Spring Rolls
Hao Jian Tian and Martha Liao prepare their traditional spring rolls.
Martha Liao's Spring Rolls
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The Martha Stewart Show, February 2010
- Yield Makes about 5 dozen
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Ingredients
- 2 (3.75-ounce) packages of cellophane noodles
- 1 small head napa cabbage, shredded (about 8 cups)
- Canola oil, for frying
- Coarse salt
- 2 pounds lean ground pork
- 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shao Hsing (Chinese cooking wine) or dry sherry
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 5 scallions, trimmed and chopped
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 40 to 50 spring roll wrappers
- 1 large egg, beaten
Directions
- Place cellophane noodles in enough hot water to cover; let stand until softened, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet with a lid over medium-high heat. Add cabbage and cook, stirring, until coated with oil. Season with salt and cover; cook until cabbage is soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer cabbage to a large bowl; set aside.
- Add enough oil to lightly coat bottom of skillet. Add pork, garlic, and ginger; stir to combine. Add soy sauce, wine, and sugar. Whisk cornstarch together with 1/4 cup water until well combined. Add to skillet and cook, stirring, until mixture is thickened and pork is cooked through.
- Drain cellophane noodles, cut into 2-inch pieces and add to skillet; stir in scallions and sesame oil. Transfer pork mixture to bowl with cabbage; toss to combine. Let filling stand until cool, about 4 hours.
- Place 1 wrapper on a work surface, with 1 corner facing you. (Keep remaining wrappers covered with a damp kitchen towel.) Arrange 2 tablespoons filling in a mound in center of wrapper. Fold bottom corner over filling, then fold in sides halfway. Roll wrapper to form a tight cylinder, leaving top corner exposed. Brush top corner with a little of the beaten egg, and press to seal. Cover with a damp kitchen towel. Repeat process with remaining wrappers and filling.
- Fill a large heavy-bottomed saucepan halfway with canola oil. Heat over medium-high heat until temperature reaches 365 degrees on a deep-fry thermometer. Working in batches, cook spring rolls, turning occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat process with remaining spring rolls; serve hot.
Aromagrrrrl, thank you for your reply. The oil was hot enough it just seemed like the rice wrappers take much longer to fry, like you said it makes sense that they are probably better for steaming. I tried to bake them in the oven with some oil spread on them and that worked much better. I think i'll try to oven-bake these in the eggroll wrappers as well, as it is very convenient and seems to work equally good.
you need to make sure the oil is hot enough...375-400. Also you can use either of the wrappers for this recipe, but the rice wrappers are best for steaming. Hope that helps and good luck!
Ok, i think I figured it out. I was using rice spring roll wrappers and apparently these don't work for this recipe. It would have been helpful if the recipe would mentioned that you need eggroll wrappers. I'll try it again with the new wrappers.
I am just trying to make these, but somehow they won't turn brown, it would take much longer than 4 minutes. Maybe somebody has an idea what the problem could be? I am using vietnamese spring roll wrappers and canola oil?