
Welcome to the global pandemic!
Many of you probably don’t know this but A and I love to play board games.

Have you ever played pandemic? It is a great game about fighting off a global disease and saving the world!
Seems horribly relatable right now…
Anyway, A has been REFUSING to play it with me! Something about how it is less fun when it is real. Crazy talk! I think we should be playing it more! You know… for practice.
Anyway, pandemic (and no. No one has asked me to say these things or is sponsoring me) is a great game and you should all order it off amazon right now. There are two legacy games which are also great among with a few other spin offs.
Anyway!
This is a food blog and my sous chef Summit thinks I should talk about egg rolls now.

So! Egg rolls!

Egg rolls are a fun, easy thing to make. You can wrap them ahead of time and either freeze them or toss them in the refrigerator for up to a week before frying. The sauce I’m going to show you is also super easy and really uses almost solely the ingredients you already need on hand to make the eggrolls plus a jar of jelly.
Jar of jelly?
Yes you heard me. I make my eggoll dipping sauce by CHEATING. And use jelly.

But now I am ahead of myself!
Let’s get back to eggrolls.
First thing’s first, let’s pick some produce.

I used shiitake mushrooms, green onions, cilantro, ginger, garlic, and napa cabbage. Now chop it!

Don’t worry! I know that looks like a LOT of cabbage but it is going to cook way down and be great. Now to flavor my eggrolls we also get out some fish sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame seeds, and lemongrass (I use a paste but you could do fresh or dried if that is easier for you to find).
Also pork sausage.
Now that I am ready lets cook! We are going to start with a giant wok (or a big, deep skillet if you don’t have a wok), one Tbsp vegetable oil, and one Tbsp sesame oil. Get this nice and hot before throwing your mushrooms in.

The mushrooms will quickly soak up all the oil but have no fear! They will dispel all that oil again when they are cooked. Once that starts to happen (should be about three minutes) we add in the sausage. This is also when I add all those lovely seasonings.
Once the sausage is uniformly brown with no more pink or white raw meat add in the cabbage, green onion, and cilantro.
See? I told you it would shrink. Now take the whole thing and set it in a strainer over a bowl to cool.

Don’t skip this! You need that moisture to come out so the eggrolls won’t be soggy. So leave it be for a minute. Let it cool and drain while you go make your sauce.
Jelly. You must think I’m crazy.

But don’t knock it ’til you try it!
Use any jam or jelly or preserve you want. I love using spicy ones with red pepper in them. This time I used a Strawberry + Balsamic + Black Pepper jelly. It was great! Feel free to get creative. Just mix in the rice wine vinegar, Chili oil (if you need it spicier than the jelly will make it) cilantro, toasted sesame seeds, and the secret ingredient.
*Dramatic pause*
Your filling drippings! All those yummy flavors from your egg rolls are in that delightful liquid you are catching from your egg roll filling and make a great base for your sauce.
And that’s it! That’s the sauce.
Now lets head back to the eggrolls.
First we need to wrap these puppies. This is not difficult I swear. Just lay out a wrapper and place about three tablespoons of filling into the center as a little log.
Then brush a little water on all the sides and fold in the corners at the short ends of your log. Next fold one corner all the way over. Get it nice and snug now so there isn’t any extra air in there.
Now just roll it the rest of the way up and you have one!
You will get faster I promise. A can roll these little babies faster than you can believe.
And really, you are stuck at home anyway #stayhomeMN. So you have plenty of time to practice!
And now we fry them.
I always pan fry mine so that is the instructions I will give but if you have a deep frier feel free to go with that instead. The best way to pan fry is in a wide, flat bottom skillet with nice high sides and about an inch of oil in the bottom.
Make sure you get the oil very hot before you add the eggrolls or the wrappers will soak up too much oil and get soggy. A good way to test oil temp if you don’t have a thermometer is to flick just a drop or two of water into the oil. If it sizzles and pops than you are ready.
Since the filling is completely cooked there is no need to worry about under cooking the middle. So just fry these babies to golden brown.
It doesn’t get any prettier than that my friends.
Eat well!
Crispy Pork Egg Rolls and Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce
Eggroll Ingredients:
- 1 Napa Cabbage, diced
- 1 4-ounce package shiitake mushrooms, diced
- 4 green onions, minced
- 1 bunch cilantro, rough chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 lb pork sausage
- 1 package egg roll wrappers
- 2 T soy sauce
- 1 T rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 T plus extra Vegetable oil
- 1 T sesame oil
- 1 T chili oil
- 1 T roasted sesame seeds
Sauce Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp drippings from eggroll filling
- 4 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbsp jelly (dealer’s choice)
- 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 Tbsp chili oil (optional or to taste)
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
To Make the Egg rolls:
Start by heating 1 T of vegetable oil the sesame oil in a large wok or deep saute pan. When the oil is hot, add the shiitakes. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until they are golden brown, moist, and have released their joices. Add the sausage and cook until golden brown. Then add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, chili oil, garlic, and sesame seeds. Mix together, then add cabbage and stir well. Let cook down, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is wilted, 5-8 minutes. Mixture should be reduced by about half. Set a colander over a bowl, and pour cabbage mixture in. Stir around to get all the juices into the bowl. Let set until cool.
Fill a small bowl, ramekin, or cup, with cool tap water and cover a wide, flat surface (such as a platter or cutting board) with paper towels. Once cabbage mix is cool, open egg roll wrapper package. Do NOT do this early, as they will dry out and be impossible to work with. Set one wrapper with a corner pointing toward you, Take two fingers, dip them in your cup of water, and lightly rub a little water around all four edges of the wrapper. The water will let you eggroll hold together and not fall apart. Try not to get the middle wet. Spread a couple spoonfuls of filling across between the two corners horizontal to you. Do NOT overfill. You need less than you think. Fold in the two corners horizontal to you, tight against the filling. Then fold the bottom corner over the filling row and roll tightly. (See pictures above.). Set on another plate covered with paper towels. As you go, do not let the raw wrappers touch each other as they will stick. It is very important to keep your workspace dry, and if your paper towel you are rolling on gets wet, replace it.
Once you have used all the filling, you are ready to fry. Heat about one inch of oil on medium heat in a wide saute pan. The oil is hot when you can flick water over it and it sizzles. Carefully, set eggrolls with the seam side down in the oil. Again, do not let them touch each other. When one side is golden brown, (Usually around a minute, but watch it!) flip. Continue until all four sides are golden brown and crunchy. Take out, and set on a plate covered with a paper towel. Continue in batches until all egg rolls are cooked.
To make the Sweet and Sour Sauce
Mix all ingredients together until the jelly is completely dissolved. Serve in dipping bowls as the sauce will be very runny.
To Cheat:
Pick a protein! Any protein! Don’t like sausage? Use ground pork, ground chicken, ground whatever you like instead! Don’t want meat? Sub in more mushrooms or try a crispy fried tofu instead! Go crazy. But make sure you add more soy! Sausage has a high salt content so this recipe reflects that. If you choose a protein with no salt in it be sure to TASTE you mixture before wrapping your eggrolls and add more soy as needed.
Not to Cheat:
Let it drain and cool! Don’t skip this step. Trust me. We have tried it. Your eggroll wrappers will get soggy and this will make them explode in the oil. Exploding means super splattery hot oil which WILL burn you and oil getting into your filling where you don’t want it. If you let it cool, these things will not happen. Pinkie promise.