The Art of making Spring Rolls

 It all begins in an outdoor kitchen five steps below the street behind a retaining wall. A young woman sets charcoal and small twigs in a small round brazier, lights it up, fans the flames, then puts a griddle on the top.

Later a very talented young man sits on a 8 inch high step stool next to the griddle and folds a very thin dough in his hand. A large round plastic bowl is full of this goopy dough resting on the ground next to him. He has a spatula in one hand and the dough being swirled and tossed just a little so it never spreads down his fingers. It was boggling my brain to watch him do two separate things with both hands.

Making the Wrappers

He would roll the ball around the griddle leaving a thin layer of dough

Then he would pick up his hand and start rolling the dough around with his wrist

With the spatula in his left hand, he would smooth the dough down, then scrap around the bottom

Then lift it and put it on the floured tray next to him.

All the while rolling the dough in his right hand

Making up the Spring Rolls

The filling had already been made up in advance and was taken out of the refrigerator.

Filling, water, and a stack of wrappers (freshly made!)

First lay out the wrapper rough side up

Spread a teaspoon of filling about and inch and a half from the bottom

Roll up and tuck the bottom tight with the filling

Fold both sides over and moisten with water at the top. Roll

I filled about three quarters of this bowl with spring rolls before I left

Of course, I had to buy some samosas and spring rolls when I left - they are so yummy when fried up and served with sweet chili sauce.