When I woke up this morning, I had an intense craving for egg rolls. I had bought a package of egg roll wrappers a couple weeks earlier hoping to make egg rolls. A couple weeks later, the egg roll wrappers were still sitting in my fridge. Sundays are usually when I stop by the gym for a morning run. To decrease the amount of time I will need to spend cooking when I got back from the gym, I prepped all of the vegetables to use in my egg rolls ahead of time. I grated some carrots using my box grater, finely chopped up some Napa cabbage, thinly sliced some baby bok choy, cut up some scallions, and finely minced some garlic and ginger. After prepping the vegetables, I headed over to the gym to get in some exercise. Running for me is the ultimate Sunday workout. I tend to be busier during the week. In between work, classes, homework, and studying, I often don’t have enough time to stop by the gym. Thus, I made a resolution to squeeze in at least one cardio workout during the week. Sundays just work out best for my cardio workout. When I got back from the gym, I was ready to cook down the filling, fill my egg rolls, and fry up all of the egg rolls. I love eggs rolls. I often make my vegetable and chicken egg rolls as an appetizer to serve alongside some fried rice and noodles. In an effort to incorporate more vegetables into Kevin and my diet, I only used vegetables for my egg rolls. My vegetable egg rolls are delicious on their own, but I like to dip my egg rolls in a sweet and spicy sauce. Whenever I order egg rolls at a restaurant, I like to enjoy it with a side of sweet chili sauce. Since I didn’t have any sweet chili sauce at home, I made my own version of a sweet and spicy dip using fig jam, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, and water. The sweet and spicy fig dipping sauce was the best complement to my egg rolls. Yes, I had egg rolls for brunch this morning. I know this is not the typical brunch for most people, but I needed a way to satisfy my cravings today. I also made some hash brown pancakes to serve as part of Sunday brunch. The egg rolls were so good, Kevin did not even miss the meat.
For the vegetable egg rolls:
· 2 carrots, peeled and grated
· 6 pieces of Napa cabbage leaves, thinly sliced
· 6 baby bok choy, thinly sliced
· 3 stalks of scallions, thinly sliced
· 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
· 2 teaspoons soy sauce
· 2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
· 2 teaspoons miso paste
· 2 teaspoons cornstarch
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon white pepper powder
· ½ inch piece of ginger, minced
· 3 garlic cloves, minced
· Vegetable oil, for frying
· 1 package of store-bought egg roll wrappers
For the spicy fig dipping sauce:
· 1 tablespoon of fig jam
· ½ tablespoon sriracha
· ½ tablespoon soy sauce
· ½ tablespoon hoisin sauce
· ½ tablespoon water
Directions:
1) In a large bowl, combine the carrots, Napa cabbage, baby bok choy, and scallions. Set aside.
2) In a small bowl, combine the Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, miso paste, cornstarch, salt, and white pepper powder. Set aside.
3) Heat a skillet on medium heat. Once hot, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the vegetables, minced ginger, and minced garlic to the skillet. Cook the vegetables and aromatics until softened, about 5 minutes. Pour in the sauce. Cook for an additional minute. Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Let the mixture cool for at least 15 minutes before using it to make egg rolls.
4) To make the egg rolls, lay a sheet of egg roll wrapper with one of the corners facing you. Scoop one or two tablespoons of the filling onto the bottom corner of the egg roll wrapper. Fold the corner towards the center and begin rolling until halfway rolled. Fold the two horizontal corners towards the center. Add some water on the top corner. Roll the rest of the egg roll until you form a tightly rolled cylinder. Continue this process with the rest of the egg rolls.
5) As an optional step, you can wrap the already wrapped egg rolls in another sheet of egg roll wrapper. I added this step to create studier egg rolls.
6) Heat a large pot or skillet on medium heat. Add vegetable oil to the pot or skillet until the oil reaches about ½ inch deep in the pot or skillet. Add 2-3 egg rolls at a time and let the egg rolls fry for about a minute. Flip the egg rolls and let them fry another minute on the other side. Continue this process until all sides of the egg rolls are fried and golden brown in color. Remove the egg rolls to a metal rack stacked on top of a baking sheet. Let the egg rolls cool for a couple minutes before serving.
7) To make the spicy fig dipping sauce, combine the fig jam, sriracha, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and water in a bowl. Stir to combine all ingredients. Serve alongside the egg rolls.
Takeaways: The egg rolls taste best when served warm. Egg rolls are very versatile. You can add in any protein with the vegetable filling. The filling is also very versatile. It can be added to make vegetable dumplings or steamed vegetable buns.