– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

As I spent the last 3 years trying to

get into better shape, I found one food

that I can eat until I'm blue in the

face without hating myself after spring

rolls.

[Music]

Now, whether you call them spring rolls,

summer rolls, fresh rolls, salad rolls,

doesn't matter because they're all

incredible rolls. That wasn't as funny

as I thought. Anyways, today we're

making three protein options for these

spring rolls. a juicy pork, a plump

shrimp, and a crispy tofu. I may not be

vegan, but I have always loved tofu. It

just absorbs whatever flavor you put on

it, and it's just good. But we'll just

start with our pork. Now, you can use

pork belly, but I like to use pork

shoulder or pork butt. Traditionally, if

you're going to do pork belly, you're

just going to want to blanch it. And

then, I don't know, it's not the best

bite. Just my opinion, but do whatever

you like. We're just going to start by

cutting this into chunks. That'll give

us a nice strip size amount of meat.

We're also going to want to cut this

against the grain. So, first thing I'm

going to do is cut it with the grain.

So, that way we can easily flip our

piece and cut nice thin slices against

the grain. When you cut it like this,

your piece will end up being super

tender and you won't end up ripping out

all of your meat when your first bite.

Nobody likes that. And also, feel free

to trim away any excess fat that you

really don't want to bite into. And it

doesn't matter too much if all your

pieces are not the same length. As long

as they're the same thickness, it'll

cook evenly, you'll be good to go. And

now that we have about a pound of our

thinly sliced pork, we can just go ahead

and set it to the side because we're

going to season it. Now, this is

arguably going to be the longest part

because you're going to season and cook

the meat. However, if you decided to

just do shrimp, it's a lot quicker cuz

we're really just going to boil it. And

then this whole recipe comes together in

just a matter of minutes because it's

really just fresh produce. But I really

like pork, so we're going to do pork.

We're going to start off with a piece of

lemongrass. You cut the tip off, you cut

the butt off, remove the husk, and then

we just going to very thinly slice.

And once that's thinly sliced, we're

just going to go ahead and continue to

mince that all the way up. We don't want

it quite a paste. We just don't want

large stringy pieces of lemongrass. And

then once we've got about a4 cup of all

that minced, we're just going to move it

over to our pork and then slice up a

shallot. Now, it doesn't have to be a

full shallot, but the shallots at my

grocery store were miniature. So, this

is just going to be one shallot today,

which I don't actually know if it's

miniature or just normal size. And the

rest of the shallots I've been seeing at

the grocery store are extra large

shallots. But either way, you just don't

need a ton of it. Just, you know,

enough. Call it half a shallot. Go ahead

and thinly slice this guy.

Again, you want this pretty small. So,

you don't want big chunks of shallot

because it's going directly on the meat.

So, feel free to run through it with

your knife a couple times just to give

it a nice pass. And then the last little

bit of chopping is just some garlic. Go

ahead and smash and strip a few cloves.

And then just run your knife through it

until it looks like the shallot

lemongrass. And make sure you get all

those bits off your fingers because

don't want to waste any garlic. And now

into this mixture, we're going to add 2

tbsps of light soy sauce, 3 tablespoons

of fish sauce, a tablespoon of oyster

sauce, a couple tablespoons of

preferably not crystallized honey, but

work with what you got. I should just

microwave this, but I'm already

committed. I'm sure I'm going to regret

it later. 2 tbsps of brown sugar and

some black pepper. Now, you can also

salt this, but the way that I see it is

that there's a lot of salt in the fish

sauce, a lot of salt in soy sauce, and

you're also going to be dipping it in a

salty sauce. So, you know, you can if

you want. If you were just doing this on

its own, maybe you'd want to salt it.

Now, preferably using a glove, but you

can also just raw dog it, I guess, if

you want, or use a spoon. You're just

going to mix this all together. Then

once all that's nicely mixed, you're

just going to go ahead and set it to the

side while we prep the rest for meat.

