Ingredients
- 24 spring roll wrappers
- 2 teaspoons cornflour
- 1 tablespoon water
- canola oil spray
Filling
- 400 grams pork mince
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 20 grams dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 ½ cupa shredded cabbage
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
- 1 ½ tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
Instructions
Spring Roll Filling
- Add the mushrooms to a bowl of boiling water and soak for 20 minutes. Drain the mushrooms and then finely chop.
- Combine the soy sauce and cornflour in a small bowl. Stir until the cornflour is incorporated and then add the oyster sauce. Set aside.
- Heat a large fry pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the pork mince, and use the back of a spoon to break up the mince. Cook the pork until it is white.
- Add the mushrooms, carrot and cabbage to the mince mixture and cook for approximately 3 minutes, until the vegetables are softened.
- Add the cornflour mixture and cook for 1 minute, until the liquid has gone. Remove the pork mixture from the heat and set aside to completely cool
- Forming 1 spring roll at a time, place a spring roll wrapper on work surface. Spoon 1/8 cup beef mixture onto the bottom third, leaving about a 2cm border from the edge. Fold in the sides and then roll up. Place onto a tray lined with baking paper, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining spring rolls.
- Spray the spring rolls generously with canola oil. Bake in the oven at 180 °C for 25-30 minutes, until golden.
Homemade spring rolls are nothing like what you would traditionally find with Chinese takeaway. If you’ve never done homemade spring rolls before then you are definitely missing out. What makes these so good? The crispy outer shell, combined with a juicy pork and vegetable filling makes for a scrumptious roll, and even better is they are not deep fried, making them somewhat more healthy too.
Preparing the Filling Ingredients
When making the spring roll filling, I find it best to first prepare all the components. Doing this makes cooking the filling a really easy task.
First, take your dried shiitake mushrooms and soak them in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes. This will rehydrate them ready to use. You could also skip this step by using fresh shiitake mushrooms instead.
Take the rehydrated mushrooms and drain off any water. Squeeze out excess water and then finely chop the mushrooms into small pieces. Set aside the mushrooms while you prepare the rest of the components.
Next, add corn flour and soy sauce to a small bowl and stir until the corn flour is fully incorporated. Add in oyster sauce to complete the sauce and then set aside.
To finish the ingredient preparations, finely shred the cabbage and grate the carrot.
- Any type of cabbage can be used. Chinese cabbage works great but use what you have on hand
- Chicken or turkey mince can be substituted instead of pork mince
- Try adding in bean sprouts or chopped water chestnuts for additional vegetables
Cooking the Spring Roll Filling
Start by heating a fry pan over a medium-high heat. Add the garlic and give this a quick fry, being careful not to burn it. Next add in the pork mince, and break this up with the back of a spoon. Cook the mince until it’s become white in color.
Continue by adding in the vegetables and stirring for 3 minutes, until the vegetables are softened.
Finish by stirring through the corn flour slurry and then cook for an additional minute until all the liquid has gone. Remove the mixture from the heat and set aside to completely cool
When it comes to rolling out the spring rolls, there are 2 things we don’t want: moisture and heat. Both of moisture and heat will create steam which causes the spring rolls to burst when baked.
When cooked the mixture will be quite sticky but there shouldn’t be any liquid left in the bottom. You can speed the cooling process by spreading the pork across a tray and then placing in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Rolling the Spring Rolls
Spring roll wrappers are typically found in the frozen section at your local supermarket. They can also be found at your local Asian grocers too. They will typically come as a clump. Allow the wrappers to thaw for about 30 minutes and then gently pull off each sheet as required. It’s best to form the spring rolls 1 at a time, so cover the unused wrappers with a damp towel to stop them drying out until needed.
Before making the spring rolls, combine cornflour and water in a small bowl to make a thin paste. This will be used to seal the spring rolls as you roll them out.
To make a spring roll:
- Place a spring roll wrapper on your work surface with a corner pointing towards you (so it looks like a diamond)
- Place a heaped tablespoon of filling near the bottom corner.
- Roll up the bottom of the wrapper, about a third of the way up.
- Fold in the two sides.
- Continue rolling from the bottom until near the top
- Use a pastry brush to paint a small amount of cornflour slurry onto the top corner of the pastry
- Roll to the top corner to finish the spring roll
- Place seam side down on a tray lined with baking paper.
Repeat the above process until all the spring rolls are made.
Baking the Spring Rolls
Spray the prepared spring rolls generously with canola oil. Bake in the oven at 180 °C for 25-30 minutes, until golden. You don’t need to turn these rolls during the cooking process, they tend to come out crispy all over if you have a good oven.
As an alternative you could also deep fry these spring rolls in oil instead. Follow the typical method to deep fry food.
Serve the spring rolls hot with your favorite dipping sauce on the side.
