Pictorial: Spring rolls

[Kent Wang]

Pictorial Recipe

Spring rolls

There is some confusion with the name of this item. In Chinese they are called cun juan, literally spring roll; we don't call it an egg roll. In the West, both the terms egg roll and spring roll are used, sometimes interchangeably sometimes meaning different things. I have heard some define spring rolls as unfried and egg rolls as fried, or that spring rolls are the Southeast Asian rolls and egg rolls just the Chinese type. There is no such dichotomy in Chinese and so I will use the name spring roll as it is a direct translation of the Chinese term.

Chinese spring rolls also differ from American restaurant egg rolls as the skin is not as thick. They are thin, crispy, much less substantial. I believe American egg rolls might also be battered before frying.

Serving Suggestion: 3 - 4

Ingredients:

- 1 lb pork loin

- Napa cabbage

- shitake mushrooms

- spring roll skins (see below)

- soy sauce

- Chinese cooking wine

- starch

- baking soda

- salt

- black pepper

1 lb pork loin.

Slice into strips. When the fat cap is not too thick as is the case with this cut, I just leave it on. You may want to trim it, but I like having a bit of fat to add textural interest and flavor. Each strip should be about the same width as a chopstick. Make sure to slice against the grain (zoom in to see the grain).

Add soy sauce, cooking wine, starch, baking soda.

Mix well and marinate overnight.

Remove stems from shitake, slice into strips, approximately the same shape and size as the pork strips.

Slice Napa cabbage into strips. You may want to discard the leafy parts completely as all they do is just release a bunch of water. It's the stem part that you want.

Prepare starch slurry. This is just starch added to water and mixed well. I'm using tapioca starch and duck stock here.

Heat oil in wok.

Add pork.

Cook until half done.

Add Napa cabbage, shitake and some black pepper.

Reduce heat, cook for 5 minutes, or when shitakes and pork are both done.

This is the spring roll skin that I like to use; Wei-Chuan is another brand. There are lots of skins on the market but you want the kind that are quite stretchy and elastic, unsalted, and not the translucent, rice-based ones.

Place filling in skin.

Flip up the bottom corner.

Fold in the sides.

Roll it up. I've been told that this rolling method is the same as rolling up a burrito but as I know very little about Mexican food I can't vouch for that.

At this point, you can eat the spring rolls without frying. See Unfried spring rolls.

You can deep-fry or just pan-fry. I pan-fried these for about 1 minute on each side.

Done!

[Cadbury]

Spring roll is the term I am familiar with, I have only heard "egg roll" in American movies. I make my spring rolls in a similar manner to you, although I often use ground pork because it's easier for children to bite into. Now I'm hungry .

[Domestic Goddess]

Like Cadbury, I also make it with ground pork, mixed with some chopped shrimp for that wonderful asian taste. Filipinos have a vegetable one that consists of 90% bean sprouts (we call it Lumpiang Toge). We lightly fry the bean sprouts with some oil thinly sliced onion, chopped garlic and salt/pepper. I mean very lighty stir-fry. The sprouts are then cooled, rolled into the wrappers like the rolls above, deep-fried and then eaten with a vinegar-garlic dip. My favorite!

[Hiroyuki]

Thanks for the instructions. Spring rolls (haru maki) are quite popular in Japan, too. I didn't realize that they could be that simple. Japanese spring rolls usually contain bamboo shoots and cellophane noodles besides vegetables and ground meat, and are rather cumbersome to make. My wife makes them only once or twice a year. Thanks to your recipe, I think I can make them more often.

[bainesy]

And if you grew up where I did in England, they (or their bastard offspring from the local Chinese Takeaway) are know as Crispy Pancake Rolls...

[johnnyd]

I see many choices for dipping sauces, but is there a traditional favorite for Spring Rolls beyond soy sauce?

[warlockdilemma]

I see many choices for dipping sauces, but is there a traditional favorite for Spring Rolls beyond soy sauce?

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Not exactly traditional but here in Toronto,in dimsum places,sriracha chili sauce is a favourite.....

[sheetz]

I see many choices for dipping sauces, but is there a traditional favorite for Spring Rolls beyond soy sauce?

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Soy sauce is not a traditional dipping sauce for spring rolls as far as I know--the soy sauce would make the crispy skin soggy. I personally go for hot sauce or mustard, or nothing at all.

[AzianBrewer]

Worcestershire

[shengcai]

I see many choices for dipping sauces, but is there a traditional favorite for Spring Rolls beyond soy sauce?

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At home, we used Chinese black vinegar mixed with a little sesame oil. The acidity complements the spring roll nicely.

[I_call_the_duck]

Great pictorial, Kent.

I love hoisin sauce with my spring rolls.

[Mottmott]

I've never made these at home, but after this excellent tutorial I will give it a try This is an especially good recipe for solo cooking.

Two questions: could these be made ahead and frozen; have you other filling suggestions?

[Kent Wang]

Filling definitely varies a great deal, it is a matter of both regional and personal preference. Each family from a single area might easily have vastly different preferences for filling. When my mother taught me this recipe I was surprised at the use of black pepper. This is actually the only recipe of hers that uses black pepper. It doesn't seem very Chinese but I can't argue with how well it complements the flavor.

