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| Huge thanks to Aimee for helping with the original prototype of these |
These egg rolls ride pretty much right on the tail of the other night's gyoza, and use mostly the same ingredients, so this is really a great way to use up any extra ingredient bits still lurking around. Or use the gyoza to consume extra ingredients from these. Well, I guess that that's riding on the assumption that there will actually be leftover ingredients. Sometimes miracles happen.
Equipment:
- Frying pan
- Spatula
- Mixing bowl
- Deep fryer with a lid
Ingredients:
- 1lb ground meat
- As usual, I opted for lean Boston burger because the pork fat keeps it from drying out, but feel free to use whatever.
- 2tsp garlic powder
- 1tsp onion powder
- 5 slices dill pickles, minced
- 1c extra sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded
- 3 leaves Napa cabbage, minus larger veins, minced
- eggroll wrappers
- pinch of salt
- 2tsp Worcester sauce
Place the meat into the frying pan, on medium heat. At least with the Boston burger, there was no need to pre-grease the pan, but then again, I also use non-stick pans. If you know your pans well, you'll know whether or not you'll need to pre-grease them for this step. Next, you're going to want to do what I call the "scramble fry," which essentially means "pretend you're making taco meat." As the meat is starting to brown, spread the worcester sauce evenly over the top and work it into the meat.
When the meat is almost done cooking, (like has roughly 3 minutes left), drain off as much fat as you can. Trust me, it won't dry out. You're going to be deep frying these, and if you don't drain it off all the way, you'll be pretty much biting into an oil bomb. But whatever you do, don't drain the grease down the sink. Your plumber will thank you. Their job is crappy enough (yes, I pulled that joke) without adding a miniature fatberg to it.
[Editor's note: For the sanity of all parties reading this, we're not providing a link for that reference, and if you don't know what we're talking about, don't look it up. You'll regret it, and you won't be able to un-see it.]
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| Meat. It's what's for dinner. |
After successfully topping off your designated grease jar, return the meat to the stove to finish cooking, stirring in the garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. When it's well done, pull it off the heat to let it cool. When it's still warm, but cool enough to handle, transfer the meat to a mixing bowl, and add the cheese, pickles, and cabbage.
Now for the personality test. Those of you that loved the random goop tables in grade school are going to find this as heaven. Those of you that can't stand getting things on your hands are going to think of this as the other place.
With everything all in the mixing bowl, squish it all together until all the ingredients are well distributed. Pay attention to this part, as it's really important. Granted, somethings are their own punishment, like hitting a solid bite of pickle and getting your face turned inside out. Unless you're into that kind of thing. Then more power to you, I guess.
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| Why did I make that plumber reference earlier? Why? |
Don't be alarmed if the cheese melts in to the mix, like it did here. Melty cheesy goodness is always a great thing. It'll actually help keep the meat together easier for the egg roll forming.
Now you're set for making the actual egg rolls. As egg roll wrappers vary, consult the manufacturer's instructions for optimal egg roll performance. Whoops, slipped into programmer mode there for a moment. Bad me. Point being is that the people that make their living specifically ensuring that egg rolls can happen can likely provide better instructions on this one than I can, and those little diagrams are super helpful if you're unfamiliar with the process.
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| Burrito impostors |
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to deep fry the freshly-rolled tubes of wonder to a golden brown state. This blog will not self destruct in ten seconds.
Okay, little bit of a PSA here. Deep frying stuff always gets interesting. You either wind up summoning amazing food or a fire elemental. In the event that you should find yourself sparring with the latter of the two, make expeditious use of the fryer lid, or the giant red canister of fire bane, should the lid prove ineffective. As always, don't hesitate to retreat and request assistance from more experienced personnel.
That having been said, just deep fry the egg rolls until they're golden brown. Everything in them is in an edible state already, so you don't need to worry about getting them "fully cooked." You may need to flip them over if they float up, or, if your fryer is deep enough to do so, one of the things I learned working at the aforementioned Asian buffet was that you can simply place a secondary fryer basket on top the egg rolls to keep them fully submerged.
When they come out, the egg rolls will be harboring a lot of oil in the end folds, but that's easy enough to address.
This is actually a little trick I learned from my mom. That's right mom, if you're reading this, I've just publicly announced that you were right. Not that I was wrong on anything (like I'd ever admit that), but you were right. Enjoy that.
Rather than putting the egg rolls on paper towels to de-grease, prop them up in a muffin pan. You'll want to turn them other end down after a few minutes, but for the most part, they'll actually drain quite nicely. Pro tip: use metal/foil cup cake liners in the bottom of the pan for easier cleanup. Don't use the paper ones though, as the grease will soak clean through, and the silicone ones just create more things to clean. In both cases, the purpose is defeated.
All that's left now is to eat, possibly with some sort of dipping sauce. My favorite (as pictured at the top) is sour cream with a hint of yellow mustard mixed in. Ketchup also works well, just plain sour cream, sriracha mayo dip, whatever strikes your fancy. Be sure to leave your suggestions in the comments.
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