Pork Egg Rolls

My husband and I live out in the country and it's hard to find good Chinese food.  James loves egg rolls so I thought I would suprise him with egg rolls for dinner.   You can make these as a side dish, but we enjoy them as a main dish with rice. 

Ingredients:

2 lb ground pork                                 5.96
1 yellow onion                                       .30
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
4 Tbsp red sodium soy sauce             .25
1 tsp salt
1 tsp blk pepper
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tsp white sugar
1 16 oz bag of cole slaw mix               1.58
      (or one head of cabbage sliced thinly)
1 16 oz pkg of egg roll wrappers       2.58

Directions:

In a large frying pan cook the ground pork until no longer pink.  Chop the onion and add to the pork along with 2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper,
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1/2 tsp of ground ginger. 

Simmer for a few minutes until sauce is slightly reduced and onions get tender.  Move pork and onions to a bowl and set aside to cool.

In the same large frying pan cook add the bag of coleslaw mix along with 3 tsp sugar, 2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper and 1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar.  Stir well and cook the cabbage mixture for about 5 minutes.  You want the cabbage to be slightly tender, yet still have a little crunch when you taste it.  Move the cabbage mixture to the same bowl with the ground pork and stir well.   Let cool to room temperature.

Open the egg roll wrappers.  Put a few tsp of cold water into a small bowl and set aside.  Put one egg roll wrapper down on your work surface.

Using a slotted spoon place two heaping spoonfuls of filling onto the bottom half of the egg roll wrapper.

Fold the bottom corner up over the filling.

Fold the sides in to form a small envelope.

Dip your finger in the cold water and rub along the two upper edges of your egg roll envelope. 

Carefully roll the bottom of the egg roll up and onto the top corner of the egg roll. 

Place competed egg roll on a paper towel or kitchen towel to rest while you continue rolling the rest of the filling.  I had enough filling for 15 egg rolls.  If I were to make this recipe again I would add another pound of ground pork to try to fill all 20 egg roll wrappers that come in a 16 oz package.

For best results place the egg rolls on a cookie sheet lined with paper towel.  Place the cookie sheet into the freezer for one hour.  Now you can put all the egg rolls into a gallon zippered bag and they wont stick to each other.  Label and freeze.  When ready to use frozen egg rolls do not thaw.  Bake or fry from frozen until golden brown.    

Now you have two choices.  You can fry your egg rolls on the stove top or you can bake them.  I chose to bake them.  For best results bake the egg rolls on parchment paper on a cookie sheet to prevent sticking.  I sprayed each one with a little cooking spray and then baked them for 25 minutes a side in a 400 degree oven turning them over once halfway through the baking time. 

These are awesome served with vegetable fried rice and sweet and sour dipping sauce.  Yum yum!  Who needs take out when you have scratch made egg rolls in your freezer!  I made 19 egg rolls for 56 cents a piece.  Enjoy!

Christie aka Keeza