What are eggrolls?

Answer 1

If you've NEVER had a Chinese eggroll, oh man, you have a REAL TREAT in store for you!

I have found two kinds. One is a filling wrapped in a kind of pancake made out of pure egg. The egg is beaten and poured into a large, lightly oiled pan and cooked to a thin pancake. This is then filled and rolled up with good stuff inside and served in slices. This is not the classic kind of eggroll.

What most of us think of as an eggroll is an epicurean delight! Sometimes it's easy to confuse them with springrolls, and I'm not at all sure there is a genuine line between the two. I think springrolls are supposed to be filled mostly with veggies that are in season in the spring - or something like that. But who knows?

A flour-based "skin" is rolled out thin, then a mostly-vegetable mixture is rolled up inside of it - it must be sealed so it won't burst open when deep fat frying.

They're all made with "skins," a dough made of flour (and/or cornstarch) and water (sometimes egg), which are rolled out quite thin and cut into large squares, about 6" or more square. Each square is well-dusted on both sides with cornstarch. If cut small (3" square) they're called wonton skins. You can buy these commercially, and they are excellent. But I think I'll do better next time to make my own - thicker than the commercial ones, so they won't keep getting soggy when filled! I don't know how the Chinese do it so perfectly. Mine taste just as good, but don't turn out into those neat, fully-sealed crispy cylinders. You can probably find videos and recipes online.

These skins are then filled with a variety of fillings. The fillings are usually mostly vegetables, but more often than not will contain very small pieces of cooked meats, like pork, chicken and shellfish. I've never seen one with beef. The veggies usually include some form of cabbage (bok choy or Chinese cabbage, those elongated crinkly heads), which is finely shredded and quickly stirfried. Onion (usually shallots, including some of the green leaf), bean sprouts, bamboo shoots are also common - all are quickly stirfried in a bit of oil and added to the cabbage along with the meat bits. Sometimes egg is made into thin pancakes like above, and then chopped fine and mixed into the filling, too. I am sure there are many recipes for fillings - search for them online. The filling is a loose mixture, mostly veggies, not bound together in any way.

The skins are then filled - there's a special way of folding them, and YouTube probably has a number of videos to show you how. The result is a cylindrical roll, with the filling sealed inside. These are then deep fried till crispy. Since the filling ingredients are already cooked, you need only fry them till they look crisp and scrumptious.

The problem I always seem to have is that the filling makes the skins soggy, so the filling bursts out in frying. They sometimes get soggy even after they're fried. I drain the filling like mad, but it always seems to keep making more liquid! You shouldn't stack them, uncooked or cooked, and should fry them almost immediately after they're folded and sealed properly. And only one or two at a time. They can be frozen, cooked or uncooked, but uncooked is better - thaw completely before frying them.

Good eggrolls and springrolls are food of the gods - to DIE FOR! Dip them in one of the many Chinese dipping sauces - a favorite is just soy sauce with some green scallion rings floating in it. There are mustard and plum sauces - lots more.

You can make mini-size egg/springrolls, too, and serve them as an appetizer. They're about half the size of the standard eggroll skin, but bigger than wonton skins, so you'd probably have to make your own.

If you have NEVER tasted one, though, I'd strongly urge you to ask around to find a very good restaurant that makes them. Then go there to try your first eggroll. That way you know it was made right.

Answer 2

Eggrolls are vegetables and meats rolled up in an egg roll wrapper, and deep fried.

Typical fillers are cabbage (bok choy), pork, shrimp, tofu, carrot, radish, bean sprouts, or other leafy, or hard root vegetables or ground meats.

The wrappers are made with egg, flour and milk (or water), fried like a crepe, filled, rolled and deep fried.