Pork spring rolls

Tam West

The spring rolls can be made in advance or frozen and cooked when needed. Thaw before frying if frozen. To avoid the need for a lot of oil in a deep fryer, I have shallow-fried the spring rolls to give them a golden brown colour and crisp texture and cooked them through in the oven. They will stay crisp.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups	Cabbages, very thinly sliced (Main)
50 g	Raw prawns, peeled and thinly sliced (Main)
75 g	Pork mince (Main)
½ cup	Mung bean sprouts, very fresh
10 g	Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked for 20 minutes in hot water, squeezed dry, any hard stalks cut off (Main)
5 Tbsp	Naturally brewed soy sauce, we used Japanese soy sauce
1 Tbsp	Shao Xing Chinese rice cooking wine, or medium sherry
12	Spring roll wrappers, 20cm by 20cm square (Main)
1 Tbsp	Cornflour, mixed with 1 Tbsp water
1 bottle	Vegetable oil, use as much as needed, for frying
2 Tbsp	Chinkiang black vinegar

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Line an ovenproof tray with baking paper.
2. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add the cabbage. Bring back to the boil or until the cabbage has just wilted, drain, cool under cold water then drain again well. Place in a mixing bowl with the prawns, pork mince, bean sprouts, mushrooms, 1 Tbsp of the soy sauce and the wine or sherry. Mix well. This is the filling.
3. To make one spring roll, put a wrapper on a clean surface diagonally so one corner is facing you. Place a large tablespoon of the filling at that pointed end and fold it over the filling. Fold the sides in and roll up but not too tight or they won't be crisp. Use the cornflour mix to glue the end closed. Place on a baking paper-lined tray with the end underneath. Repeat for the other 11 rolls, placing them side by side on the tray.
4. Heat 2cm of vegetable oil in a medium-sized frying pan or a wok and shallow-fry the rolls until golden on each side. Place side by side on the paper-lined tray and place into the oven for 5 minutes to make sure they are cooked through.
5. Mix the remaining soy sauce with the vinegar. This is the dipping sauce. Serve the rolls immediately so they are crisp, with the sauce on the side.

More of Ray's Chinese New Year recipes

• Chilled cucumber noodles
• Singapore New Year raw fish salad
• Sticky hoisin chicken wings
• Peanut and sesame brittle