If it isn’t obvious by now, I’m a relative noob when it comes to cooking. I started taking an interest in preparing food five years ago, during my second year of college, when I finally felt independence (no more dorms!) and food wasn’t constantly a stumble away. I started thinking about making tasty food four years ago when I lived with my grandmother for two summers (more on that in many future posts). And I didn’t start taking an interest in preparing my own food creations until a couple years ago. As I continue learning how to chuck ingredients together at certain times in certain doses, I’m occasionally amazed at some of the foodstuff we buy in restaurants that can be made just as scrumptious and for waaaaaay fewer little green rectangles.
For me, egg rolls are the epitome of this cheaper-and-better category. Maybe it’s because the Chinese cuisine in San Luis Obispo is ridiculously sub par. With the exception of one place in town, it’s downright horrible. The good news is anybody, even a white kid from the Olive City can wrap up some tasty egg rolls at home for nearly nothing. I got about 32 rolls out of the following recipe for seven bucks.
What I Used
Egg Rolls
- Ground Pork
- Bok Choy, rough chopped
- Carrots, julienned
- Egg Roll Wrappers
- Soy Sauce
- Ginger, chopped
- Flour
Dipping Sauce
- Luscious Soy Paste
- Rice Cooking Wine
- Ginger
What I Did
Egg Rolls
- Combine ginger and ground pork and brown in skillet on medium heat, set aside in mixing bowl
- Stir fry bok choy on high with a splash of soy for a couple minutes until tender, add to bowl
- Repeat for carrots
- Mix bowl contents together
- Make a flour paste out of flour and water to use for sealing edges
- Lay out wrapper with one corner point at you
- Place a couple tablespoons or so (depending on wrapper size) near front corner
- Fold front corner away from you and over filling, then fold the side corners in to the center
- Continue folding tightly away until you almost hit the far corner
- Slop a tiny bit of flour paste onto the inside of the far corner and fold up to seal
- Drop into a vat of hot oil (canola in my case) as close to 450° as possible until crispy brown
- Move to paper towel or drying rack, let cool and dry, serve
Dipping Sauce
- Stir ingredients together and cook on low-medium heat for 20 minutes
- Bottle and/or serve
Here’s where I throw in the disclaimers. First, the dipping sauce is not traditional, nor by what I can tell even suitable for egg rolls. I just had the stuff around in the right quantities and I figured it would taste ok. The good news is the sauce does still taste good so if traditional dipping sauces isn’t a big deal, rock on.
Second, this actually comes out a bit bland in my opinion. My neighbors and family enjoyed stuffing their faces but I think this needs a much stronger savory note. Suggestions please?!
5 Comments
p.s. for fried egg rolls, sweet and sour sauce is yummy. as far as the actual egg rolls, try oyster sauce. that tends to solve everything in chinese cooking.
Nice job, sir. If things are a little bland, you could always fall back on more butter, salt, fat or meat juices. None of which is healthy, but if you’re frying egg rolls, you might as well go all the way, haha.
I’ve never bought into the idea that cooking at home saves money. Time to prepare & clean, equipment costs and better ingredients usually makes eating out a more economical option for me.
With that said, I still cook (a lot) because I enjoy the process and still believe it’s worth it, but it’s rarely cheaper, in my case.
Come write for Cut & Taste. Our site has more pink than yours.
This made me think of our bowling trip to Reno, and our journey to find the cheapest, (worst) food we could find. That Pho soup was a bowl full of orgasm, and those Imperial rolls were tits. Hey, looks like your using wonton skins for those rolls. You could try Lumpia wrappers if you like that lighter, crispier texture in a roll. Also, Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce or Sri Racha are my condiments of choice. Might also add a smidge of garlic or a good quality hoisin sauce to your stir fry for the rolls to add some more depth to it.
White Boy egg rolls eh? :) These are similar to what I call Scott’s Eggrolls. I use ground beef instead of pork. For the mixture I also add onions and garlic. I cut the onions really thin in long strips (cut onion in half, then slice thin). I have experimented with ginger in my mix, but I haven’t found the right amount. The ginger can be very overpowering to the taste. I also use bean sprouts. Suggestion: add the boy chok at the very end, some of the freshness of the “choy” will come thru more. I have been making my egg rolls for family, friends, co-workers and complete strangers for over 23 years and so I’m craving some now (I’m aging myself). I’ll post my egg rolling in my next post! Thanks Caleb for making me hungry! :)
where the hell did you get bok choy in san luis?!
wait, i seem to remember there being bok choy at like ralph’s and von’s. but they looked sort of pathetic, not quite the same stalks of bok choy i am used to from 99 ranch and marina markets. man, i love my people’s food.