Recipe - Eggrolls

Chinese cabbage (different
from cabbage cabbage)
Carrots; shredded finely
Beansprouts
Bamboo shoots
Mushrooms
Meat or seafood: chicken;
pork or prawns
Garlic
Seasoning to taste: soy
sauce; sesame oil; pepper,
whatever strikes your fancy

submitted by: sulyn@singnet.com.sg
Strictly speaking, "eggrolls" as found in the US are not legitimate
representatives of Chinese cuisine, but rather a corruption of spring
rolls, which are light, crispy, delicate rolls filled with vegetable/meat
mixtures. I have had unspeakably disgusting eggrolls at Chinese/American
restaurants soggy, oily and clumsy.

But there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy properly prepared ones at
home. I personally hate making this dish because it's a lot of work and
deepfrying anything stinks up the cook. Having said that, the results are
worth it.

Sorry, I don't have the exact measurements...approximation is the way to
go!

For the wrappers : Ideally, you should get the thin, translucent spring
roll wrappers available in the frozen section of Asian stores. They look
like phyllo pastry, and you've got to be careful when handling them because
they are delicate and dry out fast. Keep what you're not using under a damp
tea towel to prevent the edges from drying out. And you'll probably need
some flour/water mixed up into a gluey paste to stick the whole lot
together.

If you can't get the above wrappers, then it's OK to use the thicker
yellowish eggroll wrappers that are found in many mainstream supermarkets.
The results won't be as good, but it'll come out all right.

For the filling : Don't even try this without a food processor to do all
the chopping for you.

For the ingredients, I usually use a mixture of: Chinese cabbage (different
from cabbage cabbage) in equal proportions, and carrots, shredded finely;
beansprouts in One half the proportion of the cabbage/carrots.

This is the basic veggie mix. You can also add to it small amounts of: *
bamboo shoots * mushrooms * meat or seafood
: chicken, pork or prawns

Chop up some garlic, throw in a hot wok with some oil and then stirfry the
filling until it's completely cooked. You'll need to add seasoning to taste
~ soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper... whatever strikes your fancy. Remember
the veggies in themselves can be quite bland. Taste and adjust.

By this time, the veggies will have given out quite a lot of liquid. Drain
this stuff off, otherwise it'll flood your eggrolls.

Finally, assembly: /\ \/

Flip your wrapper as shown above. Place some filling along the horizontal
axis (not too much otherwise it'll tear...better to have less than more).
Fold the bottom bit of the triangle over the filling,bring in the little
triangles at the left and right, and roll up to the last bit of the
triangle. Seal.

Fry, trying not to get yourself splattered with too much oil, or having the
rolls split apart, which would be disastrous.

People seem to expect a dip to go with these rolls, but it's really not
necessary if the filling is well seasoned. However, if you really want to,
you can serve up some Worcestershire sauce (drizzled on top), sweet and
sour sauce, chilli sauce, ketchup.....

DAVE DAVIDG@CLAM.RUTGERS.EDU

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RECIPE ARCHIVE 8 APRIL 1996

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