Rosa’s Thai Cafe spring roll off

To celebrate the 11th birthday of Rosa’s Thai Cafe this year, the team have decided to go back to the early days and give kudos to one of their original dishes, the humble spring roll. This simple and classic dish is as popular now as it was when the first Rosa’s Thai Cafe opened in East London back in 2008. From day one, Rosa’s have been making mouth-watering spring rolls based on one of the co-founder’s family recipes.

To enhance the birthday celebrations we asked the loyal customers of Rosa’s Thai Cafe to submit their own unique spring roll recipes for a chance to win the trip of a lifetime to Thailand. The 11 short-listed recipes were invited along to Rosa’s to cook off, or rather ‘spring roll off’, in front of Chef Saiphin and foodie judges in London last weekend (September 14, 2019). The spring roll champion was Lewis Twydle with his creation, ‘Richie Rich short rib spring rolls’.

Congratulations to Lewis who won the grand prize of a trip for two to Thailand along with five nights accommodation and a Bangkok street food tour. Check out Lewis’s recipe below.

Richie Rich short rib spring rolls

Ingredients

• 1 x Jacob’s ladder short rib of beef
• 1 x pack spring roll wrappers
• 3 x tsp truffle paste
• 500g mixed dried mushrooms
• 100g dried shiitake mushrooms
• 100g fresh enoki mushrooms
• 4 x star anise
• 1 x bunch coriander
• 2 x limes
• 100g beansprouts
• 1 x red chilli
• 1 x carrot
• 1 x bunch spring onions
• Soy sauce
• Fish sauce
• Tonkatsu sauce
• Sake
• Rice wine vinegar
• Mirin
• 2 cloves garlic
• 50g fresh root ginger
• 25g pink peppercorns
• 25g ground coriander
• 25g ground ginger
• 2 x sticks lemongrass
• Yuzu juice
• Sesame oil
• Chilli sauce
• 2 x eggs
• Vegetable oil

Method

• Firstly, make the marinade for the beef with the soy sauce, fish sauce, sake, rice wine vinegar and mirin. Toast off all the spices and add these to the marinade including the grated ginger and garlic. Leave in the fridge overnight or if using the same day, for an hour.
• Soak mixed wild mushrooms in boiling water so there is double amount of water to mushrooms, cover and leave for 15 minutes to rehydrate. Strain off and pour the mushroom umami liquid over the beef (including the marinade) into a pan, bring up to the boil, cover and place in the oven at 150C. Cook until meat is falling away from the bone (approximately 3-4 hours).
• To make the dipping sauce, combine yuzu juice, chilli sauce and sesame oil to taste.
• Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in boiling water until just covered. Finely chop the very centre of the lemongrass, chilli and fry off in sesame oil until cooked but not coloured. Remove from pan and quickly fry off the enoki mushrooms and season all.
• Finely julienne the spring onions, carrot and add to the beansprouts, chilli, lemongrass and mushroom mix. Finely slice the dried shiitake mushrooms and mix altogether.
• Remove beef from oven (if cooked) and pick down meat, reduce cooking liquid and skim any fat from the surface. Finish with finely chopped coriander, lime juice and zest, truffle paste and seasoning. Add to rest of ingredients and it is ready to be made into spring rolls.
• Depending on the size of your rolls, trim down the paper or keep as it is. Place some of your mix 5 cm from the edge of the pastry in the centre, separate egg and brush egg yolk around the edges. Roll up moving away from you and fold in the sides at the same time.

The entries for Rosa’s spring roll off were so good we wanted to share the runners-up recipes with you too. Click here to find out more.

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