- I'm gonna teach you
how to make restaurant-quality egg rolls at home.
This is the only recipe you'll need.
(upbeat music)
Oh.
Hey, everyone.
It's Natasha of natashaskitchen.com,
and I can't wait to share this eggroll recipe with you.
These are so crisp on the outside.
Just wait until you hear that crunch
with the tastiest filling.
I'm hungry, so let's get started.
(hands tapping)
(bell dings)
We start by prepping our noodles,
and I'm using a vermacelli rice noodle,
which is almost like an angel hair pasta.
You can find this in the Asian section of your grocery store
or at an Asian market.
Place that into a large mixing bowl
and cover the noodles with very hot water.
Separate those noodles with a couple of forks
to keep them from sticking together
and let that sit for about five to seven minutes
or until the noodles are tender.
Next, you'll need to slice four cups of green cabbage.
My best advice for thinly slicing your cabbage
is to use a serrated knife.
You'll find that it doesn't get stuck on the cabbage
and makes it much easier to slice.
It may seem like a lot of cabbage,
but it adds a lot of moisture to the egg rolls,
and it'll shrink down quite a bit once it hits the heat.
Next, thinly slice eight ounces of brown or white mushrooms.
And if you're curious, I do wash my mushrooms in water.
I rinse them and then pat them dry on paper towels.
Unless you're making something like stuffed mushrooms,
where you just wipe the mushrooms clean,
it's perfectly okay to wash your mushrooms.
All right, we're gonna check on those noodles.
They've been resting for about seven minutes,
and they are perfectly tender.
So you're gonna drain those in a colander
and then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process
and keep them from sticking together.
It's really important to make sure
the noodles are very well drained
because you don't want to incorporate extra water
in your filling.
Transfer the noodles to a cutting board
and cut them into about one-inch pieces.
Transfer your chopped noodles to a large, clean mixing bowl.
Now we're gonna grate two medium carrots.
I've peeled these,
and I prefer to use this awesome matchstick slicer
that I found on Amazon.
I will link to this in the notes,
but I love this because it makes the grating slightly larger
than a box grater,
so you can still get that great carrot texture
in the finished egg rolls.
We also love this tool for carrot salads.
Next, finely chop one medium onion
or half of a large onion like I have here.
That's our last bit of prep,
and we're ready to fire up the stove.
Ooh!
Place a large skillet over medium heat
with one tablespoon of olive oil.
(upbeat music)
Add one pound of ground pork
and break that up with a spatula.
Saute just until it's cooked through.
Stir in half a teaspoon of salt at the end.
Then, take the meat off the heat
and transfer it to the mixing bowl with the noodles.
(upbeat music)
Now, in the same skillet...
and there's no need to clean it...
add another two tablespoons of olive oil.
Then add your chopped onions, your shredded carrots,
and your thinly sliced mushrooms.
Saute those together for about five to six minutes,
stirring frequently, until your veggies are softened.
Wah, wah, boop!
You don't need to wait until they're brown
because we want the veggies
to retain some of their moisture.
Once your mixture has softened,
add four cups of your shredded cabbage.
Stir that together
and saute for another one and a half to two minutes,
or just until the cabbage is wilted.
Finally, stir in one half teaspoon of salt
and take your mixture off the heat.
Transfer your cooked veggies to the same mixing bowl.
Stir those together until they are well combined.
This mixture is really close to my mom's egg roll mixture.
She made these while we were growing up,
and I loved that she put noodles in the egg rolls.
It made them so satisfying.
It's important to have a well-seasoned filling.
So add half a teaspoon of salt,
half a teaspoon of black pepper,
two tablespoons of soy sauce,
and one teaspoon of sesame oil.
Mix that together.
Then you can add more seasoning to taste.
(upbeat music)
And I could put this mixture into a bowl
and have it for lunch.
It is so tasty.
In addition to having a really great filling,
having the right egg roll wrappers is key.
I found these at our local Asian market store,
and the right wrappers will usually come
out of the freezer section.
I don't recommend the ones from the refrigerator section,
and here's why.
They tend to be a thicker wrapper
that doesn't quite cook through,
and they bubble up like this when you fry them in oil.
They also soften quickly.
The ones from the freezer section, however,
come out super crisp after frying,
they reheat well, and they fry all the way through.
It's well worth it to scout out a local source
and get these frozen egg roll wrappers.
