Egg Rolls – Recipe

The egg roll story/recipe (recipe follows)- I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but my step mother is from Thailand. I bring this up now because she is the one who taught me how to make egg rolls. It was the summer after 8th grade. I was living in Los Angeles with my mom and flew to my Dad’s for summer break. I had eaten egg rolls a number of times in the past, I am from Earth after all and was living in L.A., but this is the first time I remember having a homemade egg roll. Not the same. Don’t get me wrong, I have had some delicious egg rolls at various restaurants, but these were authentic and fresh. That summer, my Dad’s side of the family went on an egg roll binge. We had them at least once a week. My Dad even started taking them to work and selling them to his co-workers for one dollar each. I think my step mother,Van, was making over 100 a week for him to sell. This is where I came in. I,once again, got to become the helper in the kitchen. I learned how to make the filling, spicy or mild, and how to roll the perfect egg roll. I also got plenty of practice with the frying. Over the years, I have made egg rolls using her recipe over and over. About three months ago I decided to start playing with the recipe. I don’t know what took me so long, I guess I never messed with it because it was so good to begin with. I got a new CD – Asian Lounge, to inspire me in the kitchen. I firmly believe that the environment you cook in effects the flavor of the food and my egg rolls wanted to taste authentic. Anyway, I don’t want to brag or anything, but seriously, I have achieved egg roll perfection. Here is the recipe, put in some nice Asian and have some fun!

Ingredients

8 – 8 1/2 cups green cabbage, shredded
4 carrots, shredded
*quick tip – To make this recipe faster, use 10 cups of pre-shredded coleslaw mix to replace your cabbage and carrots.
1/4 cup ginger, minced or shredded
2 Tablespoons sesame oil, I use black
1/4 cup, oyster sauce
2 Tablespoons Sherry Wine
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
3 Tablespoons A.P. flour
3 Tablespoons sriracha, optional (only if you want these to be spicy)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients together in order except the flour and salt. Mix them well.
2. Stir the flour and salt together and then sprinkle them over your cabbage mixture. Stir well to combine.
3. Put an egg roll wrapper in front of you so that it’s like a diamond.
4. Measure about cup of the filling, squeeze out the excess liquid. Place the filling in the center of the egg roll wrapper.
5. Fold the bottom of the wrapper up to cover the filling. Then “tighten it” around the filling.
6. Fold over each side then roll upwards until the egg roll is almost all the way rolled up. Place some egg wash along the edges and continue rolling. Repeat with all the remaining filling.
7. Fill a large pan about one inch high with canola oil. Heat the oil to 350°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, you will have to use your best judgement. You should be looking for bubbles to form when you add an egg roll into the pan. There should be a lot, but if your egg roll seems to be browning super fast, turn the heat down. If your oil starts to smoke, it’s way too hot. Turn off the heat and wait for it to cool before you do anymore egg rolls.
8. Fry the egg rolls on each side to a golden brown. You should only turn them once.
9. When they are a golden brown, remove them from the pan and place them on a plate or sheet pan lined with cloth napkins or paper towels to drain the excess oil. I always use cloth napkins for this because I have found that certain paper towel brands stick to the egg rolls.
10. Enjoy!

Yield 11-12 egg rolls

Please enjoy this “how-to” video!