The harvest of a whole year depends on what you sow in the springtime.
~ Chinese Proverb

The main dish we did for last week’s Cooking Club was spring rolls. Winnie, who taught us how to make the glutinous rice balls earlier, also led in this dish.

I have never considered making spring rolls and have always ate them in restaurants. Gosh! I am so shocked as to the amount of work and ingredients that goes into this. Everyone made the same remarks too. We had twelve people during this session and we took over 2 hours in all. That shows how much work is involved. For sure, it’s quite impossible to make it alone. However, the end results were great and delicious.

Winnie showed us two different types of spring rolls: the first was the fried version (see picture above) and the second was the ready-to-eat wrapped version (details below). Both versions uses the same type of fillings but different types of skins.
Ingredients

• 1 lb ham
• 4 oz shrimp
• 1/2 lb fish cake
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp chopped onion
• 1 lb cabbage
• 1 lb bean sprouts
• 1 lb sui choy
• 1 lb carrot
• 1 lb water chestnuts
• 340g dried spiced bean curd
• 1/2 tsp salt (to marinate shrimp)
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 1 tbsp seasoning soy sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 5 tbsps oil
• 40 pcs spring rolls skin (choose the type depending on whether you’re frying the rolls or just wrappng it)
• 1/2 lb peanut sugar (optional)

Grated carrot	Shredded cabbage	Dried spiced beancurd
Ground pork	Bean sprout	Grated water chestnut
Chopped shrimp	Sliced fish cake	Shredded ham

Instructions

PREPARATION:

Marinate the pork with soy sauce, five-spice powder and cornstarch. In another bowl, marinate the shrimp with salt and cornstarch. Shred cabbage, dried bean curd and carrot into string shapes about 1.5″ long.

COOKING THE FILLINGS:

Heat 5 tbsp oil in frying pan, stir fry the pork about 2 minutes, add oyster sauce, drain and put it aside. Use the same pan to fry shrimp until well done. Add to the bowl of fried pork. Then fry dried bean curd and add to the bowl of fried pork. Stir fry the shredded carrot, cabbage, sui choy and bean sprout until soft and add fish cakes, soy sauce, salt, seasoning soy sauce and sesame oil. Return the pork, shrimp, bean curd and water chestnut and stir fry all together for a few minutes.

Frying the ingredients

The filling for the spring roll

READY-TO-EAT WRAP VERSION:

Place 2 tbsp filling on the spring roll skin, about 1″ from the edge that is toward you, roll once or twice, then fold right side toward center, then left side toward center. Continue rolling into a tight roll. Note that there for the wrapped version, you need to get the softer spring roll skins. Winnie said that she had to pre-order these type of skins from the bakery. I think this type does not last long and therefore the stores will normally not carry it.

This is the type of skin you should use for the ready-to-eat wrapped spring roll.

How it looks like wrapped tightly.

Looks yummy, right? We ate quite a few of these before we started working on the fried spring rolls!!

FRIED SPRING ROLLS:

Place 2 tbsp filling on the spring roll skin, about 1″ from the edge that is toward you, roll once or twice, then fold right side toward center, then left side toward center. Continue rolling into a tight roll. Stick outer edge of skin to roll with flour paste. Place the sticking side face down to hold tightly and to keep it’s shape until time for frying.

Heat oil in pan. Deep fry the spring rolls in low heat until golden brown and crisp.

The skin for the fried version. You will know that this is the right on by the picture on the wrapping. You can get this from any Asian grocery store.

Frying takes just a few minutes until the skin is golden brown. Remember that the filling is already cooked and you just need to fry the rolls to your liking.

So, will you make it? Personally, I don’t mind making it again just for the fun of it if a few of the ladies in Richmond don’t mind coming by to make it together. Let me know …

😉