Pork Eggrolls: Baked or Fried

Lately, when I've gone out for Chinese food, I haven't found one of my favorite foods on the menu; egg rolls. Oh ya, they've got "spring rolls". They are a cousin of the egg roll, but I find them greasy and not as tasty. So, what's a girl to do? Make her own, of course.

In a effort to help my readers and myself eat a bit healthier, I did a baked version of the egg roll, but you can always do a classic fried version.

Pork Eggrolls
 yields 15-18 eggrolls

1 package egg roll wrapper
1 lb ground pork
1 package cole slaw (shredded green cabbage and carrots)
1 small can water chestnuts, diced
2 green onions, diced
2 TBSP soy sauce (I use light to cut sodium)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp Kosher salt

In a skillet pan, brown the pork until cooked through, using a wooden spoon to break meat into small pieces. When pork is cooked through, add the soy sauce, salt and pepper. Let cook for 1-2 more minutes, stirring to have soy mix through all the meat. Remove from heat and add meat to a large mixing bowl. Pour in cole slaw, diced water chestnuts and green onions over the hot pork mixture. This will wilt the cole slaw slightly, which is what you want.

Place egg roll wrapper on flat counter, and using index finger, spread water all along the edges of the egg roll wrapper. This will allow wrapper to seal when rolling it.

Have the wrapper in a diamond shape in front of you and add 1/3 c of mixture and place it across the center of the wrapper.

 

Take the bottom corner of the wrapper and pull it up over the mixture.

 

 

 

The pull the two sides over the top and seal.

 

 

 

Then roll egg roll over and push hard to seal the top. The water you put on the edges should seal it.

 

 

 

To cook eggrolls in the oven, preheat to 400 degrees F. Place egg rolls on a baking rack that is sitting on a cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

 

To fry, heat 2 cups vegetable oil in a 2 qt skillet to 350 degrees F. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

 

Serve with duck sauce, sweet and sour sauce or my spicy plum dipping sauce.

 

Spicy Plum Dipping Sauce
1/2 c plum jam
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp water

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Serve with wontons. (Can't find plum jam? Substitute apricot jam)