Octopus Pie

Pork-filled Eggrolls

These are not your usual cabbage stuffed fillers that come with the Pu-pu platter at your corner Chinese food restaurant. I gave up on those many years ago. This was one of the first “complicated” recipes I tried once I moved away to college. I loved feeding my roommates, and they loved when I made eggrolls. The key is fresh wrappers, time to allow the filling to cool completely before stuffing, and karma. Forget the tea leaves, I swear I can tell the weather by how these turn out. If your stressed, every third wrapper will rip in your hand or tear during stuffing. The act of wrapping the filling up into a tight little package is meditative, mesmerizing. I change the filling constantly, sometimes chunks of shrimp, sometimes a sweet dessert with cinnamon apples and raisins.

Ingredients

2 T. sesame oil (may need more)

1 # ground pork

1 T. peanut butter

1 c. cabbage (I love the color of the rolls with the purple cabbage)

3 stalks celery, chopped coarsely

3 scallions, chopped coarsely

1/2 c. shitake mushrooms, coarsely chopped

1/2 c. bean sprouts

2 T. fish sauce*

2 T. soy sauce

1 T. garlic chili sauce*

1/4 in. piece of fresh ginger minced

1 T. rice vinegar*

2 packages eggroll wrappers* (unless you live in the city, check the exp. date)

1 egg white

peanut oil for frying

cornstarch for dusting

makes about 48 rolls

Make the filling:

Add 1 T. sesame oil to heavy fry pan or wok and heat. Add the ground pork and stir fry over medium high heat until lightly browned. Drain fat off and place in a bowl. Add the peanut butter and mix with the warm meat. Again, add sesame oil to pan and stir fry cabbage, celery and ginger until the cabbage is glossy and slightly limp, about 4 minutes. Add to the bowl of meat. Again add a small amount of sesame oil if needed to the pan and over medium high heat stir fry onion and mushrooms until the mushrooms release their moisture and are fragrant, about 2 minutes. Turn heat off and add bean sprouts and mix. Transfer to the meat mixture and combine completely. Add fish sauce, soy sauce, chili sauce, and rice vinegar and mix. Allow the filling to cool completely then refrigerate until ready to fill the eggrolls.

Filling for the eggrolls

Assembling the Eggrolls-

Remove the eggrolls from the refrigerator about 1/2 hour before using to allow them to come to room temperature. Place wrapper on clean work surface, keeping the stack your not using yet under a damp cloth to prevent them from drying out.

Starting to fill the rolls

Add approximately 1 teaspoon of filling to the center of the wrapper. Gently fold the point nearest to you over the filling and press to seal.

First fold

Dab egg white on each remaining wrapper point. Fold the two middle points, one at a time over the center of the roll to make an envelope. Press firmly to seal and enclose the filling tightly within.

Making the envelope

Roll the eggroll tightly towards the last point and press firmly to seal. The key is to roll tightly enough to remove all the air within the pouch, but not so tightly to tear the wrapper. If you don’t do this,  many times they will unwrap during frying which becomes a real mess.

Taaa-Daaa

Place the finished roll on a lightly cornstarch dusted cookie sheet in a single layer and begin to make your next roll.

Let's do it again!

Heat oil in a heavy deep sided fry pan or wok over medium high heat. The oil is ready when a small piece of wrapper is dropped in and it dances and browns within a minute. The trick is not so hot they brown to quickly, not hot enough and they absorb the oil. Fry eggrolls in the oil, about 5-6 at a time until golden brown and crisp, about 1 minute per side. Drain on paper towels and keep warm, uncovered, in a 150′F oven. Serve with several dipping sauces such as spicy peanut sauce, sweet plum sauce, and hot wasabi.