Homemade spring rolls
Discussion
Last night I decided to get a little bit inventive. What had originally started out as Sweet & Sour pork, ultimately ended up as Pork spring rolls with a sweet and sour glaze dipping sauce. It actually worked out really well as a first attempt but there is definitely scope for improvement. I'll pop the recipe and method I devised below but I'd love to hear if anyone has any additional suggestions.
Sweet & Sour glaze:
Water
Sugar
Honey
Rice wine vinegar
Ginger powder
Garlic powder
Chilli powder
Chicken stock powder
Chinese five spice
Dark soy sauce
Sweet soy sauce
Cornflour
I started by boiling the water and adding a good chuck of the sugar & a small sploosh of honey, then added all the other ingredients barring the cornflour to taste. You only need a small amount of chicken stock, it's really just there to add a little bit more depth to the sauce. At this point, it's still very watery so you need to turn the heat up to thermonuclear level and reduce for a while.
Once it had reduced down and thickened slightly, I decided I wanted to thicken it further so it coats the back of a spoon, mix cornflour and water well and add it a little at a time until the required consistency is reached.
At this point, you should have a beautifully rich sauce. That addition of the chili powder works well, it brings a bit of heat at the back which adds a nice dimension to the sweet & sour flavours.
The sauce is now done and can either be kept warm on the hob, or used cool, as I did.
Spring rolls:
Pork steak things
Circular rice paper things
Chinese 5 spice
Garlic powder
Ginger powder
Dark soy sauce
Salt & Pepper
Sesame oil
Start by chopping the pork up into pieces as small as you can be bothered with (mince would be easier but wouldn't give the same texture). My chunks ranged from .5cm to 1cm or so. Season well with S&P, add 5 spice, garlic & ginger powder. You could leave to marinate slightly if you wish, it would only improve. I didn't.
Get your wok smoking hot with the sesame oil. Stir fry your pork quickly - it only takes a minute or so as the chunks are so small. Drizzle with soy sauce and stick on a plate somewhere warm.
The rice paper is very very simple to use, you just pour some boiled water into a big bowl and soak the rice paper (individually) until soft and pliable. Best you do this whole process one at a time - if you bulk soak the rice paper, they'll all stick together.
Once soaked, place the rice paper on a plate/chopping board and add your pork. Don't overdo it as they'll split when frying. When you roll them up, remember to make one turn, tuck in the edges and roll, place on a plate and do the rest.
To cook:
You could deep fry but I shallow fried in half an inch of oil. Simply heat the wok & oil, test the temp by chucking in a bit of unrolled rice paper or something. When this is frying nicely, you're ready. At this stage, you musn't overload the pan with spring rolls, the rice paper when not fried is VERY tacky so they'll stick together and split. In a normal sized wok, 3 at a time is perfect.
Fry until golden brown then place on a plate covered with kitchen roll. (once they've all cooked, remove from the kitchen roll otherwise they'll stick).
Job done.
I served them simply with some lettuce leaves, cucumber & spring onion drizzled with a dressing made with sesame oil, dark soy & a pinch of sugar, as well as the sweet and sour glaze.
As said above, very chuffed with the outcome considering chinese cooking & flavour combinations are not my forte. I reckon the filling could be improved with the addition of beansprouts etc.
Sweet & Sour glaze:
Water
Sugar
Honey
Rice wine vinegar
Ginger powder
Garlic powder
Chilli powder
Chicken stock powder
Chinese five spice
Dark soy sauce
Sweet soy sauce
Cornflour
I started by boiling the water and adding a good chuck of the sugar & a small sploosh of honey, then added all the other ingredients barring the cornflour to taste. You only need a small amount of chicken stock, it's really just there to add a little bit more depth to the sauce. At this point, it's still very watery so you need to turn the heat up to thermonuclear level and reduce for a while.
Once it had reduced down and thickened slightly, I decided I wanted to thicken it further so it coats the back of a spoon, mix cornflour and water well and add it a little at a time until the required consistency is reached.
At this point, you should have a beautifully rich sauce. That addition of the chili powder works well, it brings a bit of heat at the back which adds a nice dimension to the sweet & sour flavours.
The sauce is now done and can either be kept warm on the hob, or used cool, as I did.
Spring rolls:
Pork steak things
Circular rice paper things
Chinese 5 spice
Garlic powder
Ginger powder
Dark soy sauce
Salt & Pepper
Sesame oil
Start by chopping the pork up into pieces as small as you can be bothered with (mince would be easier but wouldn't give the same texture). My chunks ranged from .5cm to 1cm or so. Season well with S&P, add 5 spice, garlic & ginger powder. You could leave to marinate slightly if you wish, it would only improve. I didn't.
Get your wok smoking hot with the sesame oil. Stir fry your pork quickly - it only takes a minute or so as the chunks are so small. Drizzle with soy sauce and stick on a plate somewhere warm.
The rice paper is very very simple to use, you just pour some boiled water into a big bowl and soak the rice paper (individually) until soft and pliable. Best you do this whole process one at a time - if you bulk soak the rice paper, they'll all stick together.
Once soaked, place the rice paper on a plate/chopping board and add your pork. Don't overdo it as they'll split when frying. When you roll them up, remember to make one turn, tuck in the edges and roll, place on a plate and do the rest.
To cook:
You could deep fry but I shallow fried in half an inch of oil. Simply heat the wok & oil, test the temp by chucking in a bit of unrolled rice paper or something. When this is frying nicely, you're ready. At this stage, you musn't overload the pan with spring rolls, the rice paper when not fried is VERY tacky so they'll stick together and split. In a normal sized wok, 3 at a time is perfect.
Fry until golden brown then place on a plate covered with kitchen roll. (once they've all cooked, remove from the kitchen roll otherwise they'll stick).
Job done.
I served them simply with some lettuce leaves, cucumber & spring onion drizzled with a dressing made with sesame oil, dark soy & a pinch of sugar, as well as the sweet and sour glaze.
As said above, very chuffed with the outcome considering chinese cooking & flavour combinations are not my forte. I reckon the filling could be improved with the addition of beansprouts etc.
wrong forum - now everyone in the lounge thinks i'm a puff that enjoys cooking.spring rolls are great as you can put virtually anything you like in them. even better if you get dumpling skins as opposed to the large sheets for spring rolls as you can make small batches for comparison and can steam, shallow or deep fry.
i can eat dumplings all day long, particularly prawn meat doused in sesame oil with grated carrot, ginger and water chestnuts.
i can eat dumplings all day long, particularly prawn meat doused in sesame oil with grated carrot, ginger and water chestnuts.
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