Spring Rolls

This is a follow up to the wrappers made on this post. I have made these wrappers many times now and they still work. Last week I ran out strong white flour so I used plain flour, it wasn't as good the wrappers were easier to break. I can now confirm the stronger (higher protein contain) the flour the better. The other thing I also found out was they are not very good to wrap after in the fridge for few days, the wrappers become brittle and split easily. I will amend the wrapper making post saying they are good to keep in fridge.

I will now show you a standard way to fill and wrap spring rolls.

You can use any fillings you like. I find raw meat is so much easier to wrap than bits of loose filling. Do not use anything with very high water content, the rolls will split and spit during frying.

Here is a standard recipe I do use frequently.

Filling: (This will make about 20 rolls using the homemade wrappers)

450g (1 lb) of minced pork
1 medium egg
about 12 - 15g Wood ears or tree ear 木耳
2 small carrot
about 3 - 4 sprigs of spring onion
about 2 tsp grated ginger
2 tbsp of fried crispy shallot (if you have some)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
pinch of freshly ground pepper
small pinch of salt
about 1 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp cornflour (corn starch), more cornflour is needed if the mixture is wet.
if you like spicy you can add some chopped chillies
if you have some fresh or canned water chestnuts, you can add some just chopped roughly

Method:

1. Soak the wood ear till softened and expanded 3 - 4 times. Clean and finely shredded. Easier way to shred wood ear is too roll it up then shred.
2. Grate the carrot using a cheese grater. (about 1 cup loosely packed)
   
3. Rinse the spring onion and squeeze out any excess water then chop. (about 1/3 cup chopped)
   
4. Now put all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well. Best way is to use your hand, keep squeezing and mixing till all combined and the mixture is quite firm. If you don't like the touch of raw meat use gloves.

Now make a flour and water paste for sealing the spring rolls. Use about 1 heap tbsp plain flour mix with water. The mixture should be runny.

To deep fry the spring rolls, I normally use a wok which uses less oil. Or you can use an electric deep fat fryer. Heat the oil till hot before adding the spring rolls. If using wok need to keep turning the spring rolls till done.

Once fried serve immediately.

If you are frying a big batch or serving these rolls at a later time, after frying keep the rolls in single layer in the oven around 120 - 130deg C.

How to wrap spring rolls. See slide show.