My 77th Recipe, “Veg Spring Roll”, a Chinese New Year special. Wishing everyone who are celebrating, a Happy and prosperous New Year.
When I came to know that today is Chinese New Year, as usual I wanted to post a dish which goes with the theme. When I did some research on internet, I came to know some interesting facts which I never knew earlier.
The first day of Chinese New Year usually falls between January 21 and February 20. And looks like it is a tradition to eat certain dishes during the New Year. Especially on the New Year’s eve, Lucky Food is served, which is believed to bring good luck for the coming year. Though there are many Lucky Foods, the one which I am very familiar with and have eaten many times is this Spring Roll.
Veg Spring Roll is one appetizer I love to eat whenever I visit an Asian restaurant for dinner. But until today, I never knew that such a simple dish would have a huge significance. Since the Spring Rolls looks like bar of gold, the lucky saying for eating spring roll on New Year’s Eve is 黄金万两 (hwung-jin wan-lyang/) – ‘A ton of gold’ – a wish for prosperity. Even interesting to know was that the New Year is also known as Spring Festival and since the spring rolls are usually eaten during the Spring Festival in China, hence their name.
Taking just the inspiration from the Chinese cuisine, I adapted the taste of the spring roll fillings to suite my taste buds. They turned out super crispy at the outside and juicy n delicious in the inside. Perfect with a cup of Hot chai or as an appetizer with Asian dipping sauce 🙂 Refer to my video here on “How to make the Spring Rolls”.
Veg Spring Roll
Chinese New Year is also known as Spring Festival and since the spring roll are usually eaten during the Spring Festival in China, hence their name.
- Spring roll sheets - 12
- Sesame oil - 2 tsp
- Garlic - 1 Tbsp (finely Chopped)
- Ginger - 1 Tbsp (finely Chopped)
- Spring onion - 4 (finely Chopped with White, Green parts separated)
- Carrot - 1 large (julienned)
- Green beans - 5 (cut diagonally)
- Red bell pepper - 1/2 (julienned)
- Cabbage - 2 Cups (julienned)
- Sugar - 1 tsp
- Soya sauce - 2 tsp
- Ground black pepper - 2 tsp (adjust as per your taste preference)
- Salt - 3/4 tsp
- Oil - for frying
- All purpose flour - 1 Tbsp
- First follow the instruction given in the packet of the spring roll sheets for thawing the frozen sheets.According to my store bought frozen sheets, I made them to rest in room temperature for about 30 minutes and later covered with a clean damp cloth and left for another 15 mins.
- Chop the veggies and keep them aside. Heat a large pan or wok with sesame oil. Add the ginger, garlic and saute for 30 secs. Then add the white part of the spring onion and saute for 30 secs.
- Now add all the veggies (carrot, cabbage, bell pepper, green beans), sugar and saute for a minute. Follow it by soya sauce, fresh ground black pepper and salt and saute for 2 minutes or until the mixture becomes dry. Once done, add the green part of the spring onion, give a quick mix and turn off the flame.
- Transfer the filling to a baking sheet or large tray. Leave the sheet/tray stand in slanting position and let the filling cool down completely. This will helps in draining out excess liquid from the filling.
- For sealing the spring rolls, prepare a paste by mixing the all purpose flour with 1 1/2 Tbsp water and keep aside.
- Now place the sheet on a clean flat surface. Place a spoon full of filling about 2 cms away from the corner of the sheet. Now pick up that corner and roll into a tight wrap around the filling. Once you roll till the center of the sheet, fold both right and left corners towards the center. Continue to roll. Once the roll comes to the opposite corner, brush the corner with the flour paste and stick the corner nicely to the roll. Make sure that there are no gaps in the roll. Refer to my video here to "Learn How to make the Spring Rolls".
- Heat a pan with oil and once the oil is hot, drop the spring rolls one by one and fry until golden brown. As our stuffing is already cooked we need not cook the spring rolls in low/medium flame. You can fry them in high flame. Drain them on a paper napkin.
- Enjoy hot with hot and sweet asian dip or ketchup.
- Follow the instructions given in the packet of frozen spring roll for thawing. You can leave them outside to thaw before starting to prepare the filling.
- Adding sugar to the veggies will help to retain their color.
- You can add any veggies you like for the filling. Traditionally bean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms are used along with other veggies.
- The whole process of cooking is done in high flame. Take care not to burn the veggies.
- The filling should be at room temperature and dry before rolling.
- You can check if the oil is hot enough for frying by inserting a wooden skewer or chopstick in the oil. If bubble raises from the oil, then its hot enough to fry.
- Be careful while frying the spring rolls. If the oil is too hot the rolls can get burnt out easily. If the oil is not hot enough the texture of the spring rolls will not be good.
- While rolling the spring roll it should be a tight pack with no opening. Else the spring roll will get unwrapped or absorb excess oil while frying.
