Chinese New Year – Egg Rolls and Sauce

Every year we celebrate Chinese New Year with Egg Rolls and Sauce. We’re not Asian, but it’s a thing we do. I love things pertaining to Japanese culture-anime, their office supplies (check out JetPens.com if you’re interested), their design aesthetic. Really though, we’re just looking for a good excuse to have egg rolls!

This is another recipe that came from my grandparents’ time in the military. The recipe is simple-the most difficult aspect is folding them, and we made a video demonstrating how to do that.

First you chop all of your cabbage, carrots, and celery and put them in a large stock pot with 1-2 inches of water. If you have a stock pot with a strainer insert it makes it a lot easier later. You let that all cook down until the vegetables are tender. Fry your ground beef and pork (you can do this in the same skillet) until they are browned then drain the grease. Thaw your shrimp if they are frozen, remove the tails, and chop them into 1/4 inch pieces.

Add the shrimp, beef, pork, and bean sprouts to the mixture in the stock pot and cook it until it is heated through. Once it is all heated you need to drain it. You’ll need to do this in batches with a colander or if you have a stock pot with the colander insert you can do it all at once. At this point you can place it in a bowl to refrigerate or you can wrap and cook the egg rolls immediately.

To wrap and cook the egg rolls preheat your deep fryer to 400º. This is how you wrap them:

Gently drop the egg rolls one at a time into the hot oil and fry them until they are golden brown. Remove them from the oil and place them on a plate with paper towels to drain.

To cook the sauce mix all ingredients with a whisk in a saucepan. Heat on high until it starts to boil. Turn heat down slightly and whisk for about a minute or until the sauce starts to thicken. Strain out the garlic. This sauce can also be refrigerated and reheated.

I hope you enjoy our tradition as well as we do!

Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

• 3-4 packages Egg Roll Wrappers (be sure they are for egg rolls and not spring rolls)
• 3 large heads Green Cabbage, chopped coarsely
• 1 head Nappa Cabbage, chopped coarsely
• 5-6 Carrots, diced fine
• 5-6 ribs of Celery, diced fine
• 3-4 cans Bean Sprouts
• 1 lb. Ground Beef, cooked and drained
• 1 lb. Ground Pork, cooked and drained
• 1 lb. Cooked Shrimp, chopped
• Soy Sauce
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions:

1. Add cabbage, carrots, and celery to stock pot with 1-2 inches of water. Cook covered on medium-high to steam until vegetables are tender.
2. Add ground beef, ground pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts. Cook until heated through.
3. Drain mixture and place in bowl.
4. Preheat deep fryer to 400º F.
5. Place a spoonful of the filling onto a wrapper with one point facing you. Fold up the bottom point to wrap around filling. Fold in the two sides. Fold the top point down, sealing the edge with your fingers dipped in water.
6. Gently drop into hot oil and fry until golden brown. Let drain on paper towels.

Egg Roll Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Water
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 2 or 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped fine
• 3 1/2 tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup Sugar

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients in saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Turn heat down to medium-high and let boil for 1 minute or until sauce begins to thicken.
4. Strain out garlic.