Egg Rolls! But first, a note from Kami.....

Dear Friends,

I am so excited to have finally started my food blog! I have been wanting to make one for quite some time. I am always looking for new recipes and cooking ideas to try, and since I find myself talking about this so often with my friends online, I figured I'd make it easy by creating a site just for this purpose; to share pics and experiences of the food I make for myself and my family.

I really hope you enjoy what you see here, and let me know if you decide to try any of the recipes! I would love to hear about it! 


- Kami

Today's recipe is not my own recipe. It was forwarded to me by my friend Angel. This is an authentic Vietnamese egg roll recipe. It took me almost a year to finally try this recipe out after Angel sent it to me. I finally got around to making them in early December of this past year and now I do not know why I waited so long to make them. The process was way easier than I thought it would be. It also gave me a reason to use the food chopper that my in-laws gave us as a wedding gift, too.

I did cheat a little though. I did not buy a whole head of cabbage, and I did not grate my own carrots. I bought a bag of coleslaw mix for the cabbage instead, and the carrots were pre-shredded. I know I spent more money than I had to because of that, but I was feeling lazy! I still think they turned out great though.

Be prepared to have a large batch that makes between 20 and 30 egg rolls! The mix freezes well, so you can easily freeze it for later. That is also what I did with mine.

Ingredients
1 head of green cabbage
1 small onion
4-5 peeled and grated carrots
2 C bean sprouts, roughly chopped
2 tsp. fresh, chopped ginger
(If you opt to use ground ginger, use just a pinch or two. It's very strong)
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
2-3 roasted (or boiled) chicken breasts, diced finely
2 eggs
salt & pepper to taste
soy sauce
sesame seed oil
egg roll or spring roll wrappers (not rice paper spring roll wrappers)
vegetable oil for frying





Directions
In food processor, chop up your cabbage and onion in batches. You can also add your ginger and garlic into one of the batches to get it finely chopped. In a large bowl, mix up all of the vegetables until well blended.

In a large pot, heat a couple tsps. of sesame seed oil and then add half of the cabbage mixture. If you add the whole mixture, it'll be really hard to work with. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, adding salt & pepper to your taste. If you use soy sauce, remember that it's extremely salty. I omit it. You'll notice that the mixture cooks down and renders a lot of juice, so I drain it really well into a colander, pushing down with a spoon to get as much juice out. Put mixture back into the pot and then add half your chicken to heat through. Add 1 egg and just mix it in. Cook for a couple of minutes until you know the egg has been incorporated and cooked in. Place mixture into a large bowl and then do the same thing with the other half. Let mixture cool for about 10 minutes before working with it.

Use a damp towel or paper towels to keep the wrappers moist. Pull apart and set on the counter. In one corner of the wrapper, add about 2 TBSP of mixture. Roll up, pulling in the sides like a burrito. Dip your finger in water and use on the last edge to seal the egg roll. Make sure you pull it all tightly because it will fall apart in the oil if it's done clumsily. Repeat until mixture is gone.

Fry them up a few at a time until golden brown and enjoy!



Note from Angel:
I use spring roll wrappers rather than egg roll wrappers because they're thinner and get crispy. The egg roll wrappers require a longer cooking time because it's thicker and you have to make sure all the inside part gets cooked or it'll taste like raw dough. You'll find the wrappers in the frozen section of the Asian store. They thaw out very quickly! If you opt for the grocery store, you'll find them in the produce section where bagged salad is. That's also where the bean sprouts will be.
It seems like a lot of work, but it's really easy and so worth it. You get to decide what goes in, the sodium content and everything is fresh. I never buy them from the grocery store either, but using the wrappers used for spring rolls makes them so much better than what you'd get at any Chinese restaurant. Yum!