Pork Nems

Ingredients

• Cilantro 0 oz
• Pork Blood 30 oz
• Pork fat 5 oz
• Shimeji mushrooms 0 oz
• Dried Chinese mushrooms 5 oz
• Carrot 15 oz
• Rice Noodles 0 oz
• Peanut Sprouts 20 oz
• Onion 5 oz
• Scallions 8 pieces
• Chicken Egg 3 pieces
• Salt to taste
• Rice Paper 30 pieces
• Vegetable Oil 0 qt

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1

Pass the meat and fat through a meat grinder using a medium-sized blade. Alternatively, chop the pork with a knife — not too large and not too fine. The best choice for nems is not from the loin or shoulder, but from the belly.

Step 2

Finely chop the mushrooms and julienne the carrots. Then, for the soybean sprouts: gently crush them a bit before adding to the filling, otherwise their sharp ends will tear the rice paper during frying.

Step 3

Finely chop the onion, and slice the green onion into very thin rings. For the cilantro, only the leaves are needed, and they should also be finely chopped.

Step 4

Soak the glass noodles in warm water (not hot, as they will cook). They should just become soft: if you take them in your hand and they hang down, they are ready to work with. Cut them into pieces about 2-3 cm long using scissors.

Step 5

Add the chopped mushrooms, soybean sprouts, carrots, glass noodles, onion, and herbs to the ground pork. Finally, add an egg to bind all the ingredients together and help shape the mixture into patties. Season the mixture with salt at the end.

Step 6

In warm water, add a little sugar or honey to give the dumplings a nice golden color. Wet your hand in this water, place a sheet of rice paper on the table, and pat it with your wet hand. The paper should be moist but not too wet. One side is smooth, and the other is rough, so first, wet the rough side, then flip it over and wet the smooth side. Next, place the sheet smooth side down and add the filling diagonally at one corner, fold it over once, tuck in the edges, and continue rolling. Don't wrap it too tightly; there should be a little air inside, otherwise, the dumplings will tear in the pan.

Step 7

Fry the nems twice. The first time is to ensure that the raw mixture inside is cooked. For this, the oil temperature should be around 320°F. After the first frying, allow the nems to cool — this should take at least half an hour.

Step 8

The second frying is necessary to make the pancakes crispy. Therefore, a higher temperature is required: 390°F.

Step 9

Serve the nems with a dipping sauce specifically for nems. It's very simple to make. For one liter of drinking water, you need 130 grams of sugar, 20 ml of fish sauce, 30 ml of fruit vinegar, one head of garlic (crushed using a garlic press), and one carrot, which can be cut into petals or flower shapes. As for salt, it's quite amusing: I don't even know what to say about fine salt, it's more convenient with coarse salt: you need exactly 5 grains, or crystals. Mix all of this together and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.