Homemade Egg Rolls!

I was reviewing my blog recently and noticed that over the last couple/few years, my posts and cooking habits have been very Asian-heavy.  I'm not complaining. I love all Asian cuisines. Well, with the exception of some Asian countries like Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan...not a big mutton fan. So, in keeping with my Asian persuasion, I present our simple dinner tonight.

Carrot and Ginger Soup with Homemade Pork & Shrimp Egg Rolls. I'm patting myself on the back.

I'm pretty sure I've told you all about this soup before.  It's insanely easy: carrots, onion, ginger, broth, garlic and some half and half to finish.  Delicious and packed with vegetable goodness.

Ever made your own eggrolls?  Again, insanely easy.  In my opinion, an eggroll is one of those things where you can take extreme poetic license, kind of like how I do with fried rice, burritos, omelets, etc.  You can literally use whatever you have and roll it up in an eggroll (or wonton) wrapper and go to town. The only thing that may take a little practice is your rolling technique, but again, slow down, pay attention to what you're doing and you'll realize it's just not that hard.

Tonight's concoction consisted of:

1/4 lb ground pork mixed with 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp Shaoxing wine and about 1/4 tsp white pepper.  I think white pepper that you find in grocery stores tastes weird, so I use white pepper powder that I get at the Asian market near Dutch Square.  Mix this up and set aside while you heat up your wok, or skillet.

Shred about 8 oz cabbage; you can use regular green cabbage but I prefer Napa. Chop about 3-4 cloves of garlic, and a tsp of ginger. Slice about 2-3 green onions, julienne about a 1/4 cup bamboo shoots, and roughly chop about 1/2 cup bean sprouts.  You'll also need about 1/2 of julienned carrot, but here, I cheat with grocery store matchstick carrots in the bag. And, lastly you'll need about 20 medium sized shrimp. 

Start with a hot wok, and cook the pork mixture, breaking meat up with a wooden spoon.  Remove to a large bowl.  To wok, add 2 tsp oil then garlic and ginger. Stir fry just until it becomes fragrant. Then add cabbage, carrots, and salt. Stir fry until vegetables are becoming tender but still have some bite. Remove from heat and add to bowl with pork. Mix in green onion, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts. While this cools, cook shrimp in wok just until they start to turn opaque (they will cook more later.) Chop them into pieces, as big or small as you prefer. 

Once your filling is cool enough to handle, assemble your egg rolls.  You can fry them, which is traditional, but they can also be air-fried or baked.  Your choice. We fried them tonight and they were GBD (golden brown & delicious.)  I went to a nearby Chinese restaurant and bought a couple containers of their homemade hot mustard. Don't bother with that garbage in the packets. Our little dinner of soup and eggrolls was super yummy and easy. My kinda meal.