SPRING ROLLS ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ For Dummies
The Basic Spring Roll The Basic Spring Roll is easy. Grate some veggies, mix them with minced meat, season with salt and pepper, roll in premade wrappers. How easy is that? The amount and type of veggies, meat and seasoning is entirely up to you - it’s just a mat-
ter of personal taste. In this book I’ll show you how I make mine. Don’t worry if you don’t know the difference between cilantro and basil - it’s perfectly acceptable to make spring rolls with only onions/cabbage and meat. No
matter how you make them, they’ll taste great (hey, they’re deep-fried!). Serve them as a snack on their own, as part of the main dish with rice noodles, or freeze them for your hangover Sundays.
Ingredients Gives 70-80 spring rolls. FILLING 1 medium sized cabbage 1 medium sized rutabaga 5-7 carrots 2-3 onions 1.2kg minced beef spring roll wrappers (thawed) 3 eggs cilantro holy basil (chili) SEASONING 1 lime 5-8 tbsp fish sauce (or salt) 5-8 tbsp sugar 5-8 tbsp salt 5-8 tbsp pepper 2-4 tbsp ground ginger 3 solo garlic
Chop It! This is the boring part. All your vegetables (in my case onions, carrots, cabbage, rutabaga, garlic, cilantro and basil) have to be chopped or grated into small pieces. If you’re lucky, you have a food processor. If not, either stick to 2-3 vegetables or get some minions to help you out. Oh - and just throw everything into one big bowl instead of several small ones like me. I just did it to make it look pretty.
Mix It! Mix eggs and minced meat with your veggies. Then throw in the seasoning of your choice. You can just use salt and pepper, or go fancy like me with ginger, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice.
Roll It! Hopefully you have remembered to take out your spring roll wrappers from the freezer the night before. If not, just thaw it in the micro. Put 3-5 tbsp of your filling on a wrapper (depending on the size of the wrapper), then roll like shown. You’ll get the hang of it!
Roll It Again! Turn on a movie, a football game or your favorite TV-show - you’re gonna be here for a while. Make sure to wrap the rolls tightly and don’t make them too big, or they’ll be difficult to fry later. If you find yourself with extra wrappers as you finish, just use 2 wrappers on some of the rolls instead of 1. If you want to freeze some for later, put the whole backing tray in the freezer first so the rolls don’t stick together. Once they’re frozen, you can put them in plastic bags.
Fry It! Turn the stove on medium heat, and heat up oil in a deep pan. To prevent the oil from spattering too much when you add the rolls, sprinkle some salt in it. Dip a corner of a spring roll in the oil - if it starts sizzling, it’s hot enough. You can completely cover the rolls in oil or, if you’re trying to save money/keep up a resemblance of healthiness, just pour about 2cm of oil into the pan. Fry the rolls on each side until they’re light to medium goldenbrown. Place them on paper towels when you’ve taken them out of the pan to drain away excess oil.
And You’re Done!
Drink Tips
courtesy of Johan
For non-alcoholic, try a fresh 7UP or a fiery ginger beer. Sparkled water with lime would also work great with spicy spring rolls.
Beer and spring rolls make a great snack Friday football nights. Go with a light, fruity lager like Pilsner Urquell, San Miguel, Stella Artois.
If you feel more fancy, try a medium dry Riesling - not too sweet, and a great pairing for spicy Asian dishes.
Where Do I Get Those Thingies?
Everything you need can be found at the regular store. Except the wrappers. Get them frozen at Global Store across Bystasjonen. They also sell solo garlic, cilantro/holy basil, and that lovely ginger beer.
June 2011 May 2013