Monday’s Bread Bowl: Pork Spring Rolls

Crispy Asian Tidbits

Stuffing and then rolling these requires a delicate hand and some patience.  Yes, we encourage you to try making these.  Plus the frying part is always fun.

What you will need:

1 cutting board

1 large mixing bowl

1 metal pair of tongs

1 small bowl, for egg wash

1 wooden spoon

1 large fry pan

1 metal baking pan w/ wire rack

1 metal baking sheet

1 small spoon

Wax paper

1 ½ - 2 lbs ground pork

3 to 4 medium-sized carrots, diced small

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 ½ cups cooking oil

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped small

1 large pepper, seeded and finely chopped (We used a poblano.)

1 (19 oz.) can bamboo shoots, finely chopped

1 (15. Oz) can quail eggs, minced

1 (8 oz.) pack spring roll pastry (50 sheets), frozen

1 egg, beaten

Dash of soy sauce to taste

Cooking and Directions:

Meat filling

Heat pan at medium-high heat.  Add canola oil, onion, and garlic.  Sautee until onion turn translucent.  Pour in ground pork and let meat brown.   Crumble with wooden spoon.  Toss well.  Pour in carrots, bamboo shoots, pepper, and quail egg.  Add soy sauce and stir well.  Let ingredients cook for another 10 minutes until veggies are tender.  Remove pan from stove.  Ingredients must reach room temperature before stuffing pastry wraps.

Stuffing spring rolls

Move pastry sheets from freezer to fridge and allow them to defrost overnight for prep the next day.  Layout cutting board and cover with wax paper.  Have meat filling on hand with small spoon.  Place one leaf of pastry wrap on paper.  Carefully stuff and roll each wrap with 1 to 2 spoons of meat filling.  Slather on some egg wash while rolling to seal the spring roll.  Repeat process until you run out of meat stuffing.  The finished rolls should look like logs that can be stacked and lined up with each other.  You may choose to freeze spring rolls at this point to fry later.

Frying spring rolls

Set fry pan over medium-high heat.  Pour in cooking oil.  Let oil heat up to 350 degrees.  Gently place and drop spring rolls into pan.  Fry 5 to 8 rolls at a time depending on the size of the rolls for 8 minutes until crispy.  Rolls should turn a golden-brown color.  Pull out rolls and set on wire rack over baking pan.  Let them for at least 5 minutes before serving.