How to Make Spring Rolls
When warm weather brings a bounty of colorful vegetables to the market, it's time to learn how to make spring rolls, featuring the season's finest produce. From bright orange carrots to verdant green onions, spring rolls can offer such a gorgeous rainbow of colors they're almost too pretty to eat!Contrary to popular belief, there isn't just one type of spring roll. Flip through a stack of Asian cookbooks and you'll find the term is wide reaching. In Vietnam, spring rolls often feature a translucent rice paper stuffed with pork, shrimp or tofu and various fresh herbs and vegetables; however a fried version featuring rice paper (referred to as an egg roll) is common as well. Taiwan also has fried and non-fried spring rolls, filled with meat and pre-cooked vegetables. China's spring rolls--commonly called egg rolls--are usually on the sweeter side.
When deep-frying spring rolls, be sure to use a neutral-tasting oil, such as peanut or canola; also be sure to keep a deep-fry thermometer on hand to regulate the temperature of the oil. For a healthier version, brush rolls lightly with oil or cooking spray and bake in the oven until golden-brown and crisp. No matter how you make them, don't forget a dipping sauce.
Transcript
-Hey everyone, I'm Judith. Well, today, I'll be showing with
you one of my favorite appetizers, light and crispy egg
rolls. So, what you'll need to prepare this is nonstick
cooking spray; 2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil or canola
oil, today we'll be using sesame oil; 8 ounces of
lean pork loin cut into half inch pieces or ground
pork;
today, we'll be using lean pork loin; 1/2 a cup
of chopped red sweet pepper; 1 teaspoon of grated fresh
ginger or quarter teaspoon of ground ginger, we'll be using
ground ginger; 1 clove of garlic, minced; 3/4 cup of
finely chopped bok choy or Chinese cabbage, we'll be using
bok choy; 1/2 cup of chopped canned water chestnuts; 1/2
cup of coarsely shredded carrots; 1/4 cup of sliced green
onions;
1/4 cup of bottled light Asian sesame-ginger vinaigrette; an 8
egg roll wrappers. Alright, so, there's a few steps for
this, but it's well worth it. So, in a large
skillet net to us, we're gonna get it a medium
heat and we're gonna add in our oil to that.
Let that get nice and not and then we're gonna
add in our pork, our garlic and our ginger. Now,
we're using pork loin, which we've cut into half inch
pieces.
Obviously, if you're using ground pork, that works fine too.
So, in goes the pork; the garlic, the minced garlic
goes in there too. The sweet pepper goes in here
too; and our lovely ground ginger. So, lots of fantastic
Asian flavors in there.
So, we're gonna cut that unto the pork is done
and no longer pink about 4 minutes. As our pork
is cooking, we preheated our oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit,
and on a baking sheet right here, we sprayed it
with some cooking spray. So, that is ready to go,
so you can set that aside. So, our pork is
just about done. It's been about 3 to 4 minutes
in there. It's no longer pink, all cooked through.
So, now we're gonna add in the remainder of our
ingredients. So, in goes the bok choy or the chinese
cabbage if you're using that, the carrots, and this is
all gonna give a lovely freshness to the egg roll.
The green onions in there too, and rolled a chestnuts,
the sea vegetables, which is just gonna give it a
really nice crunch. Now, if you're using ground pork, make
sure to drain any excess fat from the pan before
you add in all these other ingredients.
So, give that a good stir, and we're gonna cook
that for about another minute, and look at that really
beautiful, colorful, lots of different textures there with the chestnuts,
the sweet peppers, the pork, that is looking like a
great filling,
and so last, but not the least, let's add in
our sesame ginger vinaigrette, really, really beautiful flavors and that
is just gonna go in there, so we'll give that
a good stir, fantastic. An egg roll is commonly eaten
in Vietnam and in Chinese cuisine as well, really delicious
and I love to use them as an appetizer when
I'm throwing little parties.
Okay, that is looking good. So, once all that is
in there, we're gonna let it cool slightly, and then
we'll get egg roll wrapping. So, once our pork mixture
is cooled slightly. It's now time to wrap our egg
rolls. So, we have our egg roll wrap here, which
you can get at most super markets and in the
ethnic section, and what we gonna do is just lay
it flat on your board
with one of the points towards you. Now, let's get
a small spoonful of our mixture and just below center,
more towards you, we're gonna put in a little bit
like that, there. Now, for the wrapping, we're gonna take
this point and fold it over, and make sure it
nice to fold it over like so. Then, we're gonna
take the sides,
and we're gonna fold it like a little envelop, so
one side over the other, and then we're just gonna
take it and warp. So, all the way to the
other side, and for the last point, let's just put
a little bit water there, so it sticks. So, now
we're gonna put that seam side down onto your baking
sheets. So, let's do another one. We're gonna repeat this
with all of our egg wrappers.
Now, be careful because obviously. These egg wrappers are very,
very fine. They rip easily, so just be nice and
careful with them when you're wrapping. So, little bit of
the mixture, not too much because you don't want it
to rip. Pointed edge over the mixture, get that sealed,
get those edges sealed and wrap one side, wrap the
other and then fold until you get to other side,
wrap the other, and then fold until you get to
the other side, and once you get to the last
remaining point, got a little bit of water onto there
to seal it, seam side down onto our sprayed baking
sheet. Alright, so, we're gonna repeat with the rest of
our egg roll wrappers. So, our egg rolls are all
wrapped up. We place them sea side down on our
baking sheet,
and now what we wanna do is just spray the
tops and the sides with a little bit of cooking
spray, and this will prevent them from burning when we
put them in the oven. Alright, so they're gonna go
into the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15
to 18 minutes until they are nice golden brown. Well,
we've taken our egg rolls from out of the oven.
They been in there for about 15 minutes and as
you can see, they are light, crispy, golden brown just
as we want them. So, let them cool before you
serve,
but that is it. Serve it with a little bit
of that sesame ginger dressing always works well. So, that's
how you make light and crisp egg rolls.
What You'll Need
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil or canola oil
- 8 ounces lean pork loin, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, or ground pork
- 1/2 cup chopped red sweet pepper
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup finely chopped bok choy or Chinese (napa) cabbage
- 1/2 cup chopped canned water chestnuts
- 1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrot
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions
- 1/4 cup bottled light Asian sesame ginger vinaigrette
- 8 egg roll wrappers
Step By Step
1
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly coat a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. For filling: In a medium nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork, sweet pepper, ginger, and garlic. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until pork is no longer pink, stirring occasionally. If using ground pork, drain off fat. Add bok choy, water chestnuts, carrot, and green onions to pork mixture in skillet. Cook and stir about 1 minute more or until any liquid evaporates. Stir in vinaigrette. Cool filling slightly.
2
For each egg roll, place an egg roll wrapper on a flat surface with a corner pointing toward you. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the filling across and just below center of each egg roll wrapper. Fold bottom corner over filling, tucking it under on the other side. Fold side corners over filling, forming an envelope shape. Roll egg roll toward remaining corner. Moisten top corner with water; press firmly to seal.
3
Place egg rolls, seam sides down, on the prepared baking sheet. Coat the tops and sides of the egg rolls with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until egg rolls are golden brown and crisp. Cool slightly before serving.
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