Mama Ruthie's Chinese Egg Rolls

Mama Ruthie’s Chinese Egg Rolls Recipe Rules Mama’s Rule #1: Your egg roll filling ingredients must be drained of excess moisture and cooled before rolling. Soggy, hot filling makes soggy egg rolls. Mama’s Rule #2: Use the right kind of wrapper. The size I get is 8 x 8 inches (20 x 20 cm) around and come 25 wrappers to a package. These wrappers are light, paper-thin and fry up to a shatteringly crisp crunch. Oh yes, before I forget – “spring roll” and “egg roll” are interchangeable and mean the same thing. Sometimes my regular American grocery store will have “spring roll pasta sheets” that are in the refrigerated produce section. Do not use those – they are way too thick! Let’s just say that if it has Italian writing on the package, it probably ain’t the good stuff for Chinese egg rolls. Rule#2A. Treat the wrapper right. You also want to keep the wrappers covered with a damp towel at all times to prevent the edges from drying and cracking. Mama’s Rule #3: Roll small and tight! Sloppy and loosely rolled egg rolls will break apart and allow oil to seep into the inside of the roll. Mama says baaaad. One time I was watching a celebrity chef on television making monster egg rolls the size of a cola can. Who in the heck can wrap their mouths around that thing? It looked hideous. Mama’s egg rolls are elegant and skinny. Don’t be too greedy and overstuff them! And roll them tight so that the filling doesn’t fall out while frying! Remember the days when you were younger and rolled your own…um…cigarette? Channel those rolling skills back. Mama’s Rule #4: Lay the rolled egg rolls neatly with a piece of parchment, foil or wax paper in between each layer if you are stacking them on top of each other. Keep them covered with plastic wrap or a towel to prevent drying. If you are freezing, freeze them in like this first. Once frozen, you can gather them up and transfer them to a plastic freezer bag. If you roll them out and jumble them all together in a big pile, they’ll eventually stick to each other and you’ll tear the delicate skin trying to pry them apart. Step 1 Lift the bottom corner up and begin rolling until you reach halfway up. Step 2 Fold over the left side, and then the right side towards the center. Step 3 Continue folding up with a tuck-roll-tuck-roll motion. Dip your fingers into the cornstarch slurry ( 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup of cool water to seal egg roll ) and brush all over the final top corner. Finish up the roll, seal and place seam side down. Mother's Famous Chinese Egg Rolls Recipe Servings: Makes 50 egg rolls Prep Time: 60 minutes Cook Time: Once you make these egg rolls, you'll never make them any other way! Make sure you get the correct egg roll wrappers. They should be FROZEN and very thin, almost paper thin. Do not use egg roll wrapper found in the refrigerated section (usually near tofu) in Western supermarket - they make starchy, thick, gooey egg rolls with big bubbles on outside when you fry. It's important to make sure you keep your wrapper and rolled egg rolls under plastic wrap so that they do not dry out! 50 Spring/Egg Roll Wrappers (about 2 packages), defrosted unopened at room temperature for 45 minutes or in the refrigerator overnight 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup of cool water to seal egg roll Cooking oil, for frying 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 pound ground pork ½ head of cabbage (about 11 ounces) 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded 1 cup julienned carrots 2 cloves garlic, very finely minced 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry) 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon sesame oil Freshly ground black pepper Directions: 1. To make the filling, in a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, cornstarch and pork. Marinate at least 10 minutes. In the meantime, shred the cabbage and the carrots using your food processor or by hand. Slice the mushrooms into very thin strips (or you could use your food processor and pulse a few times to get a fine dice. 2. Heat a wok or large sauté pan over high heat. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the marinated pork and stir-fry until no longer pink, about 2-3 minutes. Turn heat to medium-low, push the meat to one side of the pan. Add the garlic, cabbage, carrots, ginger and the mushrooms, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and black pepper. Scoop out the filling to a baking sheet and spread out to cool. Prop up one end of the baking sheet so that it tilts and will allow all the moisture to drain to one end. Let cool for 15 minutes. 3. Discard all of the accumulated juices. Use paper towels to blot the filling to rid of extra oil or juice. Now, you're ready to wrap (see photos for instructions on how to wrap). IMPORTANT: Only use 1 heaping tablespoon of filling for each egg roll. Lay the wrapper on a clean, dry surface as shown. Spoon just a heaping tablespoon of filling near the bottom corner. Resist the urge to over stuff with too much filling! These are slender egg rolls, the width of the egg roll should only be 1.25" diameter. Keep the rolled egg rolls in neat, single layer and covered Lay the wrapper on a clean, dry surface as shown. Spoon just a heaping tablespoon of filling near the bottom corner. Resist the urge to over stuff with too much filling! with plastic wrap to prevent drying. If you want to stack the egg rolls, make sure you have layer of parchment paper in between the layers to prevent sticking. Keep wrappers also covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Refrigerate up to 4 hours until ready to fry or freeze. 4. To fry the egg rolls, fill a wok or pot with 2 inches of high-heat cooking oil. Heat the oil to 350°F (175°C) or until a cube of bread will fry to golden brown within 10 seconds. Gently slide in or lower the egg rolls, frying 4 to 6 at a time, turning occasionally until golden brown about 1½ minutes. Place on wire rack to drain and cool. NOTE: To fry frozen egg rolls, do not defrost the egg rolls – just add them to the oil frozen, frying 4 to 6 at a time. Add an additional 1½ minutes to the frying time since they are frozen. Absolutely do not cook the vegetables. I let the meat cool, mix with all the shredded vegetables, season with salt pepper sugar and soy sauce, toss well and fill immediately… then freeze!!! and its crisp and delightful to eat. I urge you to try it this way! For me when I’m making rolls, I prefer not cooking it and especially when there are vegetables added. I like the taste better when the filling is not cook. Because when i deep fry it, it is cook all the way through. To avoid it from being oily, i use 3 layers of tissue in a bowl and place the cooked rolls vertically One thing I might have done different is use less filling in each egg roll. Mine resembled fat cigars and prone to rip. No. Egg rolls are meant to be fried. Also the wrappers discussed are for spring rolls. My mother was taught to make these in 1967 by our Asian neighbor. Dump the carrots add bamboo shoots and water chestnuts for proper egg rolls. We always fried all of the egg rolls at once and put what was set for later into plastic bags in the freezer. Just heat them in a toaster oven later which is much easier than frying another batch. You can use any cabbage. I actually prefer regular cabbage because it has less water content than napa cabbage or Taiwan cabbage. What dipping sauces are best? Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, Sweet and Sour Sauce, black vinegar. TIPS: I use ground pork ,water chestnut, carrots ,green beans ,celery and green onions in my filling…cabbage and bean sprouts seem to go sour in my filling .

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