Rating: NNNNN
I wasn’t impressed when I was charged two bucks extra for five measly rice papers at Pho Phuong (see review, this page), but I was very taken with the stackable perforated plastic discs on which they were served.
I’ve always struggled at home when making spring rolls. The instructions on the packages of rice papers I’ve used in the past never seemed to make sense, suggesting the use of a damp hot towel to steam them. No less an authority than Martha Stewart uses a spritzer bottle of warm water to soften the brittle rice wraps, but they still end up attached to your work surface.
I tracked down a package of 10 discs similar to those used at Pho Phuong at Chinatown restaurant supplier Tap Phong Trading (360 Spadina, at Baldwin, 416-977-6364). Ignoring the shrink-wrapped instructions, I used Stewart’s spritzer technique, placing one paper on a disc, spritzing it five or six times, then flipping it and doing the same to the other side. Let them sit 10 minutes or so unstacked, then fill them with just about anything that’s on hand and roll them up for a perfect spring roll.
