Po Pia Tod (Fried Spring Rolls)

They can be found at every restaurant serving Asian food across the world and must be one of the most popular snacks they sell but each country has their own variation on the roll. The Thai version varies from the typical Chinese one with the addition of a coriander/white pepper paste and different fillings. This recipe is vegan friendly too and would be a perfect complement to the pad see ew noodles I made a few months back.


For loads of rolls (like 20) use:

• a pack of square spring roll wrappers (freeze what you don’t use)


• half a block of tofu, cut into very small cubes


• half a bag ( two handfuls) of beansprouts


• about 15 dried wood ear (Chinese) mushrooms- re-hydrated in boiling water and then sliced fine (use shitake mushrooms chopped if you can’t get wood ears)


• a small handful of coriander leaves/stalks/roots, roughly torn


• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled


• a teaspoon of white peppercorns


• cup of water (for sealing edges)


• vegetable oil for deep frying

Make a paste of the coriander, garlic and white peppercorns in a pestle and mortar, you should end up with about a tablespoon. Mix this with the tofu cubes and set all the other filling ingredients around you for easy access.

Take a single spring roll sheet and lay it in front of you with a corner pointing towards you (i.e. so it’s a diamond not a square). Lay a thin line of beansprouts across the widest point from left to right, leaving a gap at both points. On top of this put a small sprinkling of mushroom and on top of that a spoonful of tofu cubes. Fold up the bottom point over the filling, fold in the left then right points, roll the whole thing towards the top point and use a drop of water to get the top point to stick. If it’s too full you won’t be able to roll it up and if it’s under-filled it’ll be saggy- it takes a bit of practise to get the right amount of filling!

To cook, heat the oil until medium hot and gently lower the rolls in (don’t do too many at a time). The odd one may burst but don’t worry. Cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Drain on kitchen roll and serve with sweet chilli sauce.


If you want to make your own sweet chilli sauce that tastes way better than the bottled variety here’s the recipe…


(enough for 20 rolls or) use:

• 3 red Thai chillies for a hot version/ 1 red jalapeno for a mild version


• 1 garlic clove, peeled


• a small splash of white wine vinegar


• a big splash of water x2


• a tablespoon of sugar


• a teaspoon of cornflour

In a herb chopper/ small blender, mix the chillies, garlic, vinegar and 1 big splash of water. Heat this mixture (gentle heat) in a small pan for a minute or so until the sugar is all dissolved. In a small bowl mix up the other big splash of water into the cornflour-make sure there’s no lumps. Pour this into the pan and mix gently, it will thicken straight away into chilli sauce.