When I serve a “roll your own” rice paper meal, one of the biggest pains in the butt is the water bowl used for softening the papers. This type of semi-DIY meal involves a lot of stuff on the table — platters of lettuce, fresh herb sprigs, bun rice noodles, grilled meats, seafood, or tofu. Little bowls of dipping sauce too. The requisite large vessels of warm or hot water used for softening the banh trang rice paper take up a lot of prime real estate. They have to be wide enough to make dipping easy. Plus, if the water cools too much, you have to replenish it in the middle of the meal.
Enter Mr. Spring Roll, a new gadget from Vietnam. I have Tuyet Nguyen to thank for the tip. She wrote me about it, asking if I’d seen or used it. No I had not but I wasn’t looking for Mr. Spring Roll either. Then I spied it at one of my favorite Viet markets in San Jose, Thien Thanh. It sold for about $7 and the cashier said that it was a new and popular item.
I was skeptical at first because it seemed flimsy. The packaging and plastic didn’t instill confidence. The fact that the Vietnamese “To Nhung Banh Trang” (bowl for dipping rice paper) looms largest means that it’s geared for the solid Vietnamese market, not for outsiders. The distributor’s name is Evershing Trading Incorporated (maybe that’s suppose to be Everything Trading Inc.?) However, Mr. Spring Roll does have a website and Facebook page – he’s marketing savvy.
Last night, my husband and I took a Mr. Spring Roll for a spin. I’d cooked some marinated sliced pork on our cast iron stovetop grill for our rolls. (See the grilled garlicky five-spice pork steak, page 143, in Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, or the grilled lemongrass pork recipe on this site.) What we discovered when using Mr. Spring Roll rice paper dipping bowl:
Small footprint: It’s slim so the table is not overly crowded with stuff. Huge plus.
Rice paper caddy: I slid the rice paper right in the back for easy access, thereby saving more table space. There’s a plastic bar to ensure that the papers stay in place; the foot of the bowl supports too. Despite Mr. Spring Roll’s packaging photo, I kept the rice papers in their plastic packaging to avoid getting the papers wet. A good 1/4-inch stack of papers fit in the caddy.
Rotating action: I usually quickly rotate my rice paper in the water to moisten it. My husband prefers to dip and pull the paper through several times. With Mr. Spring Roll, you dunk the rice paper into the water and rotate it around with your hands.
That movement is the traditional Viet approach to moistening rice paper without over saturating it. Rotate for too long and your banh trang rice paper goes limp like a wet rag and becomes unwieldy. By design, Mr. Spring Roll converted my husband to my technique. Hurray.
Water kept its temperature: The narrow opening means that heat escapes slowly. The result? The water maintained its dipping temperature for a good 45 minutes. Love that.
Is Mr. Spring Roll a winner? Yes. I’m going to buy one for my mom one, a diehard banh trang user. If you’re in that camp, get Mr. Spring Roll. Otherwise, stick with a regular bowl or even a shallow, wide skillet. I don’t encourage you to buy something that you don’t really need.
How to buy Mr. Spring Roll? Venture to a Vietnamese market and check the kitchen equipment or house ware section. Or try ShoptheEast.com, which seems a little goofy but that’s where Mr. Spring Roll directs people. I think these are Viet businesses that are all trying hard to make it. Support them, if possible.
If you’ve experienced Mr. Spring Roll, what are your opinions? Or, what do you use to dip rice paper?
Related posts:
- Vietnamese rice paper buying tips
- How rice paper is made
- How to wrap rice paper rolls
- Mama Says: For neat rice paper rolls, use chopsticks (video tip)
- Vietnamese Noodles 101: Bun rice noodles
This is brilliant! I WANT ONE! I think I will buy one when I visit my parents in San Jose.
Cool! I could have used this yesterday.
Mr. Spring Roll kinda rocks if rice paper rocks your world!
I just got one of these recently after spying it at a couple Vietnamese restaurants in our area (in Virginia). We’re going to try it this weekend! It’s such a great space saver.
Troi oi! <3 it.
How clever! I will look for one in Denver’s Vietnamese markets.
Speaking of banh trang, I am wondering if you have found a U.S. source for banh trang re?
Thanks!
Kitt
Love this!!
I bought a whole case 12 for gifts to friends and family & a few for myself when we have spring roll parties!
Saw banh trang re in NYC’s Chinatown. Scroll down to see the photo:
http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2009/11/tiny-little-saigon-in-new-york.html
A major troi oi/OMG — like it had to come from the Motherland.
You must have become a rock star to your friends and family for gifting them Mr. Spring Roll.
Wow, I definitely will get one next time I am in the States!! Thanks for the info.
What an amazing gadget! Thanks for sharing . But wonder if there is any on sale in Australia yet ?!
This has to be one of the coolest gadgets I’ve seen in a very long time. Looking forward to finding it soon and will get it for myself and several friends!
Hi Andrea, Is this the same rice paper used to make the Vietnamese Spring Rolls? I was told it was really easy to moisten the rice paper. However, I’m quite interested in purchasing Mr. Spring Roll.
Btw, I took your tofu cooking class at Draegers recently. I just want to say thank you. You did a great job teaching the class. =)
I use a thick clay pie pan that retains heat pretty well, but as you said, it takes up too much table space. I am going to keep my eyes peeled for this!
Love one but the price is way higher than $7 – $9.95 + $15 postage. And no stores around here unfortunately.
