Baked Egg Rolls, Regular and Mini-Secret Recipe Club

Amy’s Cooking Adventures was my assignment for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post.  Amy has been blogging here since 2010 and has another blog, Amy's Confectionery Adventures which she started in 2012.  The are both filled with wonderful recipes.

Recently, Amy, had been bravely and eloquently sharing her thoughts and feelings concerning the stillbirth of her daughter, Sarah Catherine, last December.  I have been touched reading them and know that the posts will be of help to others who are experiencing similar heartache.

A bunch of recipes have been added to my ever expanding “to-make” list.  Since I like to make homemade seasoning mixes, the Homemade “Lawry’s” Seasoning Salt is right at the top.  The list is long, but just a few of the others are Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower with Bacon, Easy Thai Noodles; and since I am a cookie junkie, The Best Cookie Ever!

I have actually made two recipes.  The egg rolls I am posting today and the Sweet and Sticky Baked Chicken.  I made the chicken for dinner last Sunday.  (I used legs and wings.)  The chicken with potato salad and baked beans made a delicious summer meal.

I knew when I saw the Baked Egg Roll recipe that it was what I wanted to make and post for Secret Recipe Club.  I like to occasionally make a Chinese-inspired meal at home.  I have never made egg rolls because I am lazy and don’t like to do the deep frying.  I also think that the deep frying overshadows the flavor of the filling. When I read that the egg rolls could be frozen and baked later, I was sold.  I could make the egg rolls ahead and add them to any meal that I wanted.

Since I don’t like hand shredding and was too lazy to get out my large food processor, I cut the carrots into chunks and cut them up into tiny pieces in my Ninja chopper/blender.  This worked really well.

The day that I made the filling, I had used up all my green onion, so I added dried, minced onion to the soy sauce mixture and used that instead.  That was OK, but I would use the green onion if I had it.  Next time I make these I may add some finely chopped celery and red pepper.  The filling can be made a day or two ahead and refrigerated.

In her post, Amy, links to Steamy Kitchen for the photos on how to roll an egg roll.  When I was there I noticed that Jaden uses a mixture of 1 T. cornstarch or flour mixed with 1/4 c. water to seal the egg rolls wrappers instead of the beaten egg.  I think that is a good tip to know if you are low on eggs or making egg rolls for someone who cannot have egg.

I apparently did not put as much filling in the egg roll wrappers as I should have, as I had an whole sour cream container of filling left over when I had used the entire package of egg roll wrappers.  Since I had a package of wonton wrappers on hand, I decide to make mini egg rolls.  I was able to get about 35 mini egg rolls with the filling that was left over, so one recipe of filling would easily do two packages of wonton wrappers.  I think they turned out cute and would be great of make and have on hand for a party.

I still had a bit of filling left over when I got tired of rolling mini egg rolls, so I zapped the filling in the microwave and wrapped it in a lettuce leaf to eat it.  I was very good that way, too

Make this filling (used ground chicken or turkey if you are not a pork person), then make egg rolls, mini egg rolls, or lettuce wraps.  You won’t be sorry.  Thanks, Amy, for sharing a great recipes that I will be trying to make and keep in my freezer at all times.

Baked Egg Rolls
from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
1/4 c. reduced sodium soy sauce
2 T. rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 T. brown sugar
1/2 T. ground ginger or 1 T. grated fresh ginger (don’t be afraid of this amount, I thought that it might be too spicy, but it was just right)
2 T. vegetable oil
1 small Nappa cabbage, shredded, about 4 cups (I used all the cabbage I bought which was about 6 cups)
2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded (about 1 c.)
salt and pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced (about 1/2 T.)
1 lb. ground pork
5-6 green onions, thinly sliced
1 to 2 pkgs. egg roll wrappers or wonton wrappers
1 large egg, beaten

Combine soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and ginger in a small bowl.  Mix well to dissolve brown sugar.  Set aside.  Heat the vegetable oil in a medium frying pan until hot.  Add cabbage and carrots.  Season lightly with the salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, pork and soy sauce mixture.  Cook, breaking up the pork, until the pork is cooked through and the liquid has reduced.  (I cooked mine until there was only about 2 T. of liquid remaining when I moved the pork mixture to one side of the frying pan.)  Stir in the green onions.  Spread mixture in a 10x15-inch baking pan or a cookie sheet.  Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.  Once cool, press the mixture with paper towels to eliminate any excess moisture.  Place 2 to 3 T. of pork mixture slightly off center and toward the corner  of an egg roll wrapper or a wonton.  Tuck the nearest corner over the filling and make half a turn.  Bring the two side corners toward the center.  Brush the remaining corner with the beaten egg, roll tight toward the corner and seal.  Repeat with remaining filling and wrappers.  To freeze, place on a foil-lined baking sheet and freeze.  When frozen, transfer to a freezer bag.  Cook from frozen state, no need to thaw.  To bake immediately, brush egg rolls with the beaten egg.  Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven 10 minutes for mini egg rolls and 15 for regular egg rolls.  Increase time to 15 and 20 minutes if egg rolls are frozen.  Serve with you choice of sauce and/or hot mustard.

You can find the details for joining in the fun of Secret Recipe Club here.

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