Vegetable Spring Rolls
Apart from dumplings, Spring Rolls are one of my favourite dim sum dishes. These crispy golden cylinders are filled with delicious (and vegetarian) filling made of cabbage, carrots, scallions, woodear mushrooms, thin rice noodles and some key Chinese sauces and oils. You can bake these in the oven, or deep fry them for a real treat!
Ingredients
- 2 cups Napa cabbage green leaves only, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cup carrots finely grated
- 1 cup woodear mushrooms soaked and finely chopped
- 6 cups thin rice noodles vermicelli, cooked and cooled
- 3 scallions finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1/4 cup soy sauce preferably low-sodium
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
- 1 450 g package spring roll wrappers
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 litres canola oil plus 2 tabelspoons, for frying
- Plum sauce or Hot Pepper Jelly for dipping
Instructions
- Begin by making the filling. In a large frying pan, heat up 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the cabbage and carrots and cook for 2 minutes until just softened. Add the woodear mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes. Next, add the rice noodles, followed by the scallions, garlic, soy sauce, hoisin, Shaoxing cooking wine, sesame oil and sugar. Mix everything together until combined then set aside to cool completely.
- In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch and water together then set aside until you are ready to wrap the spring rolls.
- To wrap the spring rolls, lay one spring roll wrapper onto a cutting board. Brush all four edges with some of the cornstarch mixture. Keep the rest of the spring roll wrappers covered in a damp paper towel so that they don't dry out while your assembling the spring rolls.
- Add about 2 tablespoons of filling into the center of the wrapper, moulding it into a long rectangle. Fold in the left and right sides of the wrapper to contain the filling then roll the wrapper up to seal it. Try and wrap the spring rolls tightly so that there are no air pockets and that the wrappers aren’t loose. This will ensure the wraps stay together when they are fried.
- Add the rest of the oil to a large pot or dutch oven and pre-heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Add a bit more oil if necessary (the oil should be about 3-4 inches deep). Add 4-5 spring rolls to the pot at a time and gently fry them for 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Once cooked, remove them from the pot using a pair of kitchen tongs or a wire strainer, and drain them over some paper towels.
- Let them cool for a few minutes before serving with some Plum Sauce or Hot Pepper Jelly!
Video
Notes
You can also bake the spring rolls as well.
- Simply, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on a large baking tray. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over the parchment paper. This will help make the bottom of the spring rolls crispy when they bake.
- Place the wrapped Spring Rolls on the baking sheet, ensuring that they are at least 1 inch apart. Brush additional vegetable oil over the tops and sides of the spring rolls using the pastry brush. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes (or until golden brown), flipping the spring rolls halfway through cooking.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!