Bò bía spring rolls are a popular street food originating from Fujian province in China during the 17th century!
Bò bía is a Vietnamese spring roll filled with fresh herbs, leafy lettuce, carrots, jicama, dried shrimps, eggs and Chinese sausage. It's an adaptation of the Fujianese, "Popiah" which originated in Fujian during the 17th century. The Fujianese used wheat flour sheets to wrap their rolls and when it was introduced to Vietnam; cooks used rice paper because it was what was available. And today, it is a simple but popular street food item! Aside from the Chinese sausage, this roll is very light and full of fresh flavors produced by the veggies and herbs. My daughter will eat 5-6 fully packed rolls in one sitting!
My family is not too keen on dried shrimp, so I leave those out of our rolls. And I've added vermicelli noodles because my family loves carbs! It is not a traditional ingredient in this particular roll. It is entirely optional!
I've also included two types of dipping sauce in this recipe because some of us enjoy dipping in a sweet chili fish sauce and some of us enjoy dipping in a sweet and savory peanut sauce! Use which ever sauce you love! It is completely flexible.
Ingredients
Rolls
4 eggs scrambled + 1/8 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp sugar, dash of black pepper
5 Chinese sausages sliced diagonally
2 carrots julienned
1 jicama julienned
Fresh lettuce, mints, French sorrel, shiso/perilla, basil, Vietnamese Coriander
1 package rice paper
1/2 cup dried shrimp (optional)
1 package thin/fine vermicelli noodles (optional)
Jalapeños/Thai chili (optional)
Peanut Sauce
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
½ cup hot water
½ cup Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce
1 tbsp sugar
Sweet Chili Fish Sauce
6 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lime/lemon juice
4 tbsp fish sauce
½ tsp minced garlic
½ tsp sriracha
½ crush garlic chili paste or fresh Thai chili (optional)
Method
If using dried shrimps. Soak shrimp in warm water for 30-minutes and drain. Set aside.
If using vermicelli noodles. Begin preparing thin rice vermicelli noodles. Add salt and vermicelli to a cooking pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium high when water boils. Stir occasionally. Cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove and rinse under color running water. Portion into individual portions length wise to prevent vermicelli from sticking together. Set aside.
Scramble eggs with salt, pepper, and sugar. Mix well. Heat a pan with cooking oil. Once pan is warmed up, add egg mixture and reduce heat to low. Cover with lid and allow to cook for 5-minutes or until firm. Remove from pan and slice into strips. Set aside.
Place Chinese sausages into a pan or pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes. Sausages will soften beautifully and become juicy! Remove and slice into thin diagonal pieces. Set aside.
Julienne carrots and jicama. Blanch in simmering water for 5-minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely. Set aside.
Soak lettuce and fresh herbs in salt water for 5-minutes. Rinse well and air dry. Set aside.
Time to roll! Dip rice paper in room temperature water and lay onto a plate/cutting board. Add veggies, herbs, vermicelli, eggs, and Chinese sausage to one side of the rice wrap. Begin rolling prepared items to the half way point. Bring the left and right sides to the center about 3/4-inch. Continue to roll forward. All wrapped up!
Dip in sauce of choice and enjoy!
Peanut Sauce Method
Microwave peanut butter for 30-40 seconds.
Add sugar and hot water. Mix till well incorporated. It will look like it’s not mixing well, but keep going! It will come together and become smooth. Keeps in refrigerator up to one week.
Add sweet chili sauce and mix well. Enjoy!
Sweet Chili Fish Sauce Method
Microwave water and sugar for 30-40 seconds.
Add fish sauce, lime juice, minced garlic, sriracha and crush chili or freshly slice Thai chili.
Mix well. Keeps in fridge up to 4-weeks.
