Egg Rolls

I’ve always wanted to make home made egg rolls. Super crispy wonton wrappers with a delicious and flavorful pork, cabbage and carrot filling.

The other day, I bought these egg roll wrappers and decided I would undertake the take out favorite, “egg rolls”.

I have made these before and sauteed the vegetable and pork for the filling. The outside was crunchy, but the interior was too mushy for me. Then I saw a great post from Thewoksoflife and they say to put the cabbage, carrots and celery into a pan of boiling water for about 2 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking and drain. They take the vegetable mixture and place in a clean kitchen towel and “wring out” the water so the vegetables are super dry. They say this is a very important step in making sure your mixture doesn’t get soggy. Makes total sense.

They use a Chinese bamboo strainer/spider to scoop out the veggies, As coincidence has it, I just bought this set!

Once the veggies are dry, transfer to a bowl, add scallions, pork and other ingredients.

Traditionally egg rolls are made with Chinese Roast Pork. You can also make using ground pork which is much easier. Making the filling is super easy, and filling and rolling them is much easier than I had imagined (I had nightmares of my pie crust debacle, when I couldn’t figure out why on earth the pie crust kept splitting). The pre-made egg roll wrappers are very easy to work with, and I had no problem what so ever with splitting or tearing.

You can also make extra of these and put in the freezer. When you want to serve just take out of the freezer and put them into the oven to reheat.

House of Tsang Oyster Sauce/Sesame Oil Combo

There are probably many variations to egg roll filling. This one has ground pork, carrots and shredded cabbage along with some garlic, ginger, sesame oil and  and a touch of oyster sauce (fish sauce).

Many people hear the word “fish sauce” and run for the hills. That includes me. I don’t like most oyster sauce because they taste “fishy”. The only oyster sauce I use is House of Tsang oyster sauce because it tastes sweet, not fishy. And it adds an amazing depth of flavor. A while ago, I couldn’t find this brand anywhere, so tried every brand I could find and nothing matched the flavor of House of Tsang. I ended up buying a case of 6 bottles online so I’d have when I needed.

You can also use ground chicken, beef or even shrimp in this recipe. You can vary with celery, onions or bell peppers. Just make sure to cut them small. When making these I would use those bags of pre shredded cole slaw as you won’t need anywhere near a whole cabbage. And it’s 100% easier. I also take a short cut and use the bags of shredded carrots. Egg roll wrappers are usually sold in the refrigerated Asian area of the produce section.

You can also vary the ratio of vegetables to meat depending if you like more meat or more vegetables.

What is the difference between Spring Rolls and Egg Rolls?

Spring rolls are wrapped in thin flour or rice wrappers before being baked, fried, or left uncooked. Egg rolls, meanwhile, are wrapped in a thick wrapper that is then deep-fried.

You will never want to get egg rolls from take out again, when you see how easy these are to make!

Try these with my Fried Rice recipe and make it an Asian Night!

 

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