Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Egg Roll Post

Breakfast: NONE (slept in)
Lunch: 1 cup whole wheat rotini pasta with 1/2 cup Prego veggie delight sauce
Mid-afternoon snack: two homemade egg rolls
Dinner: roast turkey and swiss sandwich and medium curly fries from Arby's
Dessert: NONE
Exercise: 1 hour house cleaning; 1 mile walk; 30 minutes pilates
Calories from food: 1,860
Calories burned: 404
Total calories for the day: 1,456

My uncle and his family are in town this week, and I was fortunate enough to have a lesson in egg roll making today by his beautiful wife (who happens to be from Indonesia)! I wish I would have thought to take pictures, but I didn't so you'll have to bear with my written directions. These egg rolls are absolutely delicious and although not at all healthy (because of the amount of sauce and oil used)... A little bit of treat never hurt anybody, right?

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 lb carrots (shredded)
  • 10 oz cabbage (shredded, optional)
  • 1 onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 can water chestnuts (finely chopped)
  • 3 tbsp hoisin sauce (Dynasty brand, if available)
  • 1/4 cup oyster sauce (Dynasty brand, if available)
  • 25-30 egg roll wrappers (Wei-chuan brand, if available)
  • Peanut, canola, or vegetable oil
Directions:
  • Remove egg roll wrappers from package. Wrap bundle of wrappers with paper towels dampened with cold water. (This will help them defrost and remove easily from each other.) Set wrapped bundles aside to defrost. It will take about 15-20 minutes, so prepare other ingredients as follows:
  • Cook onion and ground pork until meat is browned.
  • Add carrots, cabbage, water chestnuts, and sauces. 
  • Cook all ingredients through until water produced from vegetables is cooked out. Add a sprinkle or two of corn starch, if necessary, to absorb excess moisture.
  • Once "stuffing" for egg rolls is finished and wrappers are ready to be separated, remove vegetables from eat and allow time to cool off. While cooling, separate egg roll wrappers. 
  • In a single wrapper, place stuffing in center of wrapper, spreading it out diagonally. See picture, cos I know that didn't make any sense.
  • Fold bottom corner of wrapper up over stuffing. Press in over stuffing and fold once. 
  • Fold right corner of wrapper in over stuffing, then the left corner. 
  • Rub egg or egg white wash over the top corner, then continue rolling stuffing. 
  • Once all wrappers are used, store any leftover stuffing in freezer or refrigerator. 
  • On medium heat, warm oil. (We used peanut, but you can use vegetable or canola.) Oil should cover the bottom of a very large skillet or wok.
  • Place egg rolls in oil and cook until golden brown, turning egg rolls often. It does not take long, so do not let them sit in oil! 
  • Remove rolls from oil onto plate lined with paper towel. Allow to cool, then enjoy! 
Okay, so I hope those directions made sense, because these things are just delicious! Also, some tips from the chef: Any leftover stuffing can be added to jasmine or white rice to make delicious fried rice. Any leftover wrappers or wrappers that tear and aren't salvageable to use for egg rolls, break into pieces and fry in oil to make chips. The stuffing can be changed in any way to suit your tastes, so be creative! If you have leftover chili or taco meat... You can use this as filling and fry them the same way! Another (healthier) suggestion... These egg rolls can also be baked instead of fried. Place them on a cookie sheet covered in cooking spray, set the oven to 350, and cook until golden brown (10-20 minutes, based on oven differences), flipping over halfway through cook time. Check often to make sure they do not burn. 

Hopefully you'll enjoy these rolls as much as BDR and I do! 

Thanks again, Jane, for teaching me how to make these! 

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