Hong Kong Spring Rolls

One of the most popular Hong Kong Chinese dishes is the Spring roll! A deep fried, succulent little treat, whose crunch and juicy filling, have you instantly craving for more!  

Often served in dim sum restaurants around Hong Kong, they have also become a staple in just about every Chinese restaurant found internationally. 

Dim sum is a delectable assortment of small dishes, that are more often than not, steamed in bamboo baskets, but also fried and are served for both breakfast and lunch.   If you travel to Hong Kong, you haven’t truly experienced the city until you’ve tried their dim sum! 

While growing up in Hong Kong, my older brother took violin lessons at the Hopewell Center in Wanchai. Way back when, some 10 years ago or so? Ok, maybe quite some time before that, they used to have a fantastic TRADITIONAL dim sum restaurant we would go to after his lesson each week.  

By traditional, I mean  that waitresses would go around the huge restaurant, filled with large round tables, pushing  carts topped with small bamboo baskets containing a huge variety of freshly steamed dumplings (like har gow or siu mai to name a few) , or bbq pork buns (char siu bao), fried Spring rolls or steamed rice noodle rolls (cheung fan) etc. the choices were endless! 

Each table would have a long card on it with a square grid and names of different dishes. The ladies would pass, and you could stop them to ask what they had on their carts, and if they had something you wanted, they’d take your card, place a stamp next to the dishes’ names and hand the baskets over to you.   

These are some of my fondest memories of Hong Kong that I will cherish forever! The amazing food, the excited and passionate chattering of the locals that rang in my ears while feasting on little plump dumplings, made the experience simply unforgettable!  

It’s very difficult nowadays to find these types of traditional dim sum restaurants, as the ordering is mostly done through one waiter / waitress who simply takes your order from a menu given to you. I feel extremely blessed to have lived in Hong Kong during the 80’s and 90’s! 

All this talking about dim sum is making my tummy grumble! Let’s make some spring rolls shall we?

Recipe makes 15 - 18 spring rolls

INGREDIENTS:

Meat marinade:

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp finely ground white pepper

1 tsp corn starch

1/2 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

1.5 tsp Chinese rice wine (绍兴酒）

350 g minced pork

30 g bean sprouts (washed)

30 g garlic chives (sliced into 4 cm long slices)

30 g carrots (julienned) 

15-18 spring roll wrappers

Vegetable Oil (neutral flavored) for sautéing 

To seal the wrappers:

1 tbsp water 

1 tbsp corn starch 

Oil for frying 

METHOD:

1. In a medium bowl, add minced pork and all the ingredients for the marinade.  Mix until well combined. Allow the meat to sit for 10 minutes.
2. Heat around 2-3 tbsp oil in a wok.  Sauté the bean sprouts, chives and carrots over medium to high heat until softened - around 2-3 minutes, and until the water is almost entirely evaporated. Remove from wok and set aside.
3. Rinse the wok, dry and add another 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil and heat over medium to high heat. Once the wok is hot, add the marinated minced pork and sauté until cooked through (around 4 minutes) breaking up any clumps. 

4. Quickly add the previously cooked vegetables and heat another 1 minute until well combined. 

5. Remove mixture from wok and set aside in a bowl until it cools to room temperature. 

6. Once mixture has cooled,  prepare the wrapper sealant (corn starch and water) and a spring roll wrapper in front of you, with one of the square corners pointing towards you (like a Diamond).

7. Place a tbsp of filling around 2.5 cm above the corner and shape it into a log.

8. Fold the corner closest to you, over the filling, covering it completely, roll once, and then like an envelope, fold the right corner over to the center, followed by the left corner over to the center. Finally roll tightly all the way to the end until the furthest corner is only slightly revealed. Using your index finger, mix up the corn starch and water, and dab the mixture with your finger along the sides, as though you were sealing an envelope. Finish rolling upwards and press down gently ensuring the roll is well sealed. Set aside on a plate and continue with the remaining wrappers. 

Note: remember to keep the wrappers in their pack, taking only 1 at a time, or keep covered with a tea towel, as they dry out and harden quickly, causing cracks and holes in the wrappers when rolling. 

9. Once all the rolls have been prepared, pour enough cooking oil into a wok, so that slightly more than half of the spring roll will be submerged.  Heat over medium to high heat until golden brown. As the filling is already cooked, the whole process should go fairly quickly. Fry in smaller batches so as not to lower the temperature of the oil.

10. Once golden in color, remove with a metal slotted spoon and place onto paper towels.

11. Serve immediately with a choice of soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar or garlic chili sauce, or a mix of all three. 😊 

En Guete! Bon Appétit! Guten Appétit! Buon appetito! Itadakimasu!

Gastronomically yours,

Pia 💖