, sugar, black pepper, and beaten egg. Mix thoroughly until the filling is cohesive. Wash hands and sanitize any surfaces that came into contact with the raw pork immediately to prevent cross-contamination.

Fill a shallow dish with warm water. Dip a rice paper wrapper briefly into the water until just moistened but still firm, then lay it flat on a damp kitchen towel. It will continue to soften as it sits.

Place exactly 1.5 tablespoons of the pork and crab filling in a log shape on the lower third of the softened wrapper. Fold the left and right sides tightly over the filling, then roll upwards from the bottom into a tight cylinder. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

In a wok or deep frying pan, heat the neutral oil to 160°C/320°F over medium heat. Check the temperature with a kitchen thermometer.

Carefully lower the spring rolls into the hot oil in batches of 4 or 5, ensuring they do not touch each other as the wet wrappers will stick together. Fry for 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until deeply golden and blistered, and the internal temperature of the pork reaches a safe 74°C/165°F.

Use a spider skimmer to transfer the fried rolls to a wire cooling rack placed over a paper towel-lined baking sheet. Allow them to rest for 5 minutes before serving.