Well, protein. Next up, we have our

shrimp, which we're not going to do

anything fancy to literally like all you

need is a pound of shrimp.

This is more than a pound. This is 2 lb

now that I'm looking at it. I did ask

for 2 lb. Why did I ask for 2 lb?

What am I doing? Where was my head this

morning? We'll pretend that you can't

see half of this. This is just a pound.

All you need is shrimp, peeled and de

veained. You can even just use cocktail

shrimp pre-cooked in the grocery store

if you really want to. Nobody's going to

know. You're going to put it in a

wrapper and dip it in a sauce. It's

okay. The shrimp I got today not only

are twice the amount that I should have

gotten, but they have just the tails on.

So, all I have to do is pull the tails

off. This is going to take a while.

Now, once your single pound of shrimp is

peeled and devained, all you have to do

set it to the side cuz we're just going

to boil them later. And the very last

bit of protein prep is tofu. And the

first thing we're going to do is drain

out all the water. Now, if you don't

like tofu, I would I would like to ask

you why. Let me know down below. Do you

not like it because you don't like tofu?

Because you've had it and you thought,

"Man, this is kind of gross." Or because

you haven't had it and you're like, "Ah,

it's a vegan thing." So, like, that's

gross. Meat. Go meat. Cuz I'm I'm always

genuinely curious because as someone who

loves meat, I also love tofu and go hand

in hand for me. So, please let me know

why it is that you don't like it.

I'm waiting.

Now, you're going to take a paper towel

and you're just going to pat dry your

tofu blocks and one package of firm

tofu. It's all you really need, unless

you're all about the tofu, which case go

for it. Two boxes, two packages, three,

four, five, six would be ridiculous, but

five is okay. And you're just going to

pat them dry. You could alternatively

press all the water out, too, which is a

great way to go about this, but it takes

a lot longer. So now all I'm going to do

is just cut this piece of tofu into

these strips because I'm going to throw

these on a pan and sear them up. Doesn't

need to be anything crazy, but just all

generally around the same size.

Seriously, if you're not about it, you

don't know what you're missing. And once

they're all thinly sliced, you can just

go ahead and put this to the side with

the rest of your meat. Now, to cook our

pork, if you have the option to, please

grill it over charcoal. It's just going

to taste better. But realistically

speaking, the other option is to do it

in the oven or do it in the air fryer.

Today, I'm opting for air fryer because

the air fryer does not heat up my house.

And as someone with no AC, that's a

green flag. Now, I'm going to start by

just giving the basket of my air fryer a

solid spray of neutral oil. And

remember, don't use a liner because a

liner will block the airflow and make

your food soggy. I know that it's more

work to then clean out your air fryer,

but you're going to get better tasting

food and I think that's worth it. So,

now in your liner free air fryer basket,

go ahead and lay down your meat in a

single layer. You want to make sure

you're not overcrowding your air fryer

because then it's going to block the air

flow and then it's not really air frying

anymore. This is definitely going to

take you a few batches and that's

totally okay because the way we're going

to do this going to do a batch, work on

some other stuff. Throwing a batch in,

work on some other stuff. Okay, that way

we're not wasting any time. And we're

going to do 400 about 8 minutes and then

we'll check on it. Now, to cook our

shrimp, it's pretty straightforward. You

just need boiling water, a small pinch

of salt, and then you're just going to

drop in your shrimp to cook.

Ah, carefully. And then after about 30

seconds or once those finish curling,

we're just going to move those over to

an ice bath. This is going to help keep

them nice and plump and juicy. Then you

just repeat with that other pound of

shrimp that you accidentally bought. And

then after about 45 to 50 seconds, just

remove them and place them in an ice

bath. Now we'll just go ahead and pause

this at 8 minutes. Oh yeah,

look at that. That looks freaking

incredible. Oh yeah. Incredible. So now

all we need to do is just go ahead and

remove our cooked pieces and repeat with

the rest. Now, to cook your tofu, I

recommend a non-stick pan versus a

stainless steel pan because tofu is

really delicate and you don't want it to

rip. So, with that said, on mediumigh

heat, I'm going to go in with a thin

layer of neutral oil. Using the spray a

lot today, don't know why. And then once

that's nice and hot, we're just going to

lay down our tofu in a nice thin layer.

