Galettes De Riz/ Rice Wraps Advice

[Lisa16]

Today I tried to make P F Chang's shrimp dumplings using gluten-free ingredientes. I got the filling almost right (I used gluten-free soy and fish sauce instead of the oyster sauce-- easy) but I am a bit puzzled about what to do for the wraps.

I got some galettes de riz from the market-- they are huge rice and tapioca flour spring roll wrappers. They come dried in the bag from Vietnam with no instructions on how to use them. After a bit of experimenting (that resulted in several dead and mangled wrappers) it seems that you have to rehydrate them with hot water and kind of one-at-a-time. But I think I still am doing something wrong.

Then came the fun part. I tried to fry them in sesame oil. Yep. Big mistake. Big mess.

So does anybody know:

A. how best to rehydrate these?

and

B. If there is some secret way to fry them?

Thanks!

[Lisa16]

My post seems to be "stuck" so I am doing a reply in the hopes that it will magically appear now. Where I work there is a vietnamese students' association-- I will ask somebody how these work at first chance.

But if any of you have any advice, it is welcome!

Thanks!

[hayley3]

I have never worked with rice papers. Let us know what you find out.

[gheidie]

I have used rice wrappers, they are a bit fragile, but yes you soak them (I did one at a time also) and then I made spring rolls. I brushed them with olive oil, and laid them on a cookie sheet sprayed with olive oil. Then I baked them until crispy. Much easier than frying and they turned out really good, my son helped me and my whole family would like to have them again!

[VioletBlue]

Yep, I've found frying them to be problematic. I was told to hydrate them by dipping them in hot water with tongs. But then the suckers stick to themselves, and if they start out with a hole in them when they're dried the hole just gets bigger when you hydrate them. And of course the dipping them in water means they spatter like crazy when fried. And if I don't make them small so there's at least two layers of wrap they tend to tear when you try and turn them over in the pan

Somewhere I'm sure there's someone who's expert at working with them. I'm going to try the baking method next and see where that gets me.

Today I tried to make P F Chang's shrimp dumplings using gluten-free ingredientes. I got the filling almost right (I used gluten-free soy and fish sauce instead of the oyster sauce-- easy) but I am a bit puzzled about what to do for the wraps.

I got some galettes de riz from the market-- they are huge rice and tapioca flour spring roll wrappers. They come dried in the bag from Vietnam with no instructions on how to use them. After a bit of experimenting (that resulted in several dead and mangled wrappers) it seems that you have to rehydrate them with hot water and kind of one-at-a-time. But I think I still am doing something wrong.

Then came the fun part. I tried to fry them in sesame oil. Yep. Big mistake. Big mess.

So does anybody know:

A. how best to rehydrate these?

and

B. If there is some secret way to fry them?

Thanks!

[Lisa16]

Here is what I learned about these today from my beautiful and wonderful student. She confirmed their trickiness and she is delighted to know she was helping lots more people than just me!

First of all, they are designed to be doubled up-- this is why it doesn't matter if one has some holes in it from the manufacturing process-- the other one will cover them up/ fill them in.

Secondly, they are designed to stick together. She said do not let them touch unless you intend for them to stick together.

So to use them you take two out of the package and run them under hot tap water together. Do not soak for any length of time them or they will fall apart (as my first ones did). They will still feel very firm, but by the time you get them to the work station and laid out, they will have softened up quite a bit.

You fill them and fold them up-- my guess from what she said is that there are formal styles for this and it is an art. I figure it will take me a few more tries to get them to look pretty. I will probably never get a formal traditional one.

Now you can serve them cold if the filling is already cooked (this, I gather, is their intended purpose)or you can fry them if you need to cook the filling or if the recipe wants it. To do this successfully, you should use vegetable oil. You should fill a frying pan with oil so that when you put your roll/ dumpling/ wonton or whatever in there, the oil covers most of it and it is just the top peeking out. She said you should cook only one or two max at a time.

So there you have it!

I fully intend to master these puppies because I love rolls, dumplings and wontons with a passion that is beyond human.

I hope this helps many many people.

[hayley3]

I never would've figured that out. Thanks! I love wrapped foods too. I would much rather have my food wrapped than in two pieces of bread anyday!

[Wonka]

She described exactly how I made my spring rolls yesterday. I didn't run under water but dipped two briefly in warm water, rolled and let dry a bit then put on a tray with a wrung out wet teatowel over them. I made about 50, cooked up 10 for my family of 5 and froze the rest. Next time we want them should be pretty easy.