Hi Andrea,
I’m so glad to see this post! I think when I last emailed you, it was sold out in stores (for me, at least). I now have one and love it!
Mr. Spring Roll kinda rocks if rice paper rocks your world!
I’ll get one and save it for you, Yun Ho! Hey, this is a reason for you to come to my house to cook Korean food…. I’ll make Viet food.
Hi Judy, I don’t know about distribution. I imagine that it would be. Maybe ask Mr. Spring Roll?
Thanks, Karen. It’s kinda ghetto but kinda not.
Candice! Yes, it is very easy to moisten rice paper but Mr. Spring Roll is for hard core rice paper eaters. It’s a little hard to find.
Thanks so much for taking the tofu class. I hope to teach more of them in the Bay Area.
A thick clay pie pan is an excellent idea, Lauren! Thanks for the tip.
Eeeew, that is too expensive. Shipping that large of an object is pricey, around $11.95 priority mail. Definitely look for it.
Tuyet — this is all because of you! Cam on.
Be more creative with your comments. Don’t lift them from others (me, in this case).
I’m intruiged at the right price. Banh Trang is my favorite!
I will note that:
1. This stand/plastic and does look a bit flimsy I would think a narrow volume of water such as this would be pretty easy to TIP over? particularly with multiple parties reaching for all the other components of spring rolls?
2. If I recall correctly, Larger volumes of water are slower to gain/lose heat. So I would think these would save space but require more frequent hot water replenishing?
Andrea, Thanks for the tip! ABC Supermarket in Westminster, CA has about 3 boxes full of them for 6.99. The label looks a little bit different. Mine says Model 2. It’s 11 inches wide at the top and the base is not flat but curved down.
BTW, just got the ebook version of your Tofu Book. Love the included videos.
Definitely, but it is not easy as I thought..In due time, I will get myself to the States! Thanks for your offer!!
I don’t mind the struggle to moist the rice cake, my girl friend has to do the roll for me. ahahaha
Mr. Spring Roll has not tipped in the two meals where we’ve had him grace our table. You’d have to have a couple of Mr. Spring Rolls for 4 to 6 people at the table.
I pour 4 cups of water into Mr. Spring Roll’s reservoir. The tall and narrow design is very clever. It works. Try it out.
Henry, Thanks for the tip on ABC Super in Westminster’s Little Saigon. You’ve gone beyond the call of duty with the inventory report too. 😀
Thanks for getting the enhanced edition of Asian Tofu. We worked hard on it so I’m delighted that you like/LOVE(!) the videos.
That girlfriend may not always be around to do spring roll duty. You should call her Ms. Spring Roll to encourage her.
I just ordered one – $19.81 including shipping… Pricey for a piece of plastic but so worth it to see the looks on my kids’ faces!
OMG — Erica. That’s too much. I’m imagining your kids with Mr. Spring Roll on the table. They’ll have a blast!
Wow, what a fabulous invention! Thanks for sharing this. I need to find one for me and one for my friend, Fey, who inspired me with her delicious spring rolls.
Thanks for the kind words about the water bowl Ms. Andrea Nguyen and everyone who commented!! I’m actually from San Jose and Evershing Trading is my distributor. I would love to send you the new and improved model of the water bowl just for sharing your thoughts. All I need is a shipping address which you can provide in the contacts page at MrSpringRoll.com. I apologize for discontinuing sales from my site. I was packing and shipping with little help from my small apartment and could no longer keep up with demand. Again thanks for the encouraging words everyone!!
Hi Pam, please contact me at MrSpringRoll.com and I will work something out for you. Sorry I do not ship internationally.
Candice! Ja, het is heel gemakkelijk om te bevochtigen rijstpapier, maar de heer Spring Roll is voor de harde kern rijstpapier eters. Het is een beetje moeilijk te vinden.
Heel erg bedankt voor het nemen van de tofu klasse. Ik hoop dat ik meer van hen in de Bay Area te onderwijzen.
Yvonne, were you able to locate it in a store? If so, which one?
Hello Vinh, thanks for chiming in. Look at all the people who want your product!
The idea product is great but not really very good design. The stability of the product is not very great and easily break when you accidentlly drop it. I saw better product selling out there with stronger stability then the Mr Spring Roll. You can find it on Amazon too.
Hi Kim! You’re right, the first model was not the best design. I took feedback from all the customers and redesigned it to their request. The copycat just made the base wider which was what I did as well. If you owned one that broke, I will be more than happy to replace it with the new model. You can contact me at MrSpringRoll.com.
Mrspringroll.com just posted a new online e-shop: http://iBuyiSave.com that sell these water bowls with lowest cost i’ve seen so far (only $9) and the shipping fee is much lower than others. Make sure to use coupon code: MYMOM1
http://iBuyiSave.com
a new online e-shop: http://iBuyiSave.com that sell these water bowls with lowest cost i’ve seen so far (only $9) and the shipping fee is much lower than others. Make sure to use coupon code: MYMOM1
http://iBuyiSave.com
that is ingenious! i live in a tiny urban apartment, and we actually eat dinner at our coffee table — even when it’s vietnamese wraps. 😛 you had me at “small footprint”!
I got a couple of this as a gift from a friend. I love it so much that we used to a few times already. It saved to much rooms at the table.
Saw this for the first time today at lunch – loved it and must have one!
Please help! I can’t find a good link to buy these on-line! I’ll take a case as well!