How to ROLL and egg ROLL?

[Aabacus]

I haven't seen this here and did a search but didn't find anything so if I'm dim I apologize.

I've always wanted to be able to roll my own egg rolls but have never been successful. So, today I decided to invest a little money and experiment.

I shredded a half head of cabbage and about four carrots then mixed them together in a big bowl.

Armed with one package of egg roll wrappers and a heated fryer I attempted to follow what I'd seen done on some YouTube videos.

After all 20 or so wrappers were spent I was able to wrap an egg roll. However, I still am not satisfied.

The egg roll comes out very very loose. Like I'm not stuffing it with enough cabbage but if I try to use more it splits or falls apart during the rolling part of its lifecycle. Also, still am having trouble rolling them to be air tight so I'm always pouring oil out of the egg roll.

Would someone please share their troubleshooting tips for rolling egg rolls?

[TorontoJo]

Everyone here is correct, you need to cook the ingredients before filling and rolling. Here's my mom's recipe, if you're interested:

Mom's Spring Rolls

1 c. pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips (if I had to estimate, I'd say 3" long by less than a 1/4" in diameter)
1 c. dried shitake mushrooms, reconstituted and sliced into thin strips
½ c. shredded carrots
1 c. bean sprouts
2 - 3 c. shredded/finely julienned white cabbage (my mom separates the thick core portions from the thin leafier portions)
3 - 4 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. cooking sherry
1 - 2 tsp. sugar
2 - 3 tsp. corn starch
Spring roll wrappers

Prep and marinate pork in soy, cooking sherry, sugar, corn starch for at least 2 hours (longer is ok -- my mom usually goes overnight).

Heat oil in wok or other large bottomed pot. Stir fry pork until just cooked. Remove pork to a separate bowl. Add more oil to wok if needed. Stir fry mushrooms first for a minute or two, then add the thick parts of the cabbage, then the rest of the cabbage. Add soy sauce and salt (optional, of course if you prefer soy only) to taste. Turn off heat, add carrots and bean sprouts and toss. Add meat and toss. If there is too much liquid, drain it from the pot, as you don't want your filling to be too wet.

Fill and wrap the spring roll wrappers, as you've learned. Deep fry. Eat. Enjoy. :)

[cakediva]

Next time, also try adding chopped shrimp or ground pork. These help bind the cooked vegetables as well as provide the flavor that you are lacking if you only use vegetables.

[Aabacus]

Astoundingly they had a LOT of flavor considering it was literally just cabbage and carrots. I just didn't get enough into the shells. Cooking, I think, is the key. I'm a dip$shit I didn't even think of that until someone mentioned it. My goal was...figure out how to roll the suckers...THEN make the filling tasty. Glad I did because my $8 experiment could have been $20. Interesting that you say the meat acts as a binder. I'm going to work with the cooked veggies first THEN add the meat. We'll see what it does but I suspect that you are right about the protein making it come together.

[HillJ]

Sometimes I scramble one egg and add that to the filling and those soft lumpy eggs help cushion the ingredients and create softer edges bywhich to roll your cooked filling.

Def. practice. I'm still practicing dim sum.

[Aabacus]

They looked okay though...just...not right....

[bushwickgirl]

Again, practice.

You should have seen my first attempt.

[chowser]

You did a nice job frying them--they look nice and golden brown. It looks like the fillings shrank too much probably because you didn't cook it first. FWIW, I haven't mastered it because my mom and MIL both do it so quickly that they shoo me out of the way when I try to help.

[Aabacus]

LOL...I come from a completely non-ethnic and non-cooking family. You are lucky you have the opportunity to be shoed away. If I told my mother I was going to try making my own egg rolls she'd say, "why would you do that?" *facepalm* sooooooo...Chowser buddy...you second the "cook the fillings" approach...Awesome. LOL.

[TDEL]

You need to stir fry the vegetable and you need to drain them very well after you stir fried them. Add some salt or soy sauce, little bit of sugar while you are frying them. DRAINING is one of the key.

[Aabacus]

I was using raw veggies. You are saying that to get the dense pack that they need to be cooked slightly? Interesting. I didn't consider that. Dunno why. *facepalm*

[chowser]

Not just slightly but completely. This might help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yF2aF...

[Aabacus]

Well son of a....

UGH.

Too easy and NOTHING like what I was looking at....

Someone owes me a splaination! (and a package of perfectly good egg roll wrappers.)

[Val]

AND...I remember watching Emeril Lagasse doing his shrimp and pork eggrolls...very very good! he also *compressed* the ingredients...his recipe is quite nice...and I must say, haven't found a DECENT eggroll that compares to his locally here in quite a while...I think everyone's are the frozen junky eggrolls, stuffed with only cabbage and carrots, very disappointing.

[ipsedixit]

Practice.

[Aabacus]

This is beyond true and yet...I don't know what I'm doing wrong to fix it. Thinkin's hard.