I LOVE egg rolls! Well, let me re-phrase that. I LOVE homemade egg rolls!
My mom has been making egg rolls ever since I can remember! However, we didn’t use to have to make the wrappers for our egg rolls. For some reason they don’t sell those here in Papua New Guinea....
We have two recipes that work great! I’ve tried a couple different ones, and none seem to work all that well. They fall apart, or get super greasy, or just have terrible textures.
The two recipes I’m going to give you today I found in an old Chinese cookbook that was written by a couple of nuns during WWII. They were missionaries in China, and were captured by some Japanese soldiers. They spent several years in a prison camp, and after the war returned to China.....too bad they were Catholic!
Type One:
4 cups white (plain) flour
Enough hot water to make a soft dough
Mix the flour and water until you have a nice soft dough that is easy to work with.
Roll out the dough into eight inch circles. (I never measure mine...and often they are different sizes. Don’t tell the nuns.)
Place your filling in the center of the circle. Fold the top half of the circle over the filling toward you. Then fold both sides to the middle. Then roll.
Handle the egg rolls with care. Set them gently in hot oil and fry till golden brown on both sides.
DO NOT FRY IN DEEP FRYER!
These egg rolls are too delicate and fall apart when in a deep fryer.
Type Two:
2 cups white (plain) flour
1 egg
2 3/4 cups water
Mix the batter until smooth.
Pour about 1/3 cup of batter into a hot non stick pan. (Depending on how “non stick” your pan is add a little bit of oil.) Once the top is dry, flip, cook for about a minute on the other side. If wrapper starts to brown turn the heat down.
Place your filling in the center of the circle. Fold the top half of the circle over the filling toward you. Then fold both sides to the middle. Then roll.
Handle the egg rolls with care. Set them gently in hot oil and fry till golden brown on both sides.
DO NOT FRY IN DEEP FRYER!
These egg rolls are also too delicate and fall apart when fried in a deep fryer!
My family likes Type Two best. They have a crispy and chewy texture! But Type Two takes longer to make than Type One. When we make egg rolls we make LOTS! So for my family Type One is more practical. Type One is still great! Nice and crispy, and good texture!
Don’t add salt to your egg roll wrappers. A lot of the fillings you would put in there already have a lot of salt in them. Salt in the wrappers would probably be too much.
When frying, take the egg rolls out of the oil just before they get to the color you want. They continue cooking even after you take them out of the oil.
We use these wrappers to make egg rolls and wontons. You really could put anything you want in these!
Later on this week (unless my class goes totally crazy) I’ll be posting videos on how to make egg roll filling and egg roll sauce. Check out my channel on YouTube, Third Culture Cooking.
Comments are always welcome and appreciated!
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