Baked Eggrolls

Happy Chinese  New Years!

I was invited to a traditional hot pot Chinese New Year in celebration of Chinese New Years yesterday, and made baked Egg rolls. Hot pots are good, and I think most of you would enjoy them... I will post a pic at the bottom so you can see what it is like :)

I took the recipe and based it off a few different recipes.... and this is what I did

• 2 cloves of garlic
• equal size pieces of ginger
• 1/8 of a purple onion

• 2 cups cooked chicken shredded and cut up into small pieces
• 2 cups cabbage shredded
• 2 cup carrots grated 
• 2 green onions sliced
• 1 cup bean sprouts

• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil for sautéing
• Cooking spray
• 16 egg roll wrappers
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 egg white beaten

(other things that can be added: 

• 1 small can canned water chestnuts
• 2 green onions sliced instead of the purple onion
• fresh sweet red pepers

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400˚ and lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
   
   
2. In a large pan, heat the 3 T. vegetable oil, garlic, ginger, and onion over medium heat. 
   
   
   Add cooked chicken and vegetables and saute for about 5 minutes or until vegetables start to soften. Depending on salt levels of soy sauce used, add a little to mixture, I also added some cracked black pepper.
   
   
   In the meantime, in a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch, water, soy sauce, vegetable oil, and rice vinegar. Add sauce mixture to pot. Cook 2-3 minutes longer. Remove from heat and let slightly cool.
   
   
3. Open egg roll wrappers and keep covered with a damp paper towel while working with them, they tend to dry out quickly. Place wrapper at a diamond shape on your workspace (1 corner pointing toward you). Add 1/3 cup of veggie mixture in the middle of wrapper. Fold side corners in to meet in the middle. Pull bottom corner up over the side corners. 
   
   
   (*** I did not use the egg, just water, like we did as kids :)Moisten top corner with beaten egg white and continue to roll up wrapper (try to keep the roll tight). Repeat will all remaining egg roll wrappers.
   
   
4. Place egg rolls seam side down on prepared baking sheet. When finished, lightly spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray. Bake for 6 minutes, turn egg rolls over and continue baking an additional 6 minutes or until browned.
   
   
   ** Mine took at least ten minutes longer to bake**
   Adapted from following recipe: https://happymoneysaver.com/baked-egg-roll-recipe/
   
   
   Hot pots: (see egg rolls behind hot pots :)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Bruschetta

We went to a birthday picnic this weekend. We were in kind of a hurry so we made bruschetta from the no-knead bread I had made that morning. It was quick and so easy. We had a lot of tomatoes and peppers left over from last week's shopping and some roasted tomato pesto someone had given us. It was the perfect bite to eat for a picnic.

1/2 to 1 loaf no-knead bread, cut into 12 slices (you may want to cut some in half)
1-2 tbs tomato pesto (could leave out)
2 cups tomatoes, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic
2-3 leaves fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
couple turns of freshly ground pepper
1/4 crumbled goat cheese

• Roast tomatoes, basil and garlic at 350 for about a half hour. Take out and let cool. Mince garlic.
• Combine garlic, tomatoes, bell pepper, basil, italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir to combine
• Lay out bread on a baking and broil until lightly browned 2-3 minutes. 
• Take out bread and spread pesto in a thin layer on toast. Add a spoon or two of the tomato mix. Sprinkle goat cheese on top. Return to broiler for 2-3 minutes until cheese begins to brown.
• Enjoy!

Mandarin Pork Potstickers

We made these on New Years Eve this year. Probably more fitting for Chinese New Years, but I think I would them any time. The original recipe came from Simply so good but we made a few changes to her original recipe

2 1/2 cups napa cabbage, thinly sliced

8 to 10- oz ground pork or chicken

1/4 cup chicken stock (or water mixed with chicken bouillon)

1 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon scallions, minced

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

40 - 50 potsticker or gyoza wappers

oil

water

Place cabbage in bowel and sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes. Squeeze cabbage tightly to remove the excess liquid.

In the bowl of a food processor add the pork, stock, soy sauce, cornstarch, scallions, ginger, salt, pepper and cabbage. Process until mixture is well combined and no large chunks are visible. Alternately, combine all ingredients and stir to combine.

Fill each wrapper with a teaspoon of the meat mixture. Seal by lining the edge of wrapper with a small amount of water and folding together. Heat a large frying pan over medium until hot. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Add about 12 potstickers, seam side up and cook until bottoms are golden brown, 3-4 minutes.  Add 1/3 cup water, cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until water has evaporated, 5-6 minutes. Remove potstickers and keep warm.  Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, the repeat process until all of the potstickers are cooked.