Well, thin layer is a single layer. And

once these are on here, you can go ahead

and just leave them alone, more or less.

You can move them around so they brown

evenly, but they don't require a ton of

work. Then after you've got a few

minutes on that first side, you should

be able to just carefully flip them over

and then let the other sides fry. Now,

optionally, once these are all fried up,

you can add a sauce. It's not super

common or technically needed, but it's

also nice, right? Like same way we

seasoned our pork, we're going to season

our tofu. I like to use a musubi glaze.

The same stuff I would use to make

spamusi. Basically, just a glorified

teriyaki sauce. Give or take a couple

ingredients. But if you have teriyaki

sauce, just use that. Works great. So,

all we need to do is just turn our heat

down a little bit cuz we don't want it

to sear off too quickly and burn. I'm

just going to drizzle on a little bit

right over top. Very carefully, you can

toss it, but you do run the risk of

breaking tofu. But once every piece is

nice and coated, you'll just let it sit

and then you can just carefully remove

each one and set it to the side. Now,

for the rest of our fillings, it's

mostly just vegetable prep. There are

two things that we'll need to cook

still, but we'll get to that. And

really, the most important thing to know

is that this can really be whatever you

want. The vegetables I chose today are

ones that I like and enjoy my spring

rolls, but if you don't like these, you

could pick something else. Or if you

want to try something new, add something

new. If you have something in your

fridge that you want to get rid of

that's about to go bad, perfect time to

use it. But for me, it starts with a

carrot, which I'm just going to cut into

discs so that way I can then julian it.

And this kind of stuff doesn't really

necessarily have a correct amount. It's

more of like what do you like? So, if

you don't like a lot of carrots, but you

might want a little bit for color,

you're probably not going to do nearly

as many carrots as I do. But if you love

carrots, and you're like, man, you know

what? I want my spring roll, just

carrots.

>> That would be weird, but you could do

it. So, when you're deciding on how much

of something to get, just think about

how much do you or the people who are

going to be eating your food like it. I

really hope that you guys cannot hear

all the construction going on outside

because I can hear it all the time.

Next up, we have some cucumbers, which

I'm also going to do basically the same

thing I did to my carrots. And I'm just

going to cut them on a bias so I can cut

those into matchixs. You also could just

cut these straight into spears. Same

thing with the carrots, but I like

having it broken up more so we can be a

little more spread out, more of a full

bite, if that makes sense.

Sick.

Next up, we have some garlic chives,

which technically speaking aren't garlic

chives because the grocery store was out

of garlic chives, but they had Korean

chives. So, I grabbed these. And I'm

just going to cut the tips off of these.

And I'm going to cut the butts. I'm just

not really a butt guy. And then from

here, I'm just going to go ahead and cut

this into about 3in sections or divided

into three bundles. Now, next up, we

have the herbs, which are the things I

have not washed yet. Everything else is

easy to wash beforehand, but the herbs,

because they're so leafy, I find that

works a little bit better if you just

wash them after you cut them because

you're not cutting them a ton. I'm just

going to cut about 3 in off the bottom

and throw this away. Then I'm just going

to put them in my tiny salad rinser,

salad spinner, whatever you want to call

it. Spray them down with water, give

them a good spin, and then we'll move on

to the next one.

Cool. This is cilantro. I don't know if

I said that before, but this is

cilantro. Did I not say it? Next up, we

have some Thai basil, which if you don't

like Thai basil, feel free to skip, but

I like Thai basil. This is one where I'm

just going to individually pluck each

leaf off because I don't want any of the

stem. This one's a little more hands-on.

