Egg Rolls: Anyone Make Them at Home?

I was discussing home cooking Chinese food in a wok with a co-worker, and mentioned I had made egg rolls some 20 years ago and they were great but hadn't done it in so long I forgot what I did, I was emulating a recipe from the now defunct Charlie Lui's in Chicago.

They made their rolls with spring wraps and they were wonderfully crispy. I remember wood ear, sprouts, pork and black pepper.

We are thinking about having an eggroll party...chop the main ingredients, and people can make chicken, pork, or shrimp rolls to their liking...

Anyone have recipes?

I don't but am glad you started this thread as I have thought about doing so myself.  I hope you get some responses, I'd like to do this too.  I looked at a few on line but nothing really struck my fancy.  We have a good Chinese restaurant here called "Golden Buddha" that I buy from fresh and fry at home, but would like to make my own.

Jim Lee's Chinese Cookbook is a classic.  But, just go on the net and get lots of them..Personally, the only one you need is for the roast pork.

I use to make them all the time, but I used egg roll skins..Not spring roll wrappers.

I'd make my roast pork ahead of time..Lots of recipes on the net for Chinese Roast Pork.  Make sure you use one that includes sherry, hoisin, sesame oil, etc.  You have to hang the strips in the oven and have a water pan beneth it to catch the drippings and keep moisture in the oven.

I cook off some shrimp and dice it up
 
I lightly saute small chopped celery in oil and some sesame oil to taste.  You want to just cook the sharp crispy raw texture out of it.  Remember that the mix you put in the egg rolls is not going to cook..It all has to be pre-cooked.  The key with the celery then is to take a ricer and squeeze all the liquid out of that sauteed celery..Make it bone dry.  Don't worry..It will taste fine.

Sautee your cabbage (I like green cabbage..not white) and cook it until limp but not overcooked.  Cook it too long and it will smell. Press it in the ricer, too. 

You will have to add some corn starch to the entire mix..not too much.  Just enough to absorb any further liquids.  I put in soy sauce, salt, pepper sesame oil..Season the entire mix to your taste..Once you have your mixture, you're set to go. 

You must cook the egg rolls as soon as you fill and wrap them or the skin will rapidly start wetting down.  Cook them completely and drain them good.    

Doctor up your own duck sauce..Take the stuff in the jar (Dai Day), add canned unsweetened applesauce, fresh garlic, a mixture of sugar and vinegar (dissolved) and chopped pimento for color.  Let it sit for at least an hour in the refrigerator.  The difference is remarkable.

Baah Ben's recipe sounds really good.
 
There is also a  fantastic recipe for homemade egg rolls (the old fashioned Chinese-American kind) in David Rosengarten's book, It's All American Food.

I did for the first time January 1!

I got a small deep fryer for Christmas (Cuisinart brand). I made a mix of stirfried vegetables (onion, bell pepper, celery, cucumber) seasoned with ginger and black bean garlic sauce. I rolled them and fried them. My technique needs some work (some of them were puffier than I'd like -- I didn't roll  them properly). But they tasted sensational.

I make what I call a redneck eggroll...cooked collards and
a piece of ham, serve with a spicy mustard sauce....folks
around here love em.

hmmm. I don't recall cooking any of my  veggie ingredients...I think I used bok choy, bean  sprouts, wood ear...

Many nights, after a loooooongday, 5:00 to 8:00 I would stop and buy2 egg rolls from a take out Chinese joint.  Loved them.

Then when I cut back on the labor end I made my own, and like
that old Mandarin Lord Baah Ben I made my own.  Ah So---they were mucho good.  Please escuse, but have not done so in long time----have to send #1 son to store for very valuable ingredients. As Confusius say------------You have whet my appetite. 

I made egg rolls myself about 20 years ago. Haven't done any since.     They were good.  ... I made a dozen or so and froze them.    ...shrimp, chinese cabbage, bok choy .......don't remember the rest.....

redneck eggroll!    that's good  ....I've thought of it myself but never tried to make it.    Did you use rolled out biscuit dough, thin or wonton wrappers?

Ed..you aren't serious are you.  Biscuit dough?  I know you are kidding....
Cosmos - The egg roll skin is done in a matter of 3-4 minutes..How do you get the raw veggies cooked inside that skin?  I have always pre-cooked the mixture, added a tiny bit of corn starch to keep liquids from bleeding into the skin, let it cool down and then filled the wrappers. 
The problem with getting a good egg roll is getting a good egg roll.  When I check out a new Chinese resataurant (An American Chinese restaurant) I order their won ton soup and an egg roll.  If they are ok, then I will return and go for an entree and roast pork fried rice.  I recently did this at SK's Chinese Take-Out in Daytona Beach.  I have been back and had a entree and it was good, but not as good as Lehann's SK.

