Egg Roll Recipe
April 11th, 2009 | Chinese, Chinese Recipes | 23 Comments
When it comes to traditional Chinese recipes, I always turn to Use Real Butter as my ultimate online resource. (I learned how to make Chinese dumplings and potstickers from her.) Use Real Butter is a seriously good blog–very down-to-earth, real, and choked full of delicious recipes plus breathtaking landscape photography and some of the cleanest food porn; I become a fan instantly. Today, I am very happy to feature Jen Yu of Use Real Butter as our guest writer. Jen shares her easy egg roll recipe (with sweet egg roll) and step-by-step picture cooking guide. Please give her your warmest welcome and support, and don’t forget to pay her a visit at her wonderful blog.
Egg Roll Recipe
Guest Writer: Jen Yu of Use Real Butter
I can’t tell you what a pleasure and an honor it is for me to be guest blogging on Rasa Malaysia. This is one of my all-time favorite sites for fantastic Asian recipes (and if you know me, I am picky when it comes to authentic Chinese food) and beautiful photography. When Bee asked if I’d be interested in writing a guest post, I practically fell out of my chair. Yes, of course! But what would I blog? To be honest, I come here to reference many of Bee’s recipes. Eventually, we settled on egg rolls…(get Jen’s egg roll recipe and learn how to wrap egg roll after the jump)
Egg rolls are one of those dishes that I don’t make at home very often. Deep frying is something I tend to let the restaurants specialize in. However, I quite love a really good, crispy, hot, fresh egg roll from time to time. Now there is a burning question about the difference between a spring roll and an egg roll. I think most of what I have encountered in Chinese restaurants is what might be classified as a spring roll: loaded with vegetables (cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, sprouts), sometimes containing meat (pork), and wrapped in a thin flour skin that becomes delicately crispy when fried. I usually only see egg rolls in more westernized Chinese take-out joints and they always contain meat (usually pork), are fried in a thicker flour and egg wrapper, and tend to be about twice as large as their spring roll cousins. I think I read somewhere that the egg roll is Cantonese.
green onions, bamboo shoots, chinese mushrooms, pork, cabbage, sprouts
In my mind, a spring roll doesn’t contain meat, so these are egg rolls by default. I started by stir-frying the vegetables that require the most time to cook: the cabbage and mung bean sprouts. I heated a little vegetable oil in the pan until it was hot and then tossed in half of the green onions to flavor the oil. When things began to sizzle, I added the cabbage and sprouts, stir-frying until they were wilted at which point I removed the contents to a bowl.
cabbage and mung bean sprouts
I prefer to use dark pork meat and I don’t use a lot of it, allowing the vegetables to dominate the egg roll. The quantities should be dictated by what you like, so feel free to add more, use less, or replace the pork with chicken or tofu. You can mix the pork strips with a variety of seasonings, but my mom suggested (nay, instructed me to use) soy sauce, Chinese cooking sherry, and some cornstarch. Using the same pan, I added a little more vegetable oil and the remaining green onions. As the onions sizzled, I poured in the pork strips and stir-fried until the meat was barely pink anymore.
thin strips cook in just a few minutes
Once the pork was nearly done, I emptied the cabbage and sprouts back into the pan and also added the remaining ingredients (in this case, the bamboo shoots and the mushrooms) and stir-fried everything until the pork was cooked through.
the filling
I used spring roll wrappers (it read: Spring Roll Wrappers on the package) as my tiny Asian grocer did not have any egg roll wrappers in stock. I prefer these thinner wrappers anyway, but just so you know, I have seen egg roll wrapper packages in larger Asian grocery stores. I think they are called egg rolls because egg is used in making the wrapper dough.
rolling the wrapper around a spot of filling
folding the sides over neatly
Wrapping the rolls is straightforward if you keep one thing in mind – no gaps. I oriented each wrapper as a diamond with one corner pointing toward me and piled a few tablespoons of filling two-thirds of the way down from the center to the corner nearest me. I folded the nearest corner over the filling, then folded the sides over, making sure no filling was “exposed” and then rolled the rest of it up. A little egg wash smeared along the edges of the last corner helped to keep the egg roll sealed.
awaiting the fryer
My final egg rolls measured about 5 inches in length and 1.5 inches in diameter which is probably on the small side for an egg roll, but on the large side for a spring roll. Go figure. I fried them in a 3-quart saucepan with 3 cups of vegetable oil at 375°F (I used a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature) and they browned in about 3-4 minutes. Rather than setting the fried egg rolls on paper towels where they would get soggy, I let them cool on a baking rack which allowed them to maintain their crispy shells. They are delicious when eaten hot.
egg rolls (with spring roll skins)
Since I had extra spring roll wrappers, I opened a can of sweet red bean paste (easily found at any Asian market) and wrapped several sweet bean paste rolls, frying them just like the egg rolls. Served fresh and dusted with some powdered sugar, these make a great little dessert. Thanks for having me, Bee!
sweet red bean paste rolls
Ingredients:
1 package egg roll wrappers (or spring roll wrappers), about 25
1 lb. pork, trimmed of fat and cut into strips (I like the dark meat best)
2-3 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese cooking sherry
2 tsp cornstarch
4 tbsps vegetable oil (like canola or corn oil, but not olive oil)
1 cup green onions, cut into 1-inch strips
4 cups cabbage
2 cups mung bean sprouts
1 cup bamboo shoots, cut into strips
1 cup Chinese mushrooms, stems removed and cut into strips
1 egg white, beaten (for egg wash)
3-4 cups vegetable oil for frying
Method:
Defrost the egg roll (or spring roll) wrappers according to the package instructions. Keep the wrappers under a damp cloth while not in use. In a small bowl, mix the pork, soy sauce, sherry, and cornstarch together. Set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and half of the green onions in a sauté pan on high. When onions begin to sizzle, add the cabbage and bean sprouts and stir-fry until they are wilted. Remove from pan and set aside in a medium bowl. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil with the rest of the green onions on high until the onions sizzle. Add the pork to the pan and stir-fry. When the pork is almost cooked through, return the cabbage and sprouts to the pan along with the mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Sauté until cooked. Remove from heat. If there is excessive liquid in the pan, you can drain that off.