I won't blame you for skipping it. And

because it's basil, I want to be a

little more gentle.

[Music]

And the last of the herbs is going to be

mint, which personally I'm not a big fan

of, but I'm not just making food myself.

So, mint. You're just going to have to

trust that I actually rinsed this and

cuz I wasn't going to make you watch me

do it for a third time. That would be

ridiculous. Next up, we have some bean

sprouts, which may or may not be ready

to eat. Depends on where you got your

bean sprouts from. Mine are thankfully

ready to eat. So, I don't really even

need to do anything with them. They're

just existing, done. If yours are not

ready to eat, then you'll just need to

blanch them really quickly, run them

under cold water, and you'll be good to

go. And for the last bit of vegetable

prep, arguably the most important, are

lettuce. Now, I have some green leafy

lettuce here, but if you want to use

romaine, if you want to use iceberg,

really it's up to you. Green leafy is a

little more common. You could use red

leafy. Leafy, red leaf. Have I been

saying leafy, but green leaf was on

sale, so green. I like to just go ahead

and start by cutting off the butt

because that's just going to split all

of it up for us. Oh, wait, wait, wait.

Only some of you will get this lettuce

booty.

I made a mess. And then depending on how

long your lettuce pieces are, you're

just going to want to cut them either in

half or into thirds. And then we'll just

wash this inside of our spinner. And for

the lettuce especially, you want to make

sure you get it really dry because any

leftover moisture is going to sogg out

your lettuce and that's not going to be

good inside of. So what helps too is

after you've spun it for a little bit,

go ahead and move your lettuce around so

that way all that centrifugal force is

now forcing the moisture in a different

direction than it was before. Now for

our last two fillings, we have

vermicelli noodles. Just just a thin

rice noodle. It adds a little bit more

fluff and a little volume to your spring

roll. And the second is an egg roll

wrapper, but not just the way it is.

We're going to roll them up and then fry

them and so it's a nice crispy little

bite inside. Again, both are optional,

but would highly recommend. For our egg

roll wrapper, we are just going to take

them out of the box bag. Then we'll just

peel back each individual sheet, lay it

flat, add a little bit of water to the

end, and then we're going to roll it

fairly loosely. Should look like this.

You don't want it to be too tight

because if it's too tight, you're going

to end up with a dense, not crispy bite

of dough. You don't want that, man.

They're really just making all the noise

today. And then once you have a nice

bundle of those all rolled up, you're

just going to drop them into some

350°ree oil and let them fry for about 2

minutes or until they're lightly golden

like this. And then you'll just

carefully remove them and let them drain

out on a wire rack. And then, of course,

you're just going to want to repeat this

process until you've gone through all of

your egg roll wrappers, including the

extras you made, because you're going to

snack on these while these are frying,

and you don't want to run out of them.

So, you make extra. Not only is it the

right decision, it's the smart decision.

Now, for your noodles, definitely refer

to your packers direction on how long to

cook them. But if they're thin like

mine, which and these are different from

the ones I showed you earlier because I

realized I had an open bag already and I

didn't want to open a new bag. These are

going to cook really fast, so just stay

close. And just like that, in about 45

seconds, they're done. Then you're just

going to want to rinse these under cold

water to remove any starch and stop the

cooking process.

Now for our first sauce, about 3/4 cup

of peanut butter, creamy of course, 3

tbsps of hoyen, 6 tbsps of soy sauce, 3

tbsps of meaten, and 6 tbsps of sweet

chili sauce. Most people do sugar, but I

think sweet chili sauce is the way to go

personally. Then we'll just very

carefully whisk that together because if

you're not careful, it's going to splash

everywhere.

And now, depending on how thick you like

your sauce, I want mine a little

thinner. You can just go ahead and thin

it out with a little bit of water. And

then, of course, when we go to plate it,

we'll finish it off with a little bit of

crushed peanuts.

