Nhan-Fiction

It was just one of those days where I felt like cooking away some of my woes away. Cooking is a great way of distracting yourself from something on your mind.

Today I felt like making egg rolls. I know. Very Asian. However, I wanted to add a “twist” to the egg rolls.

I first needed a protein for the egg rolls, so I began by thawing out some ground beef.

For other things that I would need, I started mincing and chopping up some:

- Ginger
- Garlic
- Green onions
- Red bell peppers
- Sweet and red onions
- Sausage meat

I also felt like it was an excuse to use some fresh basil as well.

OK, now start with ground beef into a pan.

Throw the minced stuff in, except for the garlic.

Time to season and add the fixins.

I added some things, which included and was not limited to:

- Eggs
- Salt
- Lemon pepper
- Ketchup
- Hot sauce
- Mustard
- Mayonnaise
- Cayenne pepper
- Paprika

Basically, it’s like making a hamburger patty mix.

Mix it well. Don’t be afraid of getting your hands dirty.

Hot pan. Olive oil in.

When the oil is hot enough, put the garlic in. Listen to that sizzling sound.

Throw the meat mix in there. Stir it well. Don’t cook the meat all the way, though. It will be finished later in the deep fat frying process. Set the pan aside away from the heat.

Egg roll wrappers.

Cut the bag open and begin peeling the wrappers.

Egg wash. Eggs and water. Mix.

On a clean surface, set the egg roll wrapper in a “baseball diamond” way. Take note that the following steps are just how I like to fold the egg roll wrappers. There are in fact other methods of doing so.

Brush egg wash on the outer edges of the wrapper. This is necessary to get the wrapper to stick and hold in the deep fat frying process.

Place the filling in the middle.

Begin by lifting the bottom of the wrapper.

Tuck the filling in, wedging the left and right sides together. Begin to roll upward.

Roll the egg roll up. Be sure to make it as tight as possible. You do not want the filling to pop out or too much excess oil to seep into the wrapper, which can make the filling super soggy. It is a good idea to use extra egg wash on the last piece of the egg roll wrapper to complete the wrapping.

Rinse and repeat until you are out of filling/wrappers to use.

Pan. Vegetable oil in (or another kind of oil of your choice).

When the oil is hot enough, place a bit of garlic in. Carefully, and I mean carefully, place the egg rolls in gently. Do not drop them too high from the pan or you could splash yourself with hot oil.

You will start to see the egg rolls changing into a golden brown color.

Be sure to turn each egg roll around to check each side, making sure parts are not getting burned. When an egg roll has become an ideal color and feels crispy to the touch with your tongs/chopsticks, lift out the egg roll and shake off the excess oil.

Place the egg roll onto a dry paper towel to let the excess oil soak into the paper towel.

Rinse and repeat. You will notice the oil will darken over time. This is normal. Keep frying until you are done.

Take note that it is a good idea to keep the egg rolls separate from one another. Stacking the egg rolls is something some people consider to be a bad thing (but my mama always did, and her egg rolls turned out fine regardless).

I like to use a paper towel to wipe off extra oil off the egg rolls. Let the egg rolls cool a bit before eating. Serve with your go-to sauce for egg rolls and garnish with stuff you like. I like to use sweet chili.

This was the first time I ever made these kind of egg rolls, for your information. I did not use any established recipe. I winged it from start to finish. The egg rolls turned out quite well. The filling had a great flavor, plus the egg roll shell was crispy.

Ground beef and sausage egg rolls.

All about the kitchen courage. >^..^<