On a clean work surface, orient a wrapper so that a corner points toward you. Place 2-3 tablespoons of filling (more if your wrapper is larger) near the corner closest to you. Fold that corner over the filling and then fold the sides over toward the center. Roll the rest up toward the far corner. Wash the edges of the far corner with the beaten egg white and gently seal the egg roll. Repeat until all of the filling or the wrappers are gone.
In a medium saucepan, heat the frying oil to 375°F and fry 3-4 egg rolls at a time for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the egg rolls from the oil and set on a baking rack to cool. (Paper towels will make them soggy). Serve hot with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sweet and sour sauce, etc. Makes about 24.
Sweet Bean Paste Rolls
Ingredients:
17 oz. can of sweet red bean paste
~12 spring roll wrappers
powdered sugar for dusting
Method:
Follow the wrapping instructions above except place 2 tablespoons of sweet red bean paste in the wrapper instead of the savory filling. Frying time will likely be faster – about 2-3 minutes at 375°F to reach golden brown. When the rolls are done, remove from oil and let cool on a baking rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving. Makes about a dozen.
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The egg rolls look perfect and delicious. I’ve started to fall in love with sweetened red beans lately and am eager to try them in an egg roll version (i.e. everything is always better when deep fried). Thanks for sharing your egg roll recipe!
My two favorite bloggers for my Asain cravings in one place…woot!
Great post Jen! One day soon I’ll have more time to make these egg roll…at last with your egg roll recipe.
Jen, those spring rolls look so yum!! I used to make spring rolls a lot when we lived in India – except that I used Indian-Chinese recipes which are different from the real stuff as the Indian influence is very strong when it come to spices and herbs. Mine always had julienned ginger and hot green chillies, and I had to make my own wrappers.
Hi Jen – your egg rolls look awesome. Love the sweet egg rolls with red bean paste. Great idea and thanks for the egg roll recipe.
I always love egg rolls. They are a great Chinese appetizer. I love that you use a lot of pork in your egg rolls. Yummy egg roll recipe.
Thanks for the simple egg roll recipe. I’m wondering when you put the sauce mixture of soy, sherry and cornstarch in? You mixed it and set it aside but never added it to the dish, did you? Does it go in with the pork or get added at the end when everything is in the pan?
Please don’t post my last comment. I re-read the instructions and see now that you flavored the pork with it. Sorry – I missed it the first time around.
Oh Jen, these are GORGEOUS! I could eat these all day long. And then be 300 pounds. But god, I love egg (er, spring, er… whatever) rolls. Thanks for the step by step and making them look so easy.
Great guest post and egg roll recipe!!
It has always been a conundrum for me, spring roll vs. egg roll. But I am not so much interested in the nomenclature as with the taste, and this sounds perfect. I really do want to try the bean paste rolls as well. Thanks for sharing your egg roll recipe.
LL
Wow! I really like the idea of making some dessert savoury style! Thank you for inviting my favourite blogger onto Rasa Malaysia too!
These look delicious! I love the use of mushrooms.
When I was growing up, my Cambodian friends and I always reserved the term “spring roll” exclusively for freshly sliced veggies, pork, and shrimp (mixture varies) wrapped in a rice paper roll that had been soaked in hot water til pliable. That’s always what I think of when I hear “spring roll” and it wasn’t until recently that I realized that a spring roll could refer to something else entirely! I still consider anything deep fried, no matter the skin, to be an egg roll. Thanks for your egg roll recipe.
wa… it looks yummy and not difficult to prepare.. thanks.. will try it this egg roll recipe this weekend.:P
my aunt wraps fresh banana in her egg roll recipe…taste as good as the red bean :)
These remind me of our lumpia…yummy egg roll recipe!
Beautiful egg rolls, Jen! I’m so unused to fried egg rolls that don’t have ground meat in them :) But these look just about perfect– thanks for sharing the egg roll recipe! :)
Thanks everyone for your kind comments! I try to justify the frying with all of the crunchy and delicious vegetables on the inside :) Loved reading other variations on the ingredients too. Again, thank you, Bee, for having me! xxoo
yumyumyum! I too find “egg roll” and “spring roll” terms confusing but your egg roll recipe looks yum.
Looks amazing as usual Jen! I love spring rolls – and like you, I prefer the thinner crispier wrappers. Is it wrong I want take that filling and eat it up with a spoon in a quiet corner all by myself? :) And thanks for introducing me to a new blog! Bee, this egg roll recipe looks great!
Bee, Jen looks really good! If you make it all veggie then its like popiah with sambal :)
I’ve been craving “wet popiah” lately – do you know what I’m talking about? Its like a cross between rice paper that Vietnamese rolls are made of and this egg/spring roll wrapper with the sauce smeared on the inside. In Malaysia you can buy it at the wet market but how to make or buy in the US?? *sniff*
AnakM – I know wet popiah. I saw the popiah skin here in the US. I am going to make it sooner or later. ;)
how do you make the egg roll sauce? can you provide it in your egg roll recipe?
Can you provide a receip for making fresh noodle
you write what the difference between egg roll and spring roll…………..
A egg roll is deep fried and results in a hard crispy skin, a spring roll is made of a rice wrap never fried resulting in a soft skin and dipped in peanut sauce. A spring roll is healthier for those who dont want to eat fried foods.