Tam Huu – Three Friends Spring Onion Rolls

Like spring rolls without the rice paper, Tam Huu (Three Friends) is the magic combination of pork and prawn tied together with spring onion. They’re a colourful bite-sized taste of Vietnam and a pinch to make. Complete with an irresistible sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Why We Love This

While you may have come across spring rolls before, first with our Crispy Thai Spring Rolls and then with these Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls, I bet you haven’t come across paperless spring rolls. Instead of rice paper sheets, you use blanched spring onion leaves to tie each ‘roll’ together, creating a very visually pleasing appetiser.

We love the use of fresh ingredients that pack a flavour punch in just one bite, melding with the spice-infused marinade and sweet and sour dipping sauce.

What is Tam Huu? 

Tam Huu (Three Friends) is a type of Vietnamese Spring Roll, it uses a combination of meat and herbs with spring onion to form little rolls that don’t use rice paper.

Discovered in a 300 year old herb village in Hoi An, Vietnam, Tam Huu is a spring roll like no other. Made without a wrapper, it’s bound with a spring onion leaf to show off the beautiful ingredients.

The ‘three friends’ are the three main ingredients, and they’re a match made in heaven: garlicky marinated pork strips, juicy prawns with fresh garden herbs.

Next, the trick to keeping them together is all in the spring onion. Be sure to watch our video for a step-by-step guide on tying them. While making them may look fiddly, it’s an easy technique anyone can master!

• Take up a blanched spring onion leaf
• Pinch some mint and coriander at the base
• Add in a piece of pork and prawn
• Wrap around with the rest of the onion leaf

Too easy! The end result looks so good you’d never think they’d be so easy to make. The final step was to garnish with pretty edible flowers to give them a nice splash of colour. But we think a nice thin slice of fresh chilli or capsicum would do the job perfectly with an added spicy hit. Win win!

What You’ll Need

While the recipe looks like a lot, some ingredients are doubled up as they’re used in both the marinade for the meat and for the sweet and sour dipping sauce. Don’t let this scare you off!

Tumeric

Tumeric is a golden yellow spice that originates from the ginger family. It’s a common ingredient used in Asian recipes, especially in Vietnamese cuisine with dishes like Banh Xeo. The spice is usually used powdered and gives a slightly bitter, peppery taste with a mustard aroma. This is widely available in supermarkets or online.

Curry Powder

There are many styles of curry powder available, ranging from mild to hot in spice level. For this dish, you can use any curry powder you have on hand. The flavour results will only vary slightly, and we’d rather you use what you have rather than go out to buy a slightly different version for just one dish. You should find curry powder at your supermarket, or you can purchase online.

Fish Sauce

Fish sauce is a powerful, intensely flavoured ingredient ready to add a savoury flavour boost to your cooking. While the smell is pungent to say the least, it adds a salty note to the dish, so think of it more like an umami style stock and not fish flavouring!

We usually have Squid Brand or Three Crabs fish sauce in the cupboard. You should be able to find fish sauce in the Asian aisle of your local supermarket, or at an Asian supermarket. Otherwise, it’s also available online.

If you need to substitute, we recommend using soy sauce, which is made from soybeans and wheat. It’s also a great alternative for vegans. 

Rice Vinegar

Like the name implies, this vinegar is made from rice through fermentation. Unlike regular white vinegar, it’s sweeter and less acidic. The varieties found at Asian supermarkets are usually Chinese or Japanese in origin and are fine to use for this recipe, or you can purchase online.

If you can’t find rice vinegar, you can substitute with apple cider vinegar. If you’re in a real pinch, you can use lemon juice or regular vinegar but both will alter the taste slightly.

Lemongrass

A hardy stalk from the grass family, lemongrass is super popular in South East Asian cooking. It has a citrus flavour that’s closer to lemon in aroma.

You’ll find bunches of fresh lemongrass stalks at Asian supermarkets, or we’ve found them dried or in jars at our local supermarket. You can also buy it in paste form or dried online.

An easy substitute for this is lemon rind/zest or lemon juice if you’re in a squeeze.

How to make Tam Huu:

Place the fish sauce, sugar, curry powder, turmeric, shallots, lemongrass and garlic in a bowl and stir well.

Pour half the marinade over the pork and the remaining half over the prawns, mixing through to make sure both are well coated. Allow the pork and prawns to marinate for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil. Blanch the spring onion in the boiling water for a minute or once the leaves turn bright green and soften. Don’t let them overcook or they’ll be too soft and might break apart when you go to wrap your rolls.

Heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the marinated pork and stir fry for around 2 minutes. Remove from the pan, then add the marinated shrimp and continue to stir fry for a few more minutes until cooked through.

To assemble the spring onion rolls:

Peel off one spring onion leaf (1) and grasp at the white end.

Place coriander and mint near the base of the leaf (2).

Add a piece of pork, one shrimp and the peony flower or slice of chilli (3), then wrap up using the rest of the spring onion leaf (4).

Tuck the last section of the spring onion leaf under a previous fold, just like a bandage (5). Done! (6)

To make the sweet and sour sauce:

Place all ingredients for the dipping sauce in a small bowl. Serve immediately.

Wandercook’s Tips

• If you find the spring onions fill up with air when blanched, you can cut off the ends so the air can escape.
• For a nice presentation, place one mint sprig facing up and the other facing down when you assemble your Spring Onion Rolls.
• If you can’t get hold of edible flowers, garnish with a strip of fresh chilli or even capsicum. You can also omit this step altogether.

FAQs

Variations & Substitutes

• Some places in Vietnam add extra fillings such as tofu, egg and vermicelli noodles.
• If spring onion is too tricky, feel free to wrap in a lettuce leaf instead.

More Vietnamese inspiration to get you cookin’ in the kitchen:

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★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating below!

Adapted from Tra Que Water Wheel, Hoi An, Vietnam. Originally published 2015. Refreshed post and simplified recipe and added more variations and substitutions for you guys.