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Ngoc-Phuong Nguyen and Hanh Phan's Cha Gio Tom (Shrimp Egg Rolls)
- Vivian Anderson
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
May has officially arrived in Seattle—many in our communities are graduating or tearfully watching their loved ones do so while the long-awaited Seattle summer sits on the horizon. For our more seafaring friends, however, May is known as the breakout month of the boating season! Across our wonderful water-filled state, events like the University of Washington’s historic Windermere Cup, countless boat shows, and Ski to Sea race will take place this month to commemorate a return to the water. Taking a historic perspective, boating emerges as a Seattle tradition which predates Seattle itself, its regional origins in the long-standing practices of Indigenous peoples across Washington.
A much later moment in history that comes to mind in this discussion of boating are the “boat people” of Vietnam, a term used primarily to refer to the nearly two million refugees and asylum seekers who fled Vietnam by boats after the fall of Saigon in 1975. A large wave of these refugees settled in Seattle, many choosing Rainier Valley for the cheap housing and empty retail space available at that time. Hanh Phan, a Seattle resident who belonged to this wave of refugees, describes how when the communists took over South Vietnam “many people were scared. They had to run and run.” A fellow Seattle resident who was part of this wave and studied English with Hanh at the Central District’s Refugee Women’s Alliance Ngoc-Phuong Nguyen echoes this sentiment, recalling “many people were hungry, dying. They wanted to come to America. They dreamed about freedom. Many died in the ocean, trying to escape.”
Today, King County has the sixth highest population of Vietnamese immigrants per county in the country, and many of the Southeast Asian businesses established during this first wave can still be seen today along Martin Luther King Jr. Way S and Rainier Avenue.
Though brought here by harrowing circumstances, the “boat people” of Seattle have formed a rich Vietnamese Community that adds to the incredible diversity of our city. Like the Italian immigrants of Garlic Gulch that came before them, Vietnamese refugees brought many delicious recipes with them to the streets of Seattle, whether being cooked in their homes or in now iconic restaurants like Phở Bắc in Little Saigon. Below is a recipe provided by Ngoc-Phuong Nguyen and Hanh Phan for Cha Gio Tom, a delicious traditional Vietnamese crispy egg roll filled with vegetables and shrimp, deep fried, and served with lettuce, mint, and cilantro. This dish isn’t a particularly difficult one, but it does make sixty egg rolls, so you might want to invite some friends over to share!
CHA GIO TOM (Shrimp egg rolls from South Vietnam)
Ngoc-Phuong Nguyen and Hanh Phan
Basic ingredients from your pantry:
Black pepper
MSG
Sugar
To buy:
One bunch of green onions
1 large red onion
One bunch of mint
4 lbs. jumbo shrimp or big tiger shrimp
2 lbs. carrots
6 eggs
2 heads of lettuce
60 spring roll wrappers
1 garlic bulb
Lettuce, mint, and cilantro for serving
Peel and wash the shrimp and mash it. Cut the red and green onions. Put them together and add your basic ingredients. Mix it really well.
Take the spring roll wrapper and place it on the plate. Put the mixture on the roll and roll it.
Heat enough oil to fully cover the egg rolls. Add the egg rolls to the hot oil and cook with medium heat until the egg rolls turn dark yellow.
Take them out and put them on a plate covered with paper towels, for the oil to dry. Serve the egg rolls with lettuce, mint, and cilantro!
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