Fried Spring Rolls
Chinese spring rolls are thin wheat flour wraps filled with stir-fried vegetables. Turnip (aka 沙葛, jicama, bangkuang, and yam bean) is the most common vegetable used. Other choices include green beans and bean sprouts. Spring rolls that aren’t fried must be made with very thin wraps that are sold fresh. Frozen wraps are thicker. These are for fried spring rolls.
Tips for making fried spring rolls with turnip filling:
1) When buying turnip, pick the smaller ones. These tend to be younger and, hence, sweeter and less starchy than the big ones. They’re also easier to peel and cut if you have small hands like me.
2) Cut turnip matchstick-size without turning it mushy. Do this with a sharp knife. You could also use a food processor or grater but if it’s not razor sharp, your filling will be mushy. Spring rolls filled with mushy turnip is not nice at all.
3) You don’t need a lot of oil to stir-fry turnip because it’s sweet and crunchy, not bitter or fibrous.
4) The filling should be crunchy. Don’t overcook the turnip.
5) Use the maximum heat possible for stir-frying the filling. Julienned turnip releases a lot of liquid when it’s stir-fried. Strong heat is needed to evaporate the sweet liquid. If it’s not evaporated, it’d have to be drained. That’d be a waste of great flavour.
6) Drain the filling well before wrapping. If it’s too wet, the spring roll wrap will tear.
7) To keep spring rolls for frying the next day, put them in the fridge, uncovered on a wire rack, so that water doesn’t condense on or underneath the pastry. Or you could do the wrapping just before frying.
8) You might be tempted to embellish the filling with dried mushrooms, fresh prawns or fried beancurd. But it’s really not necessary if the turnip is cooked with good quality dried prawns, and a good amount of sugar and ground white pepper. That’s my mother’s recipe, btw.
9) Frozen spring roll pastry comes in various sizes. The Goldilocks size – not too big; not too small – is 19 x 19 cm (7½ x 7½ inches).
Fried Spring Rolls (炸春卷)
Video
Ingredients
- 40 g dried prawns
- 1 kg turnip
- 120 g carrots
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp corn oil
- 2 tbsp light soya sauce
- 4 tsp sugar
- ¾ tsp ground white pepper
- 20 pieces frozen spring roll wraps, 19 x 19 cm
- corn oil for deep-frying
Instructions
Prep ingredients
- Wash dried prawns. Soak in 2 tbsp hot water till soft, about 15 minutes. Squeeze dry, reserving the water. chop roughly.40 g dried prawns
- Peel turnip to yield about 900 g. Wash thoroughly. Cut matchstick size.1 kg turnip
- Wash carrots and peel to yield about 100 g. Cut matchstick size.120 g carrots
- Peel garlic. Mince roughly.4 cloves garlic
Make filling
- In a very hot wok, heat 2 tbsp oil till just smoking. Add dried prawns and fry over maximum heat till lightly golden. Add garlic and fry till golden brown. Add turnip and carrots. Stir-fry till heated through. Add light soya sauce and sugar. Mix thoroughly. Drizzle with water used to soak dried prawns. Stir-fry till almost dry. Turnip should now be cooked but still crunchy.2 tbsp corn oil, 2 tbsp light soya sauce, 4 tsp sugar
- Taste and if necessary adjust seasoning. Sprinkle with ground white pepper. Mix through and turn off heat. Push everything to one side of wok to drain off sauce. When cool, transfer to a bowl, minus sauce.¾ tsp ground white pepper
Assemble
- Thaw frozen spring roll wrappers to room temperature. Separate 20 pieces and cover till ready to wrap. Refreeze unused wrappers.20 pieces frozen spring roll wraps, 19 x 19 cm
- Spread out spring roll wrap in a diamond shape. With a Chinese soup spoon, place 1 heaped tablespoonful filling (40-50 g) near bottom corner. Fold bottom corner upward, then fold left and right corners inward. Roll upward tightly. Set aside, seam side down. Repeat with remaining wraps.
Deep-fry
- Deep-fry spring rolls in very hot oil over medium heat till golden brown. Drain. Serve immediately.corn oil for deep-frying