Thaw the wrappers at room temperature for 45 minutes,
and make sure to keep them covered with a damp paper towel,
which will keep them from drying out.
Peel back one layer at a time
and make sure to keep the remaining wrappers
covered with that damp paper towel.
Set the wrapper onto a clean work surface
in a diamond shape.
Now, it's important not to overstuff egg rolls,
so I use a one-fourth cup measure for each one.
Place the mixture onto the bottom third of the wrapper.
Pull the bottom corner over the filling and tuck it under.
Make sure to keep a tight roll as you go,
then fold in the corners, roll it up just a little more,
and to seal the egg roll, we're using some beaten egg.
Brush that with a pastry brush lightly over the edges.
Continue rolling tightly to seal.
Keeping a tight roll is important,
so oil doesn't leak into the center of your egg roll.
Let's wrap another one,
so you can really nail down this process.
You'll need one egg roll wrapper, add the filling,
roll it up tightly, fold in the corners,
brush the edges, and roll to seal.
As you form your egg rolls,
keep them covered with plastic wrap
to prevent the rolls from drying out.
Since these cook fairly quickly,
I like to finish all of them before I start frying.
This recipe makes about 40 to 45 egg rolls,
which is great because I love to put these into the freezer.
I'll show you how to do that later.
I have my oil heating up here in a Dutch oven,
and I love using this candy thermometer
to keep track of the oil temperature,
because you don't want it to go too hot or too cold.
Fry the egg rolls at 340 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
for about five minutes,
or until they're golden-brown and crispy.
The egg rolls should sizzle and bubble in the oil.
Fry the egg rolls in about two inches of oil,
and make sure you don't overcrowd the pot,
so the temperature doesn't drop.
Once the egg rolls are done frying,
transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
A wire rack will ensure that they stay crispy all around,
and you do want to cool them for at least 15 minutes
before enjoying them.
Otherwise, the centers can be very hot.
That's probably the hardest part of this recipe
is waiting for those to be cool enough to eat.
Ho ho ho.
Who's excited?
Oh, and hungry too.
I cannot wait to dig into these egg rolls,
and I love serving them with some sweet chili sauce.
You can make your own or a store-bought one is fine,
but I do want to know, what is your favorite sauce?
Let me know in the comments,
but I am ready for this taste test.
(laughs)
I just want you guys to hear the crunch,
because it is so satisfying, and you'll be convinced, okay?
All right. Here we go.
A little dunk.
Ha!
Sorry, I'm excited.
Mmm.
I love that this is staring back at me.
Mm, mm.
(laughs)
Mm.
You can see the center is plump and moist and loaded.
This is so satisfying.
Once they're cooled down to room temperature,
you can stack them in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag
or container, pop 'em in the freezer,
and when you're ready to heat them,
you just put them in the air fryer,
and they recrisp beautifully, so good,
just like bought egg rolls,
except they'll taste way better.
I mean... and everything homemade is better, right?
That's what I'm talking about.
Oh man.
Okay, I'm gonna to do one more 'cause you guys, listen.
(egg roll crunches)
Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm.
These are just so crisp.
The wrapper just shatters when you bite into it.
I love that filling, that juicy pork.
The mushrooms add a lot of flavor,
and then these are loaded with veggies, too.
Now, my favorite part of the show.
We have a very special taste tester
that's been very eager to get in on the action,
and she requested that I yodel to get her in here, so...
(yodels)
All right.
Is that your Sunday school craft?
- Uh-huh.
- I love it.
That's so cute.
Did they come in for the taste test, too?
- I named him Snowfy and Gacka.
- All right, you need your hand, girl.
Grab an egg roll.
Oh, she got the big one.
Ooh, she got the sauce.
Here we go.
(egg roll crunches)
Ooh, that's a good crunch.
Okay, okay, okay.
Oh ho ho!
Two thumbs up.
And a foot.
Oh, do you love it?
You're my best taste tester.
- Pause the video.
- Why?
- 'Cause I'm gonna get something.
- Aww, cute.
This is... what is this?
- Helicopter.
- Helicopter!
It's her craft that she made with her brother.
So cute.
- Why is there these ones?
- Hmm.
That is an American flag helicopter.
We love it.
All right.
We are so off topic, but she's so cute.
All right. We'll see you in our next video.
Okay, let's fly away.
(imitates helicopter)