Salt & pepper dishes (also commonly referred to as ‘salt & chilli’ or ‘salt & spicy’) are an increasingly popular choice when it comes to Chinese takeaway food, with many restaurants now offering a wide variety including salt & chilli pizza crunch and even salt & chilli haggis balls.
This simple recipe applies the salt & pepper finish to mini vegetable spring rolls with delicious results. Although standard spring rolls (larger, typically filled with pork, prawns and plentiful amounts of beansprouts) are prepared fresh by your local takeaway, mini spring rolls are a bought-in ingredient used widely by restaurants which makes this dish even easier to create at home. If you can find a Chinese supermarket with a frozen foods aisle, you’ll more than likely come across Tsingtao mini vegetable spring rolls – as well as being delicious, they’re also ridiculously cheap, usually coming in at under £3 for a box of 50.
- 4 tbsps sea salt
- 1 star anise
- 2 tbsps sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsps msg
- 1 tbsp 5-spice
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 9 mini spring rolls (i use Tsingtao brand)
- 1 spring onion finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 1/2 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
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Toast the sea salt with the star anise in a hot wok over medium heat until the salt changes colour, around 10 mins. Set aside to cool completely.
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To the toasted salt, add the sugar, msg, 5-spice, ginger powder, chilli powder, & white pepper. Mix well & transfer to a shaker.
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Deep fry the mini spring rolls until golden, around 5 mins. Drain off any excess oil & set aside.
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Heat a dry wok over a medium heat. Add the chopped spring onion, chilli flakes & garlic paste. Stir – fry for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
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Add the cooked spring rolls & mix well. Season generously with the salt & pepper mix and stir – fry for 1 minute or until well coated. Finish with rice wine, mix once more & serve.
If you like this salt & pepper mini spring roll recipe, you might be interested in buying my book: The Chinese Takeaway Secret
