Egg Rolls

[jeff]

This recipe is for 8 egg rolls.

What you'll need

egg roll wrappers found in any asian market.
1/4 head cabbage shredded
1 small carrot cut shredded
2 eggs
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying.

Any meat of choice, make sure it's precooked! I used 2 chicken thigh/leg quarters. diced into small pieces then covered in a corn starch slurry (corn starch mixed with water)

Start off by precooking what ever meat you want to use, I really don't think the cooking style will matter. I had a pot setup with oil to fry the eggrolls so I used that to cook the chicken. once it's cooked, set aside.

shred your 1/4 cabbage and carrot, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the cabbage/carrots for about 1 1/2 minutes. remove from the water and place in a strainer, rinse with cold water to stop it from cooking. then place the strainer into a larger mixing bowl, the place a smaller bowl on top of the strainer pushing down on the cabbage/carrots and place a heavy object on top of that. you're trying to remove as much fluid as you can. After letting that sit for a few minutes, pat it down with a paper towel.

scramble 1 egg,

add 1 tsp of sesame oil, salt and pepper, then once the egg is cooled down add that, also take your meat and depending on what you're using, in my case chicken, use your fingers and break the meat up so its small pieces.
toss everything using your hands and taste, if it needs more salt/pepper now is the time to add it.

beat the 2nd egg in a bowl, and setup your work area so you can easily work. You want a clean work top, a towel, your wrappers, egg wash, and your eggroll filling.

Start off by placing about a palm full of mix just under the halfway point on the wrapper, I put a spoon up to one of the pictures to give you an idea of how much I used. After placing the mixture on the egg roll, whip your hands off on the towel so the wrapper wont stick to your wet hands.
pick up the bottom of the wrapper and place it over top the mixture and try to tuck it under, once it's in place, use your thumb and pinky or index finger and push the sides in, then fold each side over, your goal is to form a triangle on each end. (see picture) Once you have everything in place and your egg roll now looks like an open envelope, dip the back side of your fingers in the egg wash, (you could also use a brush, I had my fingers handy so I used them) roll the egg roll up, but do not roll it tight! just kind of push it forward and let it roll under it's own pressure, if its too tight it will blow up when it cooks.

Heat up a pot with oil to between 300o-325o gently lay the egg rolls into the fryer, always letting them fall AWAY from you. and cook for 12 minute.

The other option is to cook them for 2-3 minutes, let them cool, then put them in a freezer zip top bag and freeze for later use, when you want some egg rolls, pull them out of the freezer and let them thaw out, then fry in 300-325o oil for 10 minutes.

When the egg rolls are done, place them on some paper towels, or even better an upside down cooling rack with paper under it.



Things to note.

You can put pretty much anything you want in an egg roll, I would just stick with the cabbage salt/pepper and sesame oil. after that you can add anything else you want. from meats to veggies. you name it. just make sure you precook any raw meats.

[jeff]

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[jeff]

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[jeff]

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