Just for reference. The below is the spring roll wrappers I used. It is not same as rice wrappers. This one is made from all purpose flour. It is similar to the Egg roll wrappers in US, which can be used as an alternative.
Image Source: Amazon.com
Turned out to be EPIC…..!!!!
Tastier than Many Restaurants….
Keep Creating new recipes like this one…
BOMB ROLLS..!!
Thanks Ashish for such lovely comments. Thanks for trying and happy to hear it turned out great 🙂
This is one of my favorites. But I like dipping it in SPICY VINEGAR. This is available from Pinoy stores, Canadian Superstore, T & T, and Walmart. It’s vinegar in a bottle with spices floating in it. Yum!
Sure Mae, Spicy vinegar sounds like the perfect compliment 🙂
I am gluten free. Can you use rice paper and still fry them?
Sorry Norma, rice paper will not be suitable to fry in this recipe. Instead you can look for gluten free egg roll wrappers. I am sure it is available in stores.
I just made them and got 20 regular sized spring rolls and it’s my first time! I baked them and they turned out amazing. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Thanks Mel for trying it out 🙂
What temp oven did you use… convection or regular… ?? thanks, Daphne
Hi Daphne, sorry, I had deep fried the spring rolls and not baked them. So not sure about the temp.
Wow. Delicious. I took some liberties with amounts and added bean sprouts. Everyone loved them. A few were breaking as I rolled them (first time making Spring Rolls) so I double wrapped them and those tasted just as good. Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe. It got me brownie points with my wife and step daughter!
Awesome to hear that Frank Spinello 🙂 Glad everyone liked it 🙂
I tried your recipe and I have to say the veggies were excellent! Exactly what type of wrappers did you use? I ended up with rice wrappers and frying was a nightmare. They didn’t hold up at all.
Hi DRad, sorry to hear that. It is not not rice wrappers. It is named as spring roll sheet, and I can post the pick of the packet. Egg Roll sheets would be a good match too.
Could I freeze these before I cook them or do they need to be cooked, then frozen and reheated??
Hi Leslie, Ideally both the ways should work. However I would prefer freezing it first and then fry it before serving.
Thank you for this recipe!! It worked well. I had extra cabbage so I made 1.5x recipe and my egg roll sheets were smaller and more pliable than yours looked so I filled them a little fuller but I got 25 rolls. I baked two to test and definitely deep frying is best but flavour and method were great. (I didn’t measure pepper just gave several turns of the grinder) Thank you!! Will keep this one because we now have a vegetarian in the family : )
Thanks Leslie for trying. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Hi Rohini, just made these spring rolls and they were very nice I cooked them in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes on each side. They were sprayed with cooking oil first and still come out ok but next time I might cook in the oil and see which way I prefer. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks Rohini for trying 🙂
I just made these. They are delicious. I baked them at 350 for 20 minutes. 10 minutes each side.
I sprayed them lightly with olive oil on both sides.
Perfectly crispy and not too greasy.
Yummo
Meryle
Thanks Meryle for trying. Glad to hear it came out good. Baking is surely an healthier option. I will also try it the next time 🙂
Mmm, it is so delicious! Thank you for this recipe!
Thanks Olga 🙂
Where to find a spring roll sheets
Hi Shanta, It should be available in all supermarkets.
Just made them – too much pepper and only got 6 from a batch –
I am sure you didn’t follow the quantity correctly. 2 tsp pepper is not a lot for more than 3 Cups of veggies. Also, there is no way you will stuff so much filling into just 6 spring rolls unless you made extremely large sized spring rolls 🙂
I ended up making four and way to spicy as well. I love heat but it’s a little too strong. my sinuses are now very clean. But great taste. I followed the recipie to a tee but I did change out the bell pepper and added more of the cabbage and green beans to substitute.
I guess there is something going on wrong. The quantity of veggie mentioned can easily fill over 10 spring rolls. Overfilling the spring rolls with more filling might be causing the spiciness. However, it is easy to add less black pepper according to your taste buds.
You don’t put much filling in 1 -2 teaspoons. My daughter in law is Filipino that’s how she makes them
Hi Polly, this is not a Filipino recipe. I have seen many Asian recipes which uses raw vegetables for the filling and some of them on sweeter side as well. This recipe is more of an Indian version which is much more flavorful and spicy.
Rohino. Yes you can bake them in the oven. But the pastry can dry out So I have found it is best to lightly spray them with oil before baking them.
Thanks Peter for the suggestion 🙂
those are perfectly made spring rolls.. looks so tempting 😀
Thanks Jyothi 🙂
Couall you bake the spring rolls?
Hi Rohini, I can’t think of a reason why you cannot bake it. But personally I have not tried baking it. So not sure about the temperature and timing to get it crisp.