Spring Rolls (春卷）

In my family, we eat spring rolls at the lantern festival, which is January 15 in lunar calendar, or the last day of the Chinese New Year holiday.  It is also very common in Cantonese Dim Sum restaurants or Shanghai style restaurants.  It is also a very popular party food.  The recipe here is based on what I learned from my mom.  It is quite different from what you have in the restaurants.

Ingredients: (to make 50 spring rolls)

1.  1lb lean pork
2.  1lb medium shrimps
3.  1 package bean curds (4 pcs)
4.  1 can bamboo shoot strips (see picture)
5.  1 package yellow Chinese leeks (韭黃）
6.  1 package bean sprouts
7.  10 dried shiitake mushrooms
8.  2 packs of spring roll wrap (see picture)

Spring Roll Wrappers	Bamboo shoots

Prepare the Stuffing:

1. Peel and de-vein shrimps, add 1 tsp salt and wash it in running water.  Use paper towel to pat it dry.  Cut each shrimp into 3 or 4 pieces. Put it in the fridge while preparing other ingredients.

2. Slice pork into thin strips,  marinate it with soy sauce (1Tbsp), salt (0.5 tsp), corn starch (1 Tbsp), vegetable oil (0.5 Tbsp).

3. Soften the mushrooms in warm water for one hour, remove the stem and cut them into thin strips.

4. Slice the bean curds into thin strips.  I first slice it horizontally into 5-6 slices (you may slice it into 4 depending on the thickness of the bean curd, be careful don't cut your finger), then cut the slices.

5. Wash the yellow Chinese leeks thoroughly, they usually have a lot of dirt.  Cut them into 1.5 inch strips (same length as the bean curd).

6.  Open the bamboo shoot can, drain the water.  If the strips are too long, cut them into 1.5 inches

7. Using high heat, heat 2 Tbsp vegetable oil in a stir-fry pan, stir fry the meat until cooked.  Use a spatula to separate the meat since the corn starch will make them stick together. Take the cooked meat out.

8.  Add 0.5 tsp salt in the shrimps and coat them with 1 Tbsp corn starch.  Heat 2 Tbsp vegetable oil in a pan and stir-fry shrimps until they change color (use high heat). Add 2 tsp cooking wine when they start changing color.  Take the shrimps out.

9. Heat another 2 Tbsp vegetable oil, now add mushrooms first (add 0.5 tsp salt and stir fry for 2 minutes),  then add bean curds, bamboo shoots, add another 0.5 tsp salt and 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1tsp sugar, stir fry for 2 minutes.  Now add bean sprouts and stir fry for another 2 minutes when the bean sprouts are turning soft. Lastly, add the yellow Chinese leeks and mix well with the rest of the vegetables (at most 1 minute).  Turn off heat and add meat and shrimp back in and mix everything well.  You can add some chicken extract (雞精) and white pepper.  Taste it and add more salt if needed.  Take the stuffing out from the pan and try to drain the juice out of it as much as possible.

Wrapping the Spring Rolls

1. Open the spring roll wrap package.  Separate the wraps very carefully.  Make sure you don't break them.  Cover them with a damp paper towel to prevent them from drying. Add one Tbsp corn starch in a bowl of water (maybe 4 Tbsp), mix it well.  This will be used to seal the spring roll.

2. Lay one sheet of wrap diagonally on a clean flat surface.  One side of the wrap is smoother than the other side.  Make sure you put the smooth side at the bottom.  (see picture)

 

3. Put two spoonfuls of stuffing at the bottom half of the wrap.  Spread the stuffing about 3 inches wide.  Also, make sure the stuffing is free of juice, otherwise, the juice will soak through the wrap and break it.

4. Tug the tip of the wrap around and under the stuffing, roll it once then fold the both sides in then roll it all the way. (see the second and third pictures on the left).  Wet the wrap tip with the corn starch water (use your finger) and seal it.  It won't seal very tight, so when you put it on a tray, may sure the tip is faced down.

5. Lay the uncooked spring rolls on a baking tray.  Do not stack them.

6.  Heat about one inch of  vegetable oil in a big frying pan.  Ideally, the oil should be enough to submerge the spring rolls.  If you don't want to put too much oil, 1/2 inch is okay.  You may have to add more oil in the process because the spring roll wrap soak up a lot of oil.

7. When the oil is hot, line the spring rolls in the pan as shown in the picture on the left. The open tip side should be at the bottom.  Turn the heat to medium to prevent it from burning.  When the bottom side turns golden, flip it once.  When both sides are golden, take them out.  Put the spring rolls on a drainer first to let the oil drain.   Line the plates with paper towel and put the spring rolls on top of the paper towel.  Again, try not to stack them.  You might want to pat them with paper towel too.  Let them sit for 5 minutes then serve.