The best egg roll in these parts is at Won Lee in Deland..There is nothing even close including my beloved Lehann's in Daytona.  What makes a great egg roll?  Well, for me, it has to have green leafed cabbage (not just the white cabbage leaves), celery, minced roast pork and baby shrimp.  Most places pay lip service to all but a lot of white cabbage.  They skimp..I walk....

Egg rolls made at home take a lot of time.  But, once you have the mixture, it goes fast.  Give your guests two of them each, make some legitimate won ton soup and table noodles and you can get by as a great meal. 

I use to use good quality canned chicken stock and I'd cook off the bok choy (reserving the green leaves at the top) and I'd have enough roast pork for slices in the soup as well as the amount I needed minced for my egg rolls. 

I'd also added water chestnuts and snow peas, sliced steamed chicken breast and raw shrimp to the soup. It was a meal in itself.

I made my own table noodles - fry the won ton wrappers after cutting them in strips.  I doctored up store brought duck sauce and made hot mustard.  It was great..I use to do this 2-3 times a year and invite 6 people over.  Sometime I also made Chinese ribs...You have to hang them in the oven.  

What I could never duplicate was fried rice for some reason.  I believe it was because I could never get the wok hot enough (electric) to draw out all the liquids in the rice like soy, etc.  So, I avoided making entrees except with white rice.

If you enjoy making a Chinese meal, your friends will appreciate the effort.  But, it better be good!  You meal will definitely be scrutinized.  If you need recipes, I highly recommend that Jim Lee cookbook.

Years ago, a friend of mine started making what he called TEX MEX Egg Rolls. Just egg roll skins w/ things like chili and cheese, fajita meat, or taco meat inside. Hey... they were good!
Joe

I used to make them at home all of the time....my recipe is an old Jeff Smith the Frugal Gourmet recipe.

Allot of effort...don't get me wrong the eggrolls are fantastic...just a whole lot of work.

Baah...I will definitely be looking at recipes, but I recall the veggies should have a nice snap to them, not be mushy...Maybe I am suffering from poor memory...(imagine that )

I hope people know that when they go to their local Chinese restaurants they are usually buying egg rolls that were made in NY or Chicago or San Francisco and frozen...I cant' stand those things...chewy skins stuffed with cabbage (I think they have one shrimp they wave over the cabbage before they roll it up) with a little five spice that makes it taste like a cabbage stuffed doughnut...yecchh...

I remember once measuring a building with a fellow architect in Chicago's Chinatown.. We found where the fried rice noodles and almond cookies of the midwest were made...I have to say they tasted great fresh out of the vat and oven...

Cosmos - There are a lot of lousy Chinese restaurants and they use lousy factory made egg rolls.  But, there are plenty of good ones that still make their own.  Jsut takes more time to locate them these days.

Rebeltruce - I totally agree.  Prep time for Chinese food is high.  Cooking time fast.

I don't make egg rolls, but I make a killer egg roll sauce:

16oz can of fruit cocktail undrained
1 cup brown sugar.

Blenderize fruit cocktail. Simmer in saucepan with brown sugar till reduced a bit and thickened, about 5 minutes. 

I make them at least once a year, using a Leeann Chin recipe.

http://www.bigoven.com/81748-Egg-Rolls-%232-recipe.html

my mother used to make dozens of egg rolls at once and freeze them uncooked in ziploc bags. she made the skins from scratch, similar to crepes.... she would fry them straight out of the freezer for a few minutes, and they were fantastic :)

Back home in State College, Pa. there used to be an egg roll shop called Suzie Wongs. Several varieties were available, and they were all fantastic, I believe the shop may still be there, it was in the alley between College and Beaver, close to what used to be an arcade called Playland.

I remember the sauce being a mixture of mayo and very spicy Chinese mustard.

When I make eggrolls at home I always make this sauce.....all this talk of homemade eggrolls...now I've got to make a batch this weekend!!

When I lived in the East (Rochester, NY and Alexandria, VA), I never did find a good egg roll. Even places that made all their other food from scratch seemed to buy those mass-produced factory egg rolls, which were lousy.
 
I grew up in Indianapolis, and I've always preferred the Midwest-type, old-fashioned Chinese American egg roll.  It's a vanishing species.  My current favorites are at the Orange Garden in Chicago; Lotus Garden in Greenwood, Indiana; Hong Kong Inn in Indianapolis; and Dragon House in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. I also had a fantastic egg roll at the Silver Dragon in Calgary, Alberta about four years ago. 
 
All these restaurants are "old" -- some go back to the '30s or '40s -- and they all take pride in making their sweet-and-sour sauce from scratch.  This isn't duck sauce or plum sauce, and it isn't thick or like preserves.  It's typically thin, translucent, and orange-based.   When I get carry out from Dragon House, they throw in some factory-made mustard sauce packets, but their sweet-and-sour sauce is carefully packed separately in a little plastic pot with a snap-on lid.   They've also bottled their sauce and offer it for sale in the restaurant, and you can take it home and serve it with your own egg rolls, or fried shrimp, or -- rumaki!
 
