Vietnamese spring rolls #1

Yield: 80 Servings

Ingredients:

2 oz Bean-thread (cellophane) noo -dles 1 lb. ground por
1 lg Onion; chopped fine
2 tb Tree ears (see cook's notes)
3 Garlic cloves; chopped fine
3 Scallions; chopped fine
7 oz Crab meat; cartilage removed -and meat flaked
1/2 ts Pepper black ground
20 Sheets dried rice paper
4 Eggs; well beaten
2 c Oil

Instructions:

peanut Lettuce; shredded Mint leaves Cilantro Cucumber; sliced Nuoc cham dipping sauce Cook's notes: Tree ears also called cloud ears are dried fungi that look like dried black chips. When soaked in water they expand 5 or 6 times their orginal size. Soak in warm water for 30 minutes; drain and finely chop. Procedure: Soak noodles in warm water for 20 minutes; drain and cut into 1" lengths. Combine noodles with remaining filling ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Cut a round rice-paper sheet into quarters. Place cut paper on a flat surface. With a pastry brush paint beaten eggs over the entire surface of each of the pieces. Before filling wait for the egg mixture to soften the wrappers; this takes about two minutes. When the wrapper looks soft and transparent place about 1 tsp. of filling near the curved side in the shape of a rectangle. Fold the sides over to enclose filling and continue to roll. After filling all the wrappers pour the oil into a large deep frying pan or wok put the rolls into the cold oil turn the heat to moderate and fry 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Presentation: Serve hot. Serve spring rolls on vegetable platterss among lettuce mint leaves cilantro and cucumber slices. Also serve with nuoc cham sauce if desired. Makes 80 spring rolls. Source: Classic Cuisine of Vietnam Cookbook by Bach Ngo and Gloria Zimmerman.