I prefer to have all the items be in the shape of strips. Ground pork would not fit that restriction though cellophane noodles, bamboo strips and bean sprouts would. I, in fact, did consider adding them but decided against it as it would decrease the ratio of meat in the filling.

My family never used dipping sauces; the filling is seasoned enough that that should not be necessary.

[hzrt8w]

Worcestershire

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I second. Worcestershire sauce is a condiment for spring rolls as a standard in Hong Kong. In American Chinese restaurants, it's more likely that they serve with diluted Chinese mustard and deep-orange, I-don't-know-how-they-made-it sweet and sour sauce.

[Ben Hong]

Egg rolls are a bastardization of the original spring roll. I don't know where it started, but the egg roll is a staple on the menu of the the multifaceted "Chinese" diners all over North America. Go to some smaller cities and towns and you will be hard pressed to find spring rolls but egg rolls are still very, very common.

Oh yes, the dipping sauce for egg rolls is"plum sauce", aka "pumpkin puree".

[hzrt8w]

[...]

Chinese spring rolls also differ from American restaurant egg rolls as the skin is not as thick. They are thin, crispy, much less substantial. I believe American egg rolls might also be battered before frying.

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Kent: thanks for sharing your recipe! Looks good!

I don't think the American egg rolls are battered before frying. I think the problem is:

1) Many restaurants choose the thick wrappers. May be that's the only kind available in their area.

2) Many restaurants make their rolls too big: I have seen 4 inches, 6 inches or even longer egg rolls. They look more like Chimichanga.

When the egg rolls are big, they cannot get the skin crispy unless they deep-fry them longer. And if they do, the skin will get burnt. So the result is big and softy egg rolls. Good spring roll should be crispy and flaky: the skin breaks off as you bite into it.

[Dejah]

[Kent: thanks for sharing your recipe!  Looks good!

I don't think the American egg rolls are battered before frying. 

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Strange, 'cos that's how my brother taught my parents to make egg rolls back in 1960. My brother had a restaurant in Seattle, and he battered his egg rolls before deep frying. Now, I can't remember whether they were deep fried first with just the egg roll wrapper, then battered and fried again or not.

I've also had them in Canadian Chinese buffets. They can be good if both layers are crispy, but I hate them when they season with, I THINK, 5 spice powder.

Grandson is coming over tonight for supper. Spring rolls are one of his favourite foods, so I guess I'll be his favourite Gneen-gneen tonight...as usual.

[Kent Wang]

American egg rolls also seem to exclusively use ground pork. The use of strips seems more traditional -- and also more expensive and time-consuming.

could these be made ahead and frozen

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I've never tried, but you can probably make a big batch of the filling ahead of time and then wrap and serve whenever you want. I wouldn't wrap and then refrigerate as the skin will quickly become soggy. If you're real lazy, you can also just eat the filling straight. Ha, I do that with chicken pot pie and a bunch of other dishes. I am ashamed to admit that.

[I_call_the_duck]

I've used chicken instead of pork. It definitely does not taste as good as pork does, but it's fine. Mom's version has celery, cabbage, and mushrooms. Of course, I think that's the correct way!

As for freezing, I'd fry them first. They may be a little soggy when you first defrost it, but they crisp up nicely in the toaster oven.

[Leo Cheng]

Egg rolls are a bastardization of the original spring roll. I don't know where it started, but the egg roll is a staple on the menu of  the the multifaceted "Chinese" diners all over North America. Go to some smaller cities and towns and you will be hard pressed to find spring rolls but egg rolls are still very, very common.

I love spring rolls, but I absolutely hate egg rolls. Egg rolls are the worst bastardized food as far as I'm concerned. It's think doughy skin and awkwardly large size is so far from the original crispy delight that it should be a crime to call it Chinese.

[hzrt8w]

Man! I gotta be careful when ordering fried "spring rolls" in Vietnamese restaurants. I meant to have "Cha Gio" - the deep-fried spring rolls like those shown in this recipe. But whenever they hear the word "spring rolls", they associate it with "Goi Cuon" - the un-fried cold wrap with shrimp and peppermint leaves filling. And some Vietnamese restaurants call the fried version "egg rolls" and the unfried version "spring rolls". Very confusing!

Better use the Vietnamese names to avoid getting the order mixed-up.

[AzianBrewer]

I thought Goi Cuon is the summer roll....

[hzrt8w]

Summer roll? Spring roll?

Autumn roll? Winter roll?

[Franci]

- the un-fried cold wrap with shrimp and peppermint leaves filling.

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In the States I always have called those summer rolls.

Now in the UK, I discovered that they don't know what I am talking about. I was looking for the wrap to make them at home and I have been sold "vietnametese skin rolls" That's the only roll I make every once in a while.

[Dejah]

Here are the spring rolls I made last week. I used garlic chives, fun see, bean sprouts, woodear, and some shredded leftover char siu. We ate them with sweet chili sauce. Grandson ate them plain.