   

Ramaki, would that sauce freeze? If so... we could be rich if we could talk the folks at Dragon House into.... something??? :~)
joe

I have no idea whether the sauce would freeze successfully or not.  I'll probably be getting carrry out from the Dragon House next weekend (weekend of February 28-March 1), so perhaps I'll put a sample in my freezer and see what happens to it!
 
But in the meantime -- it's available in 8-ounce (I think) glass bottles.   On the take-out menu, it's listed as "Egg Roll Sauce."
 
http://www.dragonhouserestaurant.com/
 

Everything that baah wrote is about all anyone needs to know. This is how I make them, and I prepare them at least two -three times a year.

I have some suggestions to simplify things. Buy some shredded cole slaw mix. Add bean sprouts, celery, water chestnuts or bamboo shoots; I have used dried mushrooms, peanuts and dried shrimp in the past.
I guess you could cook the mixture a little, but I usually add soy sauce and other seasonings, letting things wilt. Either way, you want to drain out some of the moisture.

I found these at the supermarket and they taste close enough to replace bbq pork. I used them in my recent version of egg rolls and they were okay.


Re: duck sauce. I like the pre-made version, and use a mixture of Chinese mustard paste and the sauce for a great dip.

mark

We make two different kinds, neither with cabbage.

I'll have to get  you specific recipes when I'm home, but the one we usually make starts with ground pork and shrimp. You chop half the shrimp into chunks and grind the rest in the food processor. Mix all the shrimp and pork. Separate an egg and give the yolk to the dog. Beat the white a little with cornstarch and add to the meat. Then you take a couple of leeks, cut them into 4" lengths (throwing away the roots and the darker green bits; you just want the white, yellow, and light green part), and then carefully cut each one lengthwise, so you've got a sort of half log. Hold each under running water by one end, and then fan the other end out to rinse out any sand. Turn it around and to that do the other side. When they're all clean, chop them up on the cutting board. This is far more flavorful than cabbage. Mix them into the meat, and then add all the sauces. Now I can't remember all of it, but there's soy sauce, shrimp sauce, sesame oil, Chinese barbecue sauce (or Chinese tomato sauce, if you can't find it, but the BBQ sauce is also called Char Sui), sugar, allspice (really), and maybe something else I'm forgetting. Mix all this together and then try to get it all off your fingers again. Good luck with that.

Separate another egg, and give the yolk to the dog again. Preferably right on his food, so he has to eat it. Plug in the deep fryer (I have a Delonghi), or put enough oil in a wok or something to deep fry a couple at a time, and heat it up. Get a platter and cover it with plastic wrap, loose at one end (so's you can put stuff in there). This keeps them from drying out while you're waiting for them to fry. Get a pastry brush, cutting board, your filling, a spoon, your egg roll or spring roll wrappers, and your egg white, beaten enough so it'll spread. Take each wrapper and put it in front of you with one corner pointing down. There are different ways to fill and fold an egg roll. This is how I do it. Swipe the side and top corners with egg white, and then spoon about, oh, 1/4 cup or so of filling in the middle in a sort of log shape, going right-left. Fold one side point tightly towards the middle, and then the other one to overlap it, also tightly against the filling. Make sure your resulting sides are straight up and down. Then take the bottom and pull it up tightly over the filling, and then roll it up towards the top, sealing with the eggy top point. Place under plastic wrap and repeat. If you have a small child and another pastry brush, occupy the child with their own little wrapper (minus filling), and then fry it for them. They'll love that. We fry our egg rolls for 3 minutes, 2 or 3 at a time, and try to eat them immediately. If you keep them warm in the oven, we find they get a little chewy.

However, leftover egg rolls are great warmed up in the oven on a cookie sheet.

The other recipe we've tried recently involved crab meat, and was wonderful. I'll have to find that when I get home.

Jennie

Wow, neat thread yall. You have me wanting to make something besides Texas Style Egg Rolls... AKA Tex Mex Egg Rolls. :~)
Joe

Baah Ben


Ed..you aren't serious are you.  Biscuit dough?  I know you are kidding....

The point was Redneck or Soul Food egg-roll. So why not with thin rolled biscuit dough? ....................

Here are my egg rolls. I made them with the previously pictured Chinese sausage and the ingredients mentioned.
What you see here are my frozen ones prior to re-heating, and I sliced through one to give you an idea about the insides. One thing I have learned is that it is better to pre cook the egg rolls half way through before freezing them. If not, the egg roll skins will contract and crack.


===The point was Redneck or Soul Food egg-roll. So why not with thin rolled biscuit dough? ....................===

I wish that frozen bread dough would would simplify my attempts at BBQ pork buns. There is a sweet aspect and flavor to the bread.


mark

We make them a few times a year. We use the pre made/store bought wraps. We just follow the directions on the package. It is easy.