Chinese Spring Rolls/Egg Rolls

Several years ago, 5 years to be exact, we had some friends invite us over for dinner. They made egg rolls. They were delicious and really easy to make. They were made with a pound of ground turkey, a bag of coleslaw mix and soy sauce wrapped in egg roll wrappers that can be found in the vegetarian section of the grocery store. We made them on a regular basis.

So when I came across this recipe on how to make Chinese Spring Rolls and they looked like the ones you get in Chinese restaurants, and looked pretty easy to make. I had to give them a try. Her other post for chicken spring rolls gives a much more detailed description on how to make them. I followed the pork recipe, and will be trying the chicken recipe next time. They are WAY better than my old recipe. I only got 20 rolls. But I only used 3/4 pounds of pork and maybe not as much cabbage as I should have, so that could be part of it. They can be eaten as a main course or served as an appetizer.

I found the Spring Roll Shells at Southeast Market, on 422 E. 900 S. (Near Liberty Park,) in Salt Lake City. They have all sorts of Asian items, and for much cheaper than what you can find in the regular grocery store. I bought rice noodles for pad thai for $1.99 and at Fresh Market they were $5.99 for half as many noodles. Their garlic chili paste, Siracha, sesame oil, fish sauce, coconut milk, massaman curry, and much more, are way cheaper too.

Since I had 5 wraps left over I filled them with cream cheese and raspberry jam and fried them up for dessert. They were amazing! The only thing is that the jam is too wet and immediately started leaking through the wrap. So they will have to be fried immediately.

Pork Spring Rolls

Chicken Spring Rolls

Turkey Spring Rolls

25 Spring/Egg Roll Wrappers, defrosted unopened at room temperature for 45 minutes or in the refrigerator overnight
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup of cool water to seal egg roll
Cooking oil, for frying
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 pound ground turkey
½ head of cabbage (about 11 ounces)
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
1 cup julienned carrots
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Freshly ground black pepper

1. To make the filling, in a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, cornstarch and turkey. Marinate at least 10 minutes. In the meantime, shred the cabbage and the carrots using your food processor or by hand. Slice the mushrooms into very thin strips (or you could use your food processor and pulse a few times to get a fine dice.
2. Heat a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the marinated turkey and stir-fry until no longer pink, about 2-3 minutes. Turn heat to medium-low, push the meat to one side of the pan. Add the garlic, cabbage, carrots, ginger and the mushrooms and stir-fry for 1 minute, until the vegetables are softened. Add the rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and black pepper. Continue to stir-fry for another minute. Scoop out the filling to a baking sheet and spread out to cool. Prop up one end of the baking sheet so that it tilts and will allow all the moisture to drain to one end. Let cool for 15 minutes.
3. Discard all of the accumulated juices. Use paper towels to blot the filling to rid of extra oil or juice..
4. Use 2 heaping tablespoon of filling for each egg roll
5. Keep the rolled egg rolls in neat, single layer and covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying. If you want to stack the egg rolls, make sure you have layer of parchment paper in between the layers to prevent sticking. Keep wrappers also covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Refrigerate up to 4 hours until ready to fry or freeze.
6. To fry the egg rolls, fill a wok or pot with 2 inches of high-heat cooking oil. Heat the oil to 350°F or until a cube of bread will fry to golden brown within 10 seconds. Gently slide in or lower the egg rolls, frying 4 to 6 at a time, turning occasionally until golden brown about 1½ minutes. Place on wire rack to drain and cool.
7. NOTE: To fry frozen egg rolls, do not defrost the egg rolls – just add them to the oil frozen, frying 4 to 6 at a time. Add an additional 1½ minutes to the frying time since they are frozen.