Spring hasn't Rolled By (yet)

(Ok. Here goes the Second time I've written this post, because Safari sucks balls.)

When I started writing this post a sense of déja-vu came over me. I was pretty sure that amongst the many many blog posts I've done there was a spring roll recipe. Hilariously enough, there was a post titled "Spring Rollin' By" which was exactly what I had titled this post. Good to know that there is a limit in my brain to bad spring roll title puns.

There's been a lull in recipe work over the last month so the urge to make a thing came over me. When last we were in the grocery store, spring roll wrappers were on sale: Sold. 

The Spring Roll Story (as it goes), is a pretty simple one. And since our grocery store has a predominately Asian clientele there are always neat foodie things I've never used before to inspire. The below recipe is one I made up based on the picture on the back of the spring roll wrapper.

Egg Fried Rice Spring Rolls

Oil for frying (like vegetable oil)

~2 cups cooked rice (1 cup uncooked rice, prepared)
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
2 TBSP minced garlic
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
3 TBSP rice vinegar
1 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup frozen vegetables (or shredded carrot and peas)
1 egg

Spring Roll Wrappers, thawed - if frozen (~25 or half a package)
Water

Egg Fried Rice

  1. Prepare rice. (I used a cup uncooked basmati. It almost doubles in volume. Don't worry if you make extra though, the great thing about fried rice is you can make as much or as little as you want. And if not all of it goes into the spring rolls, you can just eat it as is!)
  2. In a large frying pan, heat ~2-3 TBSP oil over medium-high heat. Fry onion and garlic for 2 minutes, until garlic is fragrant.
  3. Add cooked rice to frying pan, stirring everything thoroughly together.
  4. Add teriyaki sauce, rice vinegar, pepper and pepper flakes to frying pan and stir together thoroughly. Add frozen veg and stir together.
  5. Fry rice until all liquids are absorbed and rice starts to brown. (You'll hear the rice start to crackle when you stir it.) 
  6. Clear a spot in the center of the frying pan. Crack the egg into the frying pan. Break yolk and cook egg in the center of the pan, stirring just the egg, until its cooked. Then stir egg and fried rice together. 
  7. Remove from heat. Let cool - about 10 minutes. (It's done! If you want to eat this I won't judge you. I definitely had a bite... or two.)

How to Wrap

  1. Take out the spring roll wrappers from the freezer (if frozen) and let them thaw on the counter for about 50 minutes. When thawed and ready to use, keep them covered with a damp cloth at all times. Dealing with these wrappers when they're normal is hard enough, don't dry them out.
  2. Fill a bowl with water - this water is used to wet the wrappers to seal them up. 
  3. Place a wrapper on it's diagonal (so it looks like a diamond).
  4. Put ~1 1/2 TBSP of rice mixture in the lower centre of the diamond. 
  5. Wet bottom corner of wrapper and wrap it firmly over rice. (Making sure the wet part contacts a dry part on the other side of the rice to seal).
  6. Wet the side corners and stretch them inwards and slightly forwards, to seal.
  7. Wet the top corner. Roll spring roll up over top corner, to seal. Makes ~20 spring rolls. 

Cooking Spring Rolls

There are really two ways I like spring rolls:

  1. Frying - either use a deep fryer or a pan frying method. Cook for ~8 minutes, until wrappers are golden-brown.
  2. Baking - Pre-heat oven to 425'F. Brush spring rolls with oil. Bake for ~25 minutes, turning them over at least once, until wrappers are browned.

The best thing about these spring rolls is they can also be frozen for later. I usually place them in a freezer bag on a cookie sheet in the freezer initially. That way they don't stick together. After about 8 hours (or the next day) take the cookie sheet out and POOF - bag of frozen ready-to-bake homemade spring rolls. Dinner for a lazy night? Check Mark.

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist