Authentic Chinese Egg Rolls

By David J. Stewart

I love Chinese food. This is a recipe I enjoy cooking because of all the fresh vegetables in it. The egg rolls are delicious, especially the next day. You can eat them cold, or warmed, or with some sweet and sour sauce. I don't add any ginger to my egg rolls as I don't care for the flavor, but you can add a teaspoon or two of shredded ginger if you'd like. Everybody makes egg rolls different, but these taste very good in my opinion.

Egg Roll Ingredients

1 cup roast pork or chicken, diced (you can also use ground pork if you'd like)
2 cups shrimp--peeled, deveined, and detailed (sometimes I only use shrimp, and no chicken or pork. You can add or reduce the amount of meat, depending on how much meat you like in your egg roll. The shrimp shrinks considerably when you cook it, so a big bag of shrimp isn't as much as it looks like after cooked. I usually cook a big bag when I make egg rolls, and this is good for 2 batches. I always make at least 2 batches at once, and freeze the extra egg rolls. I season the shrimp with salt and pepper when cooking. Fry shrimp in 1 Tbs. sesame oil.)
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh garlic, which is about 4 large cloves (I use a hand garlic press)
1 large head of cabbage, finely shredded (I think regular cabbage is more flavorful than Chinese cabbage)
1 bunch green onions (about 10), white and pale green parts, diced
2 cups celery ribs, diced
2 cups fresh bean sprouts
3 eggs, scrambled, and then diced
2 tablespoons oyster sauce (I use Mama Sitas)
4 tablespoons soy sauce (I use Kikkoman)
2 teaspoons sherry
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (I use kosher salt, or sea salt)
2 teaspoons Accent Flavor Enhancer
1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, chopped fine (I use a hand food dicer)
1/2 8-ounce can bamboo shoots, shredded or chopped fine

Optional ingredients are 1/2 cup Bok Choy, 8 Shitake mushrooms (without stems). I don't usually use these ingredients.

1 egg, lightly beaten (used to seal the egg rolls wrappers once filled)
1 package egg roll wrappers, about 20 wraps (not spring roll wrappers).
Several cups of UNREFINED peanut oil for deep frying (Unrefined peanut oil has a robust peanut flavor; but refined peanut oil has no flavor at all, which is no good. If you do use non-flavored oil, you can give your egg rolls a peanut flavor by including 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter in the ingredients.)

Dipping sauces: Sweet and sour; or Chinese mustard

Assembling the Egg Rolls:

Make filling:
In a bowl, stir together oyster sauce, soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil, sugar, Accent, and salt in a small bowl until sugar and salt are dissolved.

Heat 2 tablespoons of sesame oil in a wok or large skillet, swirling skillet to coat. Add meat and cook. I add a little kosher salt and fresh ground pepper for flavoring. Cooking times vary, depending on the amount of meat and if thawed or frozen. Drain all juices from meat when cooked (I pour the meat into a colander to drain). Set meat aside in a bowl.
Under high flame, heat 2 tablespoons of sesame oil in a wok or large skillet, swirling skillet to coat. When hot, add cabbage and bean sprouts, and cook for several minutes until withered. Turn vegetables occasionally to prevent burning. Add meat. Then, add the ginger root (if used), garlic, green onions, bamboo shoots, celery, and water chestnuts. Also add mixture of oyster sauce, soy sauce, sherry, Accent, sesame oil, sugar, and salt. Stir, heat through and steam for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour the entire mixture in a colander to drain juices, for about 10 minutes. If you don't let the juices drain, your egg roll wrappers may tear apart from the moist filling. Some people recommend placing the mix in a refrigerator for an hour, but I never do.

Make egg rolls:

Gently peel apart wrappers to separate if necessary (wrappers may not be perfectly square). It's best to keep wrappers in the refrigerator, and remove them about 15 minutes before you're going to use them. Wrappers will dry out in air and become hard if left out. You can place a damp paper towel over wrappers to keep them moist. I don't like spring roll wrappers as they are too thin, and less flavorful.

Put 1 wrapper on a work surface, arranging wrapper with a corner nearest you and keeping remaining wrappers covered with plastic wrap. Place a heaping spoonful of the filling mixture in the center of an egg roll wrapper (depending on how big you want your egg roll). Fold bottom corner over filling, then fold in side corners, and then roll. Brush top corner with egg and roll up wrapper tightly to enclose filling, sealing roll closed with top corner. Transfer roll, seam side down, to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet or large plate. Repeat. One thing I learned not to do is STACK the egg rolls when waiting to be deep-fried, because the heat, weight, and juice will make them stick together. Use multiple plates.

Heat 2 inches of UNREFINED peanut oil in wok or pan until it registers 350°F on thermometer (I don't use a thermometer, I just wait until the oil gets hot enough to make the egg roll bubble as soon as I put it into the oil--a medium flame is good). Add 4 or 5 egg rolls (don't crowd pot), turning with metal tongs, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. If the oil begins to smoke, turn your heat down a bit. I think the egg rolls taste better when when slightly overcooked... browned, but not black. I use metal tongs to turn and then remove the egg rolls. I hold the egg roll over the oil for about 10 seconds to allow excess oil to drain off. I place them into a metal baking pan. Once all egg rolls are cooked, I cover with foil and refrigerate the egg rolls (i.e., the ones I don't eat right away). Egg rolls taste even better when reheated.

Caution: Never cook with oil when kids are around, unless they can sit completely still and be quiet, which is impossible for most kids. Put your animals outside, etc. There is nothing worse than being burned with hot oil. You don't just make one trip to the hospital, but dozens, to have the dead skin peeled off during each visit. This should scare you. Cooking is safe, and nothing to fear, if you take the necessary precautions. I actually cook outside, and have a concrete floor, which has traction. Kitchen floors are notoriously slippery when even a little bit wet, and no one should ever cook using oil, standing on such a floor. Even a little oil splatter can cause you to fall into your oil. Also, oil may look cool after you're done cooking, but be deadly hot. You may prefer to buy a small deep-fryer to cook your egg rolls. So be safe, not sorry.

Cook's notes:

• Filling can be made 1 day ahead and cooled completely, uncovered, then chilled, covered. Stir before using.

• Egg rolls can be fried 4 hours ahead and cooled completely, then covered and chilled. Reheat in single layer on a rack set over a baking sheet in middle of a preheated 350°F oven, turning once, until crisp and centers are warmed through, 15 to 20 minutes.