Matt and Gray spent last week at church camp. They both had a terrific time, but Gray bluntly stated Saturday morning that the “food was terrible” and he’d “lost his love for food”. As a self-professed foodie, I wasn’t about to let that happen, so I asked (knowing this is one of his all-time favorite dishes) if Shrimp Fried Rice would help, but with Saturday night being “Puttin’ on the Dog”, I had to come up with something I’d never made before to serve alongside.
When I was a teen, a younger couple with a new baby moved to our small town knowing no one. The father was a chemist at GE, and my dad kind of coached and mentored him at work. the family started coming over on Saturdays to hang out or have dinner, and before I knew it, they simply became part of our family. I have wonderful memories of elaborate stir-fry dishes made with Russ and Cathy, and I remember one night when my mom even made homemade egg rolls. I thought we were something.
So Saturday night, I too decided to try my hand at homemade egg rolls. This, I tell you, was no easy feat given that I’d fallen while running that morning, tore open my knee, scraped the palms of both hands, and hurt all over. But my child no longer loved food, so I pressed on; however, I did employ Matt for frying.
- 12 egg roll wraps
- 1⁄2-1 lb ground pork (or chicken or beef)
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1⁄4 cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 (16 ounce) bag shredded cabbage and carrot coleslaw mix (about 3/4 of the bag)
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 1 egg, beaten with
- 1 teaspoon water
- oil (for frying)
Directions:
Brown pork with ginger and garlic in pan; drain any grease. Mix salt, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Add to pork and mix well. In large bowl combine cabbage mix and green onions. Pour hot meat over vegetables and stir well. Let cool slightly. Lay wrap in front of you so that it looks like a diamond. Place 3 tablespoons pork filling in center of egg roll wrapper. Fold bottom point up over filling and roll once. Fold in right and left points. Brush beaten egg on top point. Finish rolling. Set aside and repeat with remaining filling. Heat 2-3 inches oil in large frying pan to very hot (350ºF). Fry a few egg rolls in pan at a time, 2-3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Serve with sweet and sour sauce, plum sauce, hoisin sauce or jalapeño pepper jelly.
I have to say that they were delicious! Of course, I couldn’t stop there; I had to make something special for dessert. Given he doesn’t have the same affinity for peanut butter as I do, I decided to make a turtle cake. I just used my favorite homemade chocolate cake recipe, a couple of cans of caramel frosting (did I mention that my hands are all scraped up?), some chopped turtle candies for between the layers, and a drizzling of chocolate ganache on top to produce this masterpiece.
Gray was happy and once again excited about food, and I was happy that my boy was happy……and both my guys were back home.
Barb In Tn 