The Spring Roll has a long history of over a thousand years. It was called Spring Cakes in the Sung Dynasty. Paper thin pastry wrapped round shredded ingredients. Spring Rolls are especially popular during the Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival. The filling can be meat or vegetarian, economical or rich. Fujianese Spring Rolls have very thin pastry and exortic filling. They are the best of Spring Rolls. Shanghaiese Spring Rolls have a diversity of fillings. One typical ingredient is bamboo shoot. The Cantonese Spring Roll has travelled Overseas and is known in the West as Egg Rolls
Ingredients
12 sheets Spring Roll wrappers (They may be round or square in shape)
1 egg, beaten
6 cups oil for frying
115 g chicken breast meat
115 g pork
140 g cooked and shelled shrimps
60 g chinese roast pork
6 chinese dried mushroom, soaked
1 cup shredded bamboo shoot
170 g chives
Seasoning for chicken
2 tsp egg whige
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each rice wine and cornstarch
sesame oil, pepper and sugar
Seasoning for pork
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp each of rice wine and cornstarch
seasme oil, pepper and sugar
Glaze
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 heap tsp of cornstarch
Preparation
Cut pork and chicken into strips.
Mix with the seasoning
Cut chinese roast pork and mushroom into strips
Cut bamboo shoots into slices and blanch in boiling water
Cut into strips
Cut chives into 5 cm lengths
Filling
Prefry seasoned chicken and port in oil
Put wok over high flame and add 1 tbsp oil
Add chinves and stir fry for a few seconds add salt to taste, remove and set aside
Add 1 tbsp oil and stir fry the mushroom, bambook shoot, and shredded meat.
Add chinese roast pork strips and stir fry for a few seconds over high heat
Add the glaze and stir well
Remove and leave to cool
Mix together all the filling ingredients adding the cooked shrimp and chives
Wrapping
Place a piece of the Spring Roll pastry on the table one corner facing you
Put 2 tbsp of the filling in the center of the pastry
Fold the nearest corner of the wrapper up covering the filling
Fold the two sides
Finish by rolling away from you
Glue the last corner with the beaten egg
Repeat for all the 12 Spring Rolls
Deep Frying
Put wok over high flame
Add oil for frying
When oil is heated to approx. 180 degrees C.
With pair of long wooden chopsticks hold one piece of the Spring Rolls at a time in the oil for a few seconds, pinching the fold to prevent from opening, before letting go.
Fry each piece until golden brown
Drain off excess oil in a colander.