Egg Rolls

Another recipe from RecipeZaar that I found to use up the rest of the cabbage. Other than the egg roll wraps, I had everything else on hand, so I thought it was a perfect find. Plus, I thought it'd be nice to have these in the freezer for snacks for Kevin since he loves egg rolls.

The recipe says it makes 25, but I only ended up making 16 since that was all the wrappers I had in my package. I had enough filling leftover to make probably one more egg roll, but Kevin just ate the filling by itself as a snack. These are very good. I liked that they were baked and not fried. I'm going to make up a dipping sauce of sorts to have on hand, too.

Is It Egg Roll or Eggroll

1 lb ground pork
1 large onion, chopped
6 tablespoons garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoon fresh ginger, no powder please
3 big carrots, chopped or shredded
1/2-3/4 head napa cabbage, shredded or chopped, regular will work fine (I used regular cabbage)
1-2 cup bean sprout, fresh please, leave them out if you do not like them
water chestnut, optional
celery, optional (I didn't have any so I omitted this)
cilantro, optional (I used flat leaf parsley instead since my cilantro is long gone from the garden)
hot pepper, chopped, optional (I left this out)
salt and pepper
25 egg roll wraps or lumpia skins, the thin ones (my package had 16)

Brown the meat in a large pan. Add onion, garlic, ginger, carrots and some salt and pepper halfway through. Remove from heat when carrots are tender. Stir in cabbage and bean sprouts, this will help cool the mixture down. Taste it now and see if it needs any more salt, good huh. Drain this mixture VERY WELL, moisture is you enemy in this recipe. I put it in a colander with a plate on top and a weight. It will look like there are more veggies than meat, that is a good thing. Blot it with a paper towel, it does not have to be bone dry, just not puddling and it needs to be cool before rolling.

We are almost there, have a glass of wine while you are waiting for it to cool!

Stir occasionally in the colander to get the hiding moisture. Lay the wrapper so that one point is towards you. Put about about 3 tablespoons of mixture across the wrapper. Here is where I add a bit of cilantro, green onion, chopped hot pepper. Fold the point that is pointing at you up over the mixture. Now fold the corner on the right over that, now the point on the left and begin to roll till you get to the end. Moisten the last point and finish the roll.

Freeze these individually on a cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap then put in freezer bags unless you are eating them right away.

To cook them, remove to a cookie sheet (do not thaw) and spray them with Pam. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, turn over and spray again and bake another 10 to 15 minutes. They will not get all brown like fried ones but they will be crispy and delicious.