Egg Rolls and Crab Rangoon

 Mrs. Clark's Kitchen had a little egg roll fun earlier this evening. Yes, four friends gathered around the island and pitched right in chopping vegetables, cooking meat, manning the fryer and enjoying some kitchen fellowship. The friends were surprised that the egg rolls were much easier than anticipated. Here's what we did . . .

Egg Rolls

Everything needs to be cut very small.
The mixture is cooking at this point.

1/2 lb. ground beef, turkey, or pork

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 c. finely chopped cabbage

1/2 c. finely chopped water chestnuts

1/2 c. shredded carrot

1/4 c. finely chopped onion

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

8 egg roll skins

Oil for frying

Cook meat with garlic until meat is no longer pink. Drain fat. Add cabbage, water chestnuts, carrot, and onion to skillet and stir-fry 2 minutes.  Combine soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, salt, and ginger. Add to skillet. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

For each egg roll, place an egg roll skin on a flat surface with corner pointing toward you. Spoon about 1/4 cup of filling mixture across and just below center of egg roll skin. Fold bottom corner over filling, tucking it under on the other side. Fold side corners over filling, forming an envelope shape. Roll egg roll toward remaining corner. Moisten top corner with water; press firmly to seal.

Fill electric skillet or deep fat fryer with 1 inch of oil. Set at 375 degrees and fry egg rolls a few at a time in hot oil for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm in 300 degree oven while frying remainder. 

Egg roll wrappers are bigger than won ton wrappers.
Look for them in the refrigerated produce section.
We will use the won ton wrappers for crab rangoon.

Notice the placement of the filling,
 below the center and diagonal.

Pull the bottom corner up over the filling.

Tuck in the outside corners and roll it over.
When you get to the last corner, wet it with a drop of
water and seal the corner down.

Our egg rolls have some personality, waiting for the fryer.

Golden brown and crispy.

And then . . .

As long as we had the fryer going we might as well make some crab rangoon, too, don't you think?

Crab Rangoon

8 oz. crabmeat, drained and chopped

8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/2 tsp. A-1 sauce

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

30 won ton wrappers

1 egg yolk, beaten well

1 Tbsp. water

Mix A-1 sauce and garlic powder into cream cheese and add cream cheese. Combine well.    Combine beaten egg yolk and water and set aside.

Place heaping teaspoonful on each wonton wrapper. Moisten edges of wrapper with egg mixture. Gather the four corners of the won ton together at the top and pinch together to seal. 

Heat oil to 375 degrees. Add won tons in batches and fry till golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve hot with Chinese mustard or sweet and sour sauce. 

Chop the crab. Use canned or even imitation crab.
 If using canned crab remove any cartilage before chopping.

Use a wooden spoon or even an electric mixer to soften
the cream cheese.

Put a little filling in the center of each won ton wrapper.
 These are similar to egg roll wraps, but smaller.

Crab rangoon, waiting for the fryer.

Don't crowd the skillet. Too many at a time
will cool the grease and the fried food will be greasy.

Yummy!

Didn't my friends do wonderful work on these tasty foods? They jumped right in and didn't hesitate at all to pick up a knife or a spatula or to stand over the skillet or the fryer. We completed our dinner with a beef stir fry. I'll have to write about that another day. There is something quite satisfying about cooking good food together and sitting around the table to enjoy it. Nice evening. 

Look at all those beautiful vegetables, so nicely cut by my friends!