Pages

Friday, February 11, 2011

Grandma's egg rolls with a twist

Grandma's egg rolls are highly coveted. No joke! Not only within our family but with most of our friends as well! She made them once for Belle's first birthday and anyone who has had them asks when she is making them again! They are really nothing like what you get at fast food restaurants or even higher end Asian restaurants. With meat being the main ingredient they are hearty and delicious! I put my own little twist on them and Grandma agrees they are even better than before!

Ingredients:
2 packs of fresh egg roll wrappers (found in the "health food" section usually even at Fry's {Kroger})
package of fresh bean sprouts (rinsed)
1 head napa cabbage
2 cloves of garlic minced
3 scallions diced
1 lb of ground beef (if you don't eat read meat you could sub it for ground turkey or chicken I suppose even tofu?)
salt, pepper, and soy sauce to taste

The twist: Grandma does NOT add garlic, scallions, or soy sauce. I did because I was worried about them being bland. Hers never are and I'm not entirely sure why. So if you don't have garlic, scallions, or soy sauce no biggie just leave them out! 



Put the ground beef into a pan and cook until it is grey-ish in color and really finely chopped up. Grandma says "chop chop chop" in her little Korean accent. I wish I could record it to play to you guys because it plays over and over in my head as I was making this!


I use my pampered chef mix and chop to "chop chop chop" and it worked like a charm. If you don't have one no biggie just use a wooden spoon!


Rinse the bean sprouts and add them to them to the pot. You can cut them in half if you like. But you dont have to. They will wilt down quite a bit.


Grab 6-ish leaves (more if you like more, remember this will cook down to about half) off of your napa cabbage and give them a nice chiffonade (finely chopped). Not a dice you want little strips. Then add those to the pot too.


Let this stuff cook until the veggies are softened. About 5 minutes or so. Until it looks like this.


Season with seasoned salt and pepper and a little soy sauce if you like.


Once all the veggies are cooked and it is seasoned to your taste dump it all into a strainer. No one wants a soggy egg roll!

This is the only brand I've ever seen. So I'm sure whatever you grocer has will be fine!

Grab a small bowl of water and get your pack of egg roll wrappers. Turn them so the look like a diamond.


Put a small amount inside. Probably 2 tablespoons of filling.


Take two fingers and put some water on the top two sides of your diamond. I usually use my right hand but it was snapping away so I used my left. haha The water will help "seal" the wrapper together.


Tuck the top corner up.


Then each side in.


Finally roll them up.


And set them on a pan. Until you are ready to fry.

This is the preferred way of freezing. So that they dont stick together.
At this point they can either be frozen or fried. If you decide to freeze them, leave them on your tray and let them get frozen before throwing them into a ziploc bag. Otherwise they will stick together. If you are low on freezer space (which we always are) and can't fit a half sheet into your freezer you could flour them before throwing them into a ziploc bag and then just toss them in the freezer. Make sure to lay them out to defrost or as they are defrosting they will stick together.


So we are ready to fry them! Put them in a pan with about a half to an inch of hot oil and fry until golden brown. Make sure they are seam side down. So where you sealed them goes down so they wont open up while they are cooking.




Finally grab a mixing bowl lined with paper towels and a small coffee mug and set them up right so that all the grease drains out of them.


Enjoy! In our house we put a little bit of soy sauce or tabasco into them when eating! Like a couple drops into each bite. haha

So go out make these, you will never want another egg roll again! Trust me!

Love and Hugs,





Linking up with...

 UndertheTableandDreaming

7 comments:

  1. Ooh! I'm so excited to try this! These look delicious! How do you think they will taste if I use soy ground burger?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVED these! So much better than at a restaurant, Tam I am sure they would be great with burger crumbles. Can we come over that night?!

    ReplyDelete
  3. YUUUMMMM, I love egg rolls! I'm going to have to try these :) Thanks for sharing your recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  4. These look delicious, they look similar to a Chiko roll which we have in Australia.
    I have never seen egg roll wrappers here but will try my Asian Grocer.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mmmm...I love the egg rolls I make too. Nothing like a homemade egg roll. My recipe is a bit different, but we love it. For a dipping option, we mince fresh garlic into a small bowl of rice vinegar. It's yummy, but you may want to only eat it if you are not visiting with anyone the next day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. YOU ARE THE MOST TALENTED PERSON I KNOW! JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW! HUGS KIM:)

    ReplyDelete