Spring Roll Success: Fearless Friday

Heather says:

Part of kitchen bravery is revisiting an unsuccessful attempt and trying again. So this week I researched spring rolls and invited my friend Heidi over to offer guidance. I am happy to note that this week’s attempt was full of both awesome and win. We even experimented with a dessert spring roll I will share tomorrow.  What did you do for Fearless Friday?

Spring Rolls

Before starting, I want to note that this recipe is doable alone, but is enjoyable with a group. Place one person in charge of frying, another in charge of the filling, and everyone else is on rolling duty. If you double or triple the filling, be sure to perform the stir frying in batches to avoid a wilted, limp mess.

The spring rolls can be frozen immediately after rolling. They can be fried from the frozen state.

Ingredients:

Stir-fry Sauce:

• 1 TBSP Soy sauce
• 1 TBSP Fish sauce (If this is hard to find in your area increase the soy sauce)
• 1 TBSP Lime juice
• pinch of white sugar

Filling:

• 1.5 TBSP olive oil
• 0.5 TBSP sesame oil (if you can find this, just use 2 TBSP olive oil)
• 3 cloves of garlic – minced
• 1/2 a sweet yellow onion (like Vidalia), sliced very thinly
• 1 thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 green onions sliced thinly
• 4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced into matchstick pieces (portabella or baby portabella would work fine)
• 1/2 cup cooked shrimp*, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup green or purple cabbage shredded or sliced thinly
• 2 cups broccoli slaw or other thinly sliced vegetables that retain some crispness when cooked

The next two ingredients are chopped finely and placed on top of the filling before rolling.

• 1/4 cup cilantro (also called fresh coriander for our British Home Eccers)
• 1/4 cup basil

The wrapper:

• 1 pkg small spring roll wrappers – these are the dough squares, not rice paper
  There is a big difference, as we learned for last week’s Fearless Friday

Frying oil:

• peanut or vegetable oil 1″ deep in a deep, heavy skillet

Items to ensure successful rolling:

• damp cloth to cover the wrappers
• a bowl filled with water to help seal the spring rolls
• patience

Before you get started have everything chopped and ready to go. Once the stir-frying starts, it moves quickly and if you don’t want burnt garlic (who does, right?), it is important to be ready for the next step. To make additions easier, I grouped the ingredients by order of addition. On plates or in bowls group:

• garlic, ginger, sweet onion
• broccoli slaw
• green onion, mushrooms, cabbage, cooked shrimp

While preparing the filling, begin heating the frying oil.

Ready to stir fry? Here we go:

Heat the oil (both sesame and olive oil) over medium-high heat.

Add the garlic, ginger, and sweet onion, stir briskly for maybe 30 seconds, add the broccoli slaw.

When the carrot and broccoli are crisp tender (their colors will brighten) add the mushrooms, cabbage, and cooked shrimp. While stirring add the stir-fry sauce. and remove from heat. Toss in the hot pan until heated through.

Your filling is now ready. I placed mine in a bowl so it could be near my work area.

Open the packet of spring rolls and cover with a clean, damp towel.

On your cutting board, place one spring roll wrapper so one corner is pointed toward you.

Wet your index finger in the bowl of water and run it along all four edges. Think of the water as your glue.

Place your filling as shown in the illustration. Add a small pinch of the basil and cilantro.

Quickly fold the left and right corners to the center.

Dip your finger back into the water and dampen the bottom corner. Then fold it up over the filling, forming an envelope.

For best results dampen all of the top flap. Then roll tightly from the bottom to the top. Check your ends, if there are any opening, dampen them and pinch closed.

If your spring roll is not sealed, it will burst open and then it’s oh so fun to have to scoop out all of the floating mess.

Continue rolling spring rolls while waiting for the oil to heat. You will know it’s close when wavy lines appear on the bottom of the pan.  The oil must be hot before frying or you end up with greasy, soggy spring rolls. To check the heat of the oil, add a small corner of one wrapper. If it bubbles immediately your oil is hot enough. If the oil smokes, turn it down.

Fry the spring rolls a few at a time. Do not use too many or the temperature of your oil will drop, causing greasy rolls. Bleh.

Fry until golden, then remove and place on papertowels to drain.

Enjoy with a sweet or hot chili sauce.