The recipe here is going to make about 100 egg rolls, which is about right for a biiiiiiiiiig family for 2 meals. The recipe can easily be divided by 3. You'll notice that we don't use cabbage in this recipe. Cabbage tends to make egg rolls soggy because of the water content. It can also create an unpleasant odor. Here we go...
- Carrots (4)
- Taro root (about 1 lb)
- Onions (3)
- Shrimp (1.5 lbs, we get the 1 lb bags so 1.5 bag)
- Pork (about 3 lbs)
- Green Onions (4-5 stalks = 1 bundle)
- Vermicelli (10 oz - dry)
- Salt
- Pepper
- Chicken Bouillon Powder
- Sesame Oil
- Egg roll wrappers (3 pkgs)
- Lettuce
- Mint
- Rice Noodle
- Pork Roll
- Dipping Sauce (I don't have a recipe on this one yet, but don't just buy a bottle of nuoc mam (fish sauce) and use it as is as a dip. You have to add garlic, chili paste, lime, a little sugar, water and in my mom's recipe, some vinegar)
Remove the skins from the carrots, taro root and onions
Peel & de-vein the shrimps
Chop into pieces, add a few dashes of pepper and a drip of sesame oil. Mix and set aside
Chop the onions and put them in a big pot/bowl
Next shred the taro root and carrots. The taro root can be cut into slices about 1.5 inches thick for easier shredding. Add that to the onions
Should look a little something like this.
Now we have to add the vermicelli (6 small bags of 1.76oz were actually used. Some companies use white threads to bundle the vermicelli so make sure your remove that first)
But we must first soak them in cold water. Make sure the water covers all the noodles
While the vermicelli is soaking, you can mix the veggies up. If you are planning to cook it right away, you can add a few dashes of salt and 1 tsp of chicken bouillon powder. If not, don't add the salt because it'll draw the water out of the veggies.
Ground pork
Chop up some green onions
Combine the pork, green onions and shrimp. Season with 1 tbsp of chicken bouillon powder, 1 tbsp of salt, a few dashes of pepper, and a few drips of sesame oil.
Drain the vermicelli and cut it up so it can easily be mixed.
Stir it in the veggies
Now combine the forces.. the veggies & meat. Our pot wasn't big enough so we had to divide it into 2
At this point, we usually start heating up the oil. Use enough oil so that each batch of egg rolls can be fully submerged into the oil
This is the brand of egg roll wrappers that we've been using for years. 1 pkg contains 30-35 wrappers.
Time to start wrapping! You have to peel each pc of egg roll wrapper one by one. This is a good time to have a helper stand by because if you leave the wrapper out for too long, it can get dry, making it less pliable.
Spoon on the filling. How much you put in it really depends on how big you want your egg rolls.
Fold over once
and again
Now grab the sides and fold over
Roll. Where you see my mom's middle fingers, that's where you should tuck in a little so you don't have excess wrapper sticking out on the sides
and keep rolling
When you get to this point, dab a bit of egg white on the corner so the egg roll can stay put.
This here is a little more than 2 batches
You can start frying at this point. I usually help fry while my mom continues to wrap. The oil should be hot, but not to the point where it burns the outside before the inside is cooked. We used medium heat and fried each batch for about 15 minutes.
When you take them out, place them on paper towels so it can absorb some of the oil.
You can eat them as is, or with rice noodles, lettuce & mints and dip in fish sauce. The fish sauce pictured doesn't look so great because it's missing the chili paste. Enjoy!
