Rice papers8/30/2023 If I had my druthers, we'd all be saying bánh tráng. I have a chả giò cookbook from Vietnam and all the wrappers, made with rice or wheat or rice and wheat, are called bánh tráng.įor the rice-based wrappers, I'm sticking with rice paper in English. Those wrappers do not contain egg but in English, I heard Viet-Americans confusingly call that style of chả giò "Vietnamese egg rolls" Chinese egg rolls are made from a super thin pasta-like wrapper made with egg and wheat flour. Some Vietnamese cooks use the Chinese spring roll skins (or lumpia wrappers) to make fried cha gio, which are traditionally made with rice paper. Viet rice paper rolls have somehow become known as spring rolls though they're eaten year round! Many rice paper packages are labeled as "spring roll skin" but know that that's a term that's technically applied to Chinese wheat-based spring rolls that hail from Shanghai Filipino lumpia are made from a similar kind of thin wrapper. See this post on an artisanal maker in Vietnam. And, it's a labor intensive, special skill. We use rice paper too fast to casually whip some up at home. It's the purview of craftspeople and commercial manufacturers. People who've gone to Vietnam and seen rice paper made by hand ask me about how to make it at home. (I avoid the all tapioca ones since they are too thin and tasteless.) All of this explains why tapioca is nowadays listed with rice in most regular kinds rice paper sold. The formulation is up to the maker and consumers choose what they want. There's a nice, slight tang from rice paper that's made with a decent amount of rice. Too much tapioca and the rice paper is super thin and plastic wrap like. Over time, manufacturers have added tapioca to the batter to make the result thinner, easier to soften, and more pliable. Rice paper has changed a lot over the decades and the thick ones made of all rice were frankly, a pain in the butt to soften and use. All of this explains the thinness of rice paper, the woven pattern on each one, and why you can eat rice paper as is! The dried rice paper rounds could be stored and then rehydrated to soften and use. The resulting rice sheets (similar to banh cuon) were dried on woven mats. The batter was steamed on top of fabric stretched over a pot of simmering water into thin rounds. Traditionally, rice paper was made from a batter of slightly fermented rice, water plus salt. I hope this updated rice paper buying guide will help you further explore what's available! Let's start with some basics then we'll go into finding and selecting rice paper. There are many brands as you can see in the photo and many kinds, too! Rice paper, called bánh tráng (say "baan? trahng?") in Vietnamese, is an ingredient that can confuse. My collection has definitely expanded since the 2009 post. For example, you're looking at my rice paper collection gathered from near and far, purchased from regular supermarkets, Asian markets, and vendors in Vietnam. It's been about ten years since I last wrote a rice paper buying guide and lots has changed.
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