And now for our second lighter but not

necessarily less calorie sauce. Fish

sauce which starts off with a third cup

of fish sauce followed by a/3 cup of

water/2 cup of fish sauce and 1/2 cup of

water. Losing my mind today. I'm like

the worst YouTuber ever. Followed by a/2

cup of sugar. Some lime juice about a

third of a lime. And then just whisk

that all together till the sugar's

dissolved. Alternatively you could do

this over the heat and it'll be a lot

quicker but then it's another pot I have

to watch. I don't want to do that. Then

we'll just finish it off with a few

cloves of crushed and roughly chopped

garlic as well as a few Thai chili

peppers. And you don't have to add these

in. It doesn't even necessarily make it

all that spicy unless you get a piece of

Thai chili pepper on there. But because

we're not cooking it down, it shouldn't

be too bad. And now all that's left to

do is roll. Now you're going to start by

dipping your rice paper in cold water.

This is because cold water will help it

from becoming too pliable too fast. Now

the first thing you're going to want to

lay down is your lettuce all the way

towards the back of your paper. Then

just follow that up with any toppings

that you want as well as a little bit of

noodles. And you can't forget the

crunchy roll. Then I'll just finish it

off with a few sprigs of cilantro as

well as my preferred meat of choice. We

lay this down in the front so that way

it's nice and pretty when we tuck it to

bed. Now carefully peel up the back of

your rice paper. And using your fingers,

you're just going to go ahead and press

all of that filling in as you tuck

forward. Then take one side and fold it

over. Then the next. And then all you

have to do is just roll it all together.

And just like that, you're left with a

beautiful spring roll. Thank you so much

for watching. I really hope that you

enjoyed it and I really hope that you

learned something. Here's a photo of me

jumping over my grandpa escape park.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
roll /roʊl/ A2	noun - a small, round piece of bread or pastry, often used for fillings verb - to turn over or coil something by rotating it
pork /pɔːrk/ A2	noun - meat from a pig
shrimp /ʃrɪmp/ B1	noun - small, edible crustaceans with a curved body
tofu /ˈtoʊfuː/ B2	noun - a protein-rich food made from curdled soy milk
vegetable /ˈvɛdʒtəbəl/ A2	noun - any plant or part of a plant used as food
sauce /sɔːs/ A2	noun - a liquid or semi‑liquid seasoning served with food
glaze /ɡleɪz/ B2	noun - a thin, shiny coating applied to food for flavor or appearance verb - to apply a glossy coating to food
season /ˈsiːzən/ B1	verb - to add herbs, spices, or other flavorings to food noun - a period of the year distinguished by weather, activity, etc.
slice /slaɪs/ B1	verb - to cut something into thin flat pieces noun - a thin, flat piece cut from something
mince /mɪns/ B2	verb - to cut or grind food into very small pieces
blanch /blæntʃ/ C1	verb - to briefly scald food in boiling water then shock in cold water, usually to soften or preserve colour
grill /ɡrɪl/ B1	verb - to cook food over direct heat, typically on a metal grate noun - a device or place for cooking food over an open flame
fry /fraɪ/ A2	verb - to cook food in hot oil or fat
boil /bɔɪl/ A2	verb - to heat a liquid until it reaches the bubbling point
cut /kʌt/ A1	verb - to divide or separate with a sharp instrument noun - an incision or opening made by cutting
mix /mɪks/ A1	verb - to combine two or more substances so they become a single substance noun - a combination of different things
fresh /frɛʃ/ A2	adjective - newly made or obtained; not stale or spoiled
crispy /ˈkrɪspi/ B2	adjective - having a firm, dry, and crackling texture
tender /ˈtɛndər/ B1	adjective - soft and easy to chew
spicy /ˈspaɪsi/ A2	adjective - flavored with hot pepper or similar seasonings; hot in taste