I have a confession. I am a compulsive menu planner. I can't help it, it's been 3 years since I started planning weekly menus and I can't stop. A year or so ago, just to make the planning easier, I assigned a type of food for each day. Monday - Mexican, Tuesday - pasta, Wednesday - stir-fry/vegetarian, Thursday - crock pot, Friday - Fun Food, Saturday - something new, Sunday - something easy. I know. Welcome to my compulsive world. Now, I don't stick to that rotation all the time. And I am likely to cook a new recipe any night of the week. Also, I try to use whatever meat is on sale at our local grocery store (unless it's gizzards or frog legs, there I draw the line) so if I planned to cook a beef roast but faint when I see the price tag at the meat case then I will substitute something a little more budget friendly. All that to say that on Wednesday there is nothing that goes with a stir-fry like egg rolls. However, in my little town they are hard to find at the grocery store and the ones I unfortunately found were not fit to eat. Mystery meat substitutes are not something I'm eager to try. Thus began my journey into egg roll making. The main change I made to the recipes I found was to bake them instead of frying. You don't get quite the same crunchiness but you also don't have to fry 25 egg rolls and then deal with grease. And I don't know about you but I can do without eating deep fried anything. They are crisp, hot and delicious, I think you'll like them!
First of all you want to marinate a pound of ground pork or turkey with 3 Tablespoons of soy sauce, some minced garlic and ginger and a bit of salt. Brown that while you chop up a head of cabbage, shred some carrots and mince some more garlic. Or you could use a bag of cole slaw mix and be done with it. I've never tried it but it would work.
Throw the vegetables in with the meat and saute until the cabbage is soft. Season with more soy sauce and salt. You need a good amount of salt even though you have all that soy sauce. Pork and turkey can be pretty bland and cabbage is bland's middle name. Be brave and season it up! You want to taste it when the cabbage is done and then you can add more soy sauce or salt if it needs it.
Here is my filling, the egg roll wrappers and a dish of cornstarch and water to seal the wrappers. I buy my wrappers at Walmart in the produce section. Look in the refrigerated case with the tofu. About the cornstarch stuff, you can seal the wrappers with water but this cornstarch and water "slurry" works best. It's just a teaspoon of cornstarch in 2 Tablespoons of water.
So, let's get crackin'. Put about 2 or 3 Tablespoons of filling on the wrapper like this.
Fold the bottom corner up to cover the filling.
Dab some of the cornstarch/water mixture on the bottom corner you just folded up and fold the two side in and seal the tips to the moistened corner.
Moisten the top corner and tightly roll up the egg roll and seal to the top corner. There, you've made your own egg roll! Wouldn't your mama be proud?! Now pour about 3 Tablespoons of oil on the baking sheet and spread it around evenly. Set your egg roll on the oiled sheet and roll it over to coat all sides with the oil. Repeat with all the wrappers and filling. Slide the sheet into a 425 degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes, being sure to turn them every 10 minutes or so to brown all sides.
The most important thing is to not eat all of them yourself, try to share some with your family, it's hard but you can do it! And even if you do eat them all yourself they are really good for you with all those cruciferous vegetables and other stuff. Eat up!
I have a confession. I am a compulsive menu planner. I can't help it, it's been 3 years since I started planning weekly menus and I can't stop. A year or so ago, just to make the planning easier, I assigned a type of food for each day. Monday - Mexican, Tuesday - pasta, Wednesday - stir-fry/vegetarian, Thursday - crock pot, Friday - Fun Food, Saturday - something new, Sunday - something easy. I know. Welcome to my compulsive world. Now, I don't stick to that rotation all the time. And I am likely to cook a new recipe any night of the week. Also, I try to use whatever meat is on sale at our local grocery store (unless it's gizzards or frog legs, there I draw the line) so if I planned to cook a beef roast but faint when I see the price tag at the meat case then I will substitute something a little more budget friendly. All that to say that on Wednesday there is nothing that goes with a stir-fry like egg rolls. However, in my little town they are hard to find at the grocery store and the ones I unfortunately found were not fit to eat. Mystery meat substitutes are not something I'm eager to try. Thus began my journey into egg roll making. The main change I made to the recipes I found was to bake them instead of frying. You don't get quite the same crunchiness but you also don't have to fry 25 egg rolls and then deal with grease. And I don't know about you but I can do without eating deep fried anything. They are crisp, hot and delicious, I think you'll like them!
First of all you want to marinate a pound of ground pork or turkey with 3 Tablespoons of soy sauce, some minced garlic and ginger and a bit of salt. Brown that while you chop up a head of cabbage, shred some carrots and mince some more garlic. Or you could use a bag of cole slaw mix and be done with it. I've never tried it but it would work.
Throw the vegetables in with the meat and saute until the cabbage is soft. Season with more soy sauce and salt. You need a good amount of salt even though you have all that soy sauce. Pork and turkey can be pretty bland and cabbage is bland's middle name. Be brave and season it up! You want to taste it when the cabbage is done and then you can add more soy sauce or salt if it needs it.
Here is my filling, the egg roll wrappers and a dish of cornstarch and water to seal the wrappers. I buy my wrappers at Walmart in the produce section. Look in the refrigerated case with the tofu. About the cornstarch stuff, you can seal the wrappers with water but this cornstarch and water "slurry" works best. It's just a teaspoon of cornstarch in 2 Tablespoons of water.
So, let's get crackin'. Put about 2 or 3 Tablespoons of filling on the wrapper like this.
Fold the bottom corner up to cover the filling.
Dab some of the cornstarch/water mixture on the bottom corner you just folded up and fold the two side in and seal the tips to the moistened corner.
Moisten the top corner and tightly roll up the egg roll and seal to the top corner. There, you've made your own egg roll! Wouldn't your mama be proud?! Now pour about 3 Tablespoons of oil on the baking sheet and spread it around evenly. Set your egg roll on the oiled sheet and roll it over to coat all sides with the oil. Repeat with all the wrappers and filling. Slide the sheet into a 425 degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes, being sure to turn them every 10 minutes or so to brown all sides.
The most important thing is to not eat all of them yourself, try to share some with your family, it's hard but you can do it! And even if you do eat them all yourself they are really good for you with all those cruciferous vegetables and other stuff. Eat up!
2 comments:
Yum, yum, yum!!! I made potstickers just the other day, with a few baked wontons on the side. Now I think I must move on to egg rolls!!
I too am a compulsive weekly meal planner. It makes being consistent about cooking so much easier, and my grocery shopping SO much more inexpensive! Glad to know there are others out there who do it too!
You inspire me with all your recipes! I always love checking to see what you have come up with, and then making it here! That 1234 cake was one of my favorite things ever!!! Love you, friend!
I am so totally trying these soon!!! Thank you :)
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