Off I went in search of a appetizer-type thing that filled the following requirements:
1. Non-messy finger food
2. Vegetarian and non-dairy
3. Easy to transport (we were driving over an hour)
4. Not requiring reheating in an oven once we arrived
5. Relatively cheap and easy to make
At first, I was thinking about stuffed mushrooms, but every recipe I looked at required cheese of some sort and I was needing to be dairy-free. The baby is milk-protein intolerant and, since I breastfeed, I have to severely limit/eliminate my own dairy intake until he gets older. Damn shame, too. I miss milk. And sour cream. Le sigh.
Anyway, during my search, I stumbled across a recipe for Mushroom Wontons and I was intrigued. Why, I thought to myself, can't I make egg roll/spring roll things? With mushrooms? And some other stuff in them? That'll be good, right? What the hell, let's give it a shot!
For our first "Allison Original" recipe, you will need:
- Mushrooms. I used the regular white 'shrooms, but if you want to get fancy-shmancy and use Crimini or Shiitake or Portobellos, then many props to you! I'll try it with those varieties at some point, but for our maiden voyage, I kept it easy, basic, and cheap.
- Green onions, diced. I used about 4, I think. And since we're talking about green onions: Some people only use the green part of green onions. However, I also use the white onion bulb part in addition to the green, as I prefer the stronger flavor of the bulb. It's entirely up to you. I also keep a jar of green onions growing in my kitchen window, so I always have them available. I'll probably do a post on this at some point.
- Water chestnuts, diced. I used about 1/3 of a can, but you can use more or less depending on many rolls you're making and how full you want them stuffed.
- Garlic, minced.
- Tri-Color Cole Slaw mix. You know, the kind in the bag in the produce section. Before you freak out on me, there's a method to my madness. Or a madness to my method. Something like that. Anyway, spring rolls/egg rolls usually have cabbage and/or carrots in them, right? But I certainly don't have the time or the inclination to shred cabbage and carrots; it's bad enough I have to slice the damn mushrooms. And, lo and behold! Bagged cole slaw mix is WHAT? Yup, shredded cabbage and carrots! Problem solved.
- Egg roll wrappers or spring rolls wrappers. This time, I used egg roll wrappers because that's what they had at the store. However, I think spring roll wrappers would work better and I'll talk more about that in a bit.
- Worcestershire sauce. Stay with me here, it's going to be okay.
- Soy sauce.
- Seasoned rice vinegar.
- Ground ginger (or grated fresh ginger if you prefer).
- Salt and pepper.
- Oil. I used olive oil, because that's what I had. If you're an Asian food purist, then you'd probably want to use sesame oil.
And let the fun begin! (Note: You can do steps 1 through 6 the day before everything else if you need to. I did and it turned out fine.)
1. Prep your veggies. This is a pain in the ass. Dice your onions. Dice your water chestnuts. Thinly slice your mushrooms. Curse yourself for ever thinking this was a good idea.
2. In your wok or skillet (I don't own a wok), heat a small amount of oil and cook your onions and garlic until fragrant. Damn, that's a stupid instruction, isn't it? Tell you what, just cook your onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes until they're soft-ish.
3. Add you mushrooms and water chestnuts. Cook until the mushrooms are soft-ish.
4. Throw in a couple of glugs of both Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce, using more soy than Worcestershire. And because you're cool, add a couple of dashes of Seasoned Rice Vinegar (or you can skip that one if you want). Throw in some ground ginger and black pepper, too, and maybe a little salt if you need it. If you want to use fresh, grated ginger then I think that would be lovely. But I've never used fresh ginger and this didn't seem like the best time to try it. Plus, I couldn't find it at the store.
5. Let everything simmer for a couple of minutes, but don't let everything get overly soft because you still have to stuff and cook your rolls.
6. Put the mushroom mixture into a bowl. You've probably noticed we haven't done anything with the cole slaw mix yet. Don't worry, the moment is at hand. You want the cabbage and carrots cooked, but still retain some of their crunch. All the recipes I read said to saute them with the rest of the veggies, but it seems to me that it would just result in slimy cabbage. So I didn't do it. At this point, once your mushroom mixture is in the bowl, chuck in a couple of handfuls of the cole slaw mix and stir it up really well. The mushrooms should still be hot enough to slightly cook the cabbage and carrots, and the cole slaw mix will help the mushrooms cools down. Once everything is cool, you can either proceed to stuffing the rolls, or cover your bowl and put everything in the fridge overnight. If you do refrigerate the mushroom/cabbage mixture, be sure to bring it room temperature before stuffing your rolls.
7. When you're ready to stuff your rolls, be sure your stuffing mixture and wrappers are at room temperature. You'll want a clean work surface for this part and a bowl of water nearby. Don't be intimidated by this part. You just want the rolls to hold the yummy stuffing in. They don't need to be perfect. And, frankly, if someone is going to judge you on how pretty your spring rolls are, then you probably shouldn't be feeding them.
8. Lay a wrapper out in a diamond shape on your work surface.
9. Place a couple of tablespoons of filling in the center of the wrapper. I under-stuffed these rolls, so they turned out chewier that I would have liked. However, you don't want to stuff them so full that they split open. It's a delicate balance.
10. Bring the bottom point of your wrapper up over the filling and tuck it under as tight as you can.
11. Fold the sides over. It should now look like an open envelope.
12. You may also want to fold the top flap into more of a sharper point by folding the sides of the flap in again slightly. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of that part, so I hope this makes sense. The reason for this extra fold is that if you leave it in the "envelope" format, when you roll it you might end up with gaps at the edges of the roll. Not a big deal, but could potentially let some of the stuffing out. Also, we'll be brushing the rolls with oil and you don't want oil seeping into your filling. Does this make sense?
13. Moisten the edges of the top flap slightly with water and roll the roll over, pressing the point on the underside of the roll to seal it.
14. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Roll the rest of your rolls.
15. Lightly brush the tops of the rolls with oil, trying to cover the whole wrapper but not drenching it. You want the roll to be brown and crunchy, not greasy.
16. Bake at 400° for around 15 minutes or until golden brown. This took my oven around 17 or 18 minutes.
17. Serve warm with whatever dipping sauce you like.
This recipe made 18 rolls. There were 20 wrappers in the pack. Two of them did not survive the wrapping process. I used one wrapper for a trial run the night I made the filling, just in case it sucked and I needed to figure out something else to take. So, in the end, I was able to take 17 lovely, brown, slight under-stuffed rolls.
As I mentioned above, we were going to be driving for over an hour and needed to be able to keep these bad boys warm and/or reheat them upon arrival without use of an oven. What to do? What to do?
A-HA! I've got it! Wrap the rolls in sheets of tin foil, two to a pack. Place the foil packs in the crock pot. Drive. Once there, plug crock pot in and set to low if it's going to be a while before serving, or to high if you'll be eating soon. Brilliant! Sometimes I amaze myself. Really.
The rolls were a big hit at the gathering. They were slightly under-stuffed, so need to rectify that in the future. Also, I think spring roll wrappers would work better. Egg roll wrappers tend to be thicker, so these rolls were more on the chewy side. Spring roll wrappers would make them crispier, I think.
You could fry these, too, but I was trying to keep them healthy. I have no idea how to fry them, so don't even ask.
I hope you all give this Allison Original recipe a try and let me know how they turn out!
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