Monday, February 18, 2013

Rosie Makes Egg Rolls.

 

 I love a good egg roll
and if I want one,
 I have to make it myself.
I don't care for the eggs rolls
 at the China Macs on the beach.
They are sub-par.

 I found ground pork on sale for $2.39/pound.

 I added a tablespoon of Tamari sauce,
1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil,
and freshly ground salt and pepper.
Mix well with your hands.


 Brown the pork in a hot skillet with a little butter.

 Chop it up well.

 For my egg roll fillings,
I have carrot, scallions, cabbage, and eggs.

 I julienned my carrots and scallions
and shredded my cabbage.

 Season the eggs with freshly ground salt and pepper and beat.

Pour eggs into hot pan with melted butter.
 
 Make a thin omelet.
 
 Slice very thinly.

 I have my cooked and seasoned ground pork
and omelet shreds.

 I have julienned carrots,
sliced scallions,
and shredded lettuce.
And I have the 4:15 sun coming in.

 Shredded omelet.
 
 
My Egg Roll Fillings: 
From bottom left and going clockwise -
omelet slices
ground, seasoned pork
shredded cabbage
julienned scallions
julienned carrots

 I'm ready to roll.
 
 Have your wrapper on the diagonal 
and start layering in the middle.
Cabbage and omelet.

 Add the meat, carrots, and scallions,
then dampen around the edges.

 The first roll is important.
You need to press the filling towards you
and give it a roll and a quarter.

 Then, pull the edges in and continue rolling.
  
We made this a family affair.
 


 Like so.

This was quite fun and all three Hawthornes,
Rosie, Mr. H., and Mid-Haw,
 partook in the rolling of the rolls.

 There's a story behind the egg rolls.
Isn't there always?
Our cross-the-canal neighbor, Gervais,
randomly shows up on our doorstep
with a platter of hot egg rolls he's just made.
Don't you love neighbors like that?

All three Hawthornelets are crazy about Gervais' egg rolls.
Anyhoos, when Gervais was at my birthday party last month,
I asked him about his egg roll recipe
and he told me about Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook
and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, I must say that these egg rolls
are not Mrs. Chiang's.
She calls hers spring rolls
and she uses cooked shredded pork, dried mushrooms,
and no carrots.

Here's Middle Hawthorne.
Mr. Hawthorne kept telling us that we were putting
too much filling in the egg rolls,
but Mid Haw disagreed.
He had discussed the finer points
of egg-rolling with Gervais
and Gervais had explained to him,
and apparently everyone else at my partay,  that you,
"pile on the fillings and roll it up like a great big doobie."

Oooookay.












Here's a thought.
Instead of brushing water around the edges to seal,
use the dipping sauce.

Rosie Tip #265: 
 Keep your egg roll wrappers covered up with a damp towel.
Else, they will dry out, crack, and won't seal.
So Beau got the last egg roll.

Middle Hawthorne placed it on the plate,
but Beau decided he didn't want it on the plate.

I'm ready to fry now,
but first, I'm making some dips.

Rosie's Dipping Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
 1-inch chunk of ginger, peeled and juiced
4 TB Tamari
1 TB rice wine
1/4 tsp sesame oil
2 scallions
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

I ran the garlic through a garlic press.
Juice the ginger.
To do this you need the ginger to be frozen.
Nuke the ginger for about 20 seconds,
then you can squeeze it with your fingers
to release the juice.
Next I put the ginger chunk in my garlic press
and scraped off the first pressing.
Combine rest of ingredients.




On the right is 1 TB rice wine, 1 TB rice vinegar, and 1 tsp sugar.
Bottom is wasabi.

Normally, I use peanut oil.
I was out, so I used vegetable oil.
350 degrees
Do not crowd pan.


Spoon hot oil over top and you'll get lovely blisters.

Fry until golden brown.
About 4 minutes.
Drain on paper towels.
Aren't those pretty blisters?

I added two more condiments -
hot mustard sauce and sweet chili sauce.


Add some sprouts - bean and alfalfa.








I am in egg roll heaven.

13 comments:

Lori K said...

Egg Roll Heaven!!! Me too

Marilyn said...

Those look good. I think I'm going to have to go buy the ingredients for egg rolls.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Thanks, Lori!

Mar, I made a second batch and used very thinly sliced pork strips. Not ground pork. Marinate the strips in 1 TB soy sauce, 1 TB rice wine, and 1 TB cornstarch. Then stir fry. Quite good.

Lea said...

Mmmmm. Those DO look like heaven. Our fav Chinese place's egg rolls have gone downhill. Time to take matters into my own hands.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Sadly, Lea, I can't get a proper egg roll on the beach. If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself. I've got another post in the works about the strips of pork. I think I liked those egg rolls even better.

zzzadig said...

Ginger with the pork in the roll.
Seal with cornstarch in water.

Try left over grilled chicken.

Meanwhile I'll take what you've got there.......lots of them.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Awww shoot. I fergot the ginger! Dang it, Zzzadig!

Rosie Hawthorne said...

And Zzzadig, we don't have Leftovers.

It's MOREOVERS!

zzzadig said...

My bad........

Rocquie said...

I've never thought of using egg in my "egg" rolls but I'm thinking of it now. Next time I make them I will.

rosiehawthorne said...

Sage Trifle, that's what Mrs. Chiang calls for and who am I to question Mrs. Chiang?

As Mr. Hawthorne said, "Well, they are call egg rolls."

r said...

called

For some reason, blogger is not letting me edit my comments
and I'm having to prove I'm not a robot. I don't like this.

rosiehawthorne said...

And now I've been reduced to "r."