Pork Egg Rolls

I know what you are thinking, "why would I make egg rolls when I can buy them super cheap at a Chinese restaurant?" Well, my friend, because these are awesome thats why.  Super fresh, not greasy and tasty as hell.  That's why.  

Some may say I have a slight obsession with Chinese Take Out Fake Outs.  I mean I guess I have made Sweet and Sour Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, Beef with Broccoli, Cold Asian Noodle Salad, and Pork Fried Rice.  This is another fantastic recipe to add to the list…and I have another coming soon. 

Musical Selection: Some Nights by: Fun.  Hubsbear picked the music today--solid choice. 

Start by dicing up a bunch of different veggies in a food processor.  It looks like a lot but this was so easy to do!  Start with water chestnuts

Garlic

Carrots

Mushrooms--gross...but good in this...

Celery...

Green onion

And ginger.  Pulse until they are very finely minced.

Take some bok choy.  Look at this little cutie...

And chop it up.

Stir in with the minced up veggies.

Next, make a little marinade for the meat.  Start with soy sauce

Sugar

And corn starch.  Stir just to combine

Add to 1lb of ground pork.  Let this sit for 15 minutes or so.

Preheat a large wok (or skillet) with some canola or vegetable oil.

Add the pork and break up with a spatula or weird wooden tool that you don't know the name of but works perfectly.

Next, mix up the sauce for the whole mixture. For some reason all of my pictures are super blurry. My bad.  Take soy sauce

Sugar...

Salt (omit if using full sodium soy sauce)

Sesame seed oil

Rice wine vinegar

And black pepper.  Stir to combine. Set aside for now.

Looks like the meat is fully cooked so...

Add the veggies and stir for about 2 minutes or until the cabbage is just starting to wilt.

Add the sauce and cook for another 30 seconds or so.

Spread this mixture out on a baking sheet.  In the origional instructions it says to prop it up so the liquid can come to one end.  That didn't work.  I just patted it with a paper towel.  As my husband would say, you do you.

Now for the folding.  Don't get me wrong, I am not by any means an expert and I didn't exactly follow the instructions from the origional recipe.  But, they were not greasy and turned out fantastic, thank you.

So, place the wrapper on a plate so it is in the shape of a diamond.  In the bottom point add about two tablespoons of the mixture.

Roll to the middle

Tuck the sides in

Moisten the top point and finish rolling.  Super easy.  For real.

Here they are, all rolled up.  This took a while, that is a lot of mixture to roll but it is worth it.  Mine aren't 100% the same size but they all took the same amount to cook so its okay. 

Since it was just the two of us for dinner, I decided to freeze the left overs.  I placed them on a tinfoil lined baking pan and popped them into the freezer.  Once they were completely frozen I put them in a freezer bag and marked the bag.  Apparently (I haven't tried yet) you can take these directly from the freezer and fry them, just a few minutes extra since they will be frozen rock solid.  I will try that out and update after I see if it works.

If you are cool like me, well uncool like me, preheat the oil and use a piece of bread for a thermometer. If it turns golden brown in 10 seconds it is 350 degrees.  Not exactly perfect science, see the pictures below...I thought it was too dangerous to take pictures and fry--they were super quick to cook.

Once they are done frying, place them on a metal cooling wrack over a cookie sheet.

Absolute egg roll perfection.  Crispy exterior fresh and flavorful interior.

That amazing Spicy Basil Chicken, ah yeah, the recipe is coming soon.

Pork Egg Rolls

25 Spring/Egg Roll Wrappers 

1/4 cup waterOil, for frying

FOR THE GROUND PORK 

1 pound ground pork

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon sugar

freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE VEGETABLES

4 tablespoons water chestnuts

2 to 3 cloves garlic

3 carrots

1x2 inch square of fresh ginger grated fresh ginger6 fresh mushrooms 

2 green onions (scallions)

1 stalk celery

½ head of cabbage (about 11 ounces)
1 tablespoon cooking oil (canola, vegetable, peanut)

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Freshly ground black pepper

To make the filling, combine the ingredients for the ground pork together. Marinate at least 10 minutes. 

In the meantime, shred the cabbage.  Put the remaining vegetables in a food processor until finely minced.  

Heat a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the pork and stir-fry until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Turn heat to medium-low, push the meat to one side of the pan. Add the vegetables and stir-fry for 2 minutes, or until they are softened. Add the rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and black pepper. Continue to stir-fry for another minute. Scoop out the filling to a baking sheet and spread out to cool. Let cool for 15 minutes.

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). Use about 1 heaping tablespoon of filling for each egg roll.  

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.

Recipe slightly modified from: here