Vegetarian Baked Egg Rolls with Duck Sauce

[Printable Recipe]

In our house, salads are very much an afterthought. If I actually want people to eat them, I serve them as a first course, and we rarely eat multi-course meals. When we had friends over last weekend for dinner, Cory suggested that in lieu of salad, perhaps I could incorporate veggies elsewhere. “Like egg rolls?” he asked. I kind of rolled my eyes at first (only he would suggest replacing salad with fried food), but given that I found what looked like a fantastic recipe for baked egg rolls, I thought I would give it a try.

I made the filling in the morning and let it cool completely, then assembled the egg rolls in the afternoon. Since they only took a few minutes to bake up and are really best when eaten immediately, I baked them up right before dinner. If you’re waiting a while (more than a half hour or so) between assembling the egg rolls and serving them, cover the assembled egg rolls with a damp kitchen towel and keep them in the fridge (the wonton wrappers will dry out fairly quickly).

Adapted from Imperrfections

Ingredients:
For the egg rolls:

• 1/2 Napa cabbage, shredded (I used the food processor for both the cabbage and the carrots.)
• 3 large carrots, shredded
• 8 large crimini mushrooms, minced (I used both the caps and stems.)
• 3 green onions, chopped (green and white parts)
• 1 tsp. canola oil, plus a bit more for brushing on top of the egg rolls
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
• 1/3 c. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 package (16) wonton wrappers

For the duck sauce:

• 1/2 c. water
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. mango jam
• 1-1/2 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

• Combine the cabbage, carrots, mushrooms and green onions in a bowl.
• Heat the canola oil in a pan and saute the garlic and ginger in the hot oil. Add the vegetable mixture, soy sauce and sesame oil and saute for ~4 minutes until the moisture in the veggies is cooked out.
• Remove the veggies from the pan and let cool.
• Combine the ingredients for the duck sauce in a small saucepan and simmer for 5-10 minutes until it’s thickened and smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool (you want this to be at room temperature when it’s served, not hot).
• When the veggie mixture has cooled, assemble the egg rolls and set them aside on a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat:

Put about 1 Tbsp. of the veggie mixture in the bottom corner of the square wonton wrapper.

Roll up the wonton wrapper, pinching it tightly as it’s rolled, until the wrapper is in the shape of a triangle.

Fold the right and left sides of the triangle in so that it looks like an envelope.

Wet the edges, then roll up the wonton wrapper the rest of the way. The outer edge of the triangle should be face-down. Continue rolling the rest of the egg rolls until you’ve exhausted your supply of either wonton wrappers or filling (for me, the wonton wrappers went first).

• Brush the tops of the egg rolls with canola oil, then bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes. (Mine weren’t quite brown enough after 12 minutes, so I broiled them for an additional 2 minutes.)
• Serve immediately with the cooled duck sauce.

Verdict:
I’ll be honest — I never expected these to be as crunchy as traditional fried egg rolls, but was I wrong! We all really liked the combination of textures. The criminis (beautiful ones from Greenling!) added a heartier flavor and consistency to the filling, and the saltiness of the soy sauce and sweetness of the carrot played off each other nicely. Traditionally made with apricot, the duck sauce made with the mango jam was a nice change. It had the same sour-sweet flavor as the stuff that comes in plastic packets, but tasted so much fresher and brighter.

Local Box, 04.22.2009

Mmmm… Strawberries that really SMELL like strawberries! I tried to buy some at the grocery store recently, but they had no odor, so I passed. I can’t wait to taste these heavenly scented fruits!

The garlic scapes look like fun, but I’m not sure what I’ll do with them yet. How do you plan to use them?

Finally, cabbage + 90-degree weather = coleslaw, don’t you think? Looking forward to the first slaw of summer this week.

How do you plan to eat out of your Local Box this week?

Local Box Lookout, week of 04.20.2009

Here’s what to expect in this week’s Local Box:

• Swiss chard
• cabbage
• herbs
• mushrooms
• spring onion
• garlic scapes
• carrots
• zucchini
• turnips
• berries

Local Box Lookout, week of 03.16.2009

Here’s what to expect in next week’s Local Box. Haven’t ordered one yet? There’s still time. You can still order next week’s Local Box through Saturday and later, depending on your zip code. Click here to check it out!

• Chioggia beets
• spinach
• cilantro
• green shallots
• kale
• cabbage
• strawberries
• oranges
• Swiss chard
• crimini mushrooms
• herbs

Local Box Lookout, week of 02.09.2009

Here’s the forecast for next week’s Local Box contents.

• brussels sprouts or broccoli florets
• spinach
• cilantro
• herbs
• green shallots
• mixed bouquet of greens
• mixed lettuce
• grapefruit
• yellow onion
• kohlrabi or cabbage

Remember, you can order up until two days before your delivery day. So if your delivery day is Tuesday, you can still order through Saturday. To find your delivery day, enter your zip code on the left at Greenling.com. Then click here to add the Local Box to your order.

Kraut Pletzlach

Last night’s grey, damp weather called for comfort food. And a Local Box cabbage had been calling from my crisper drawer for weeks. (It was still good, save for a few wilted outer leaves I sent to the compost pile.) I met both calls with a recipe I clipped from the Austin American-Statesman back in October for cabbage noodles. This turned out to be a quick and easy, one-dish meal that was every bit as comforting as I’d hoped. We topped ours with regular ol’ cottage cheese, as opposed to the dry-curd version mentioned in the article. But the results were great.

How are you eating from your Local Box on these cool, rainy days?

The Quest for ‘Kraut

With all the beautiful heads of cabbage that have been showing up in the Local Box lately, I decided it was high time to try my hand at sauerkraut. The dish seems to polarize folks, but I’m solidly in the love-it camp. I got to know it when I lived in the Alsace region of France, where choucroute (that’s French for sauerkraut) is a regional specialty. And cabbage is very high in vitamin C – and purportedly gets even more health-promoting attributes when you turn it into ‘kraut. But where to begin? My usual go-to recipe sources advised buying it in cans. And the directions I found in internet searches intimidated me with plastic buckets and long fermentation periods and mold you scrape off the surface with a spoon. The instructions I found from Mother Earth News seemed least-scary, so I decided to give it a go, using only one head of cabbage in my largest mixing bowl. I’m on day 3, now, and so far all seems to be going as planned.

In the meantime, I’ve put a query out to friends and family for tried-and-true ‘kraut experiences. So far, I’ve gathered a recipe from an Alsatian cookbook, and one from a friend’s grandmother that’s completely different — it calls for stove-top cooking and vinegar. So if at first I don’t succeed, I’ll still have options.

Have you ever made sauerkraut? Did your grandmother leave you her recipe? Please share! And stay tuned for my progress.

Local Box Lookout, week of 01.12.2009

Here’s what to look for in this week’s Local Box:

• lettuce
• shallots
• turnips
• green cabbage
• cilantro
• carrots
• tomatoes
• arugula/spinach mix
• yellow onion
• herbs
• red Russian kale
• bagged baby lettuce

Local Box, 12.17.2008

Green and orange, the colors of Texas winter, are here! This week, I plan to try the kale salad recipe included in today’s Local Box. And I think I have enough oranges for a batch of marmalade! (I’ve used the Meyer-lemon marmalade recipe with oranges, instead, to great effect.) I’m happy to see dill because it will go great with last week’s carrots, which are a little limp by now but should still taste great cooked. I’m planning to try some sauerkraut with this week’s and last week’s cabbage. Does anyone have experience making that? I’ve heard it’s surprisingly simple.

Local Box, 12.10.2008

The season’s first cabbage – in my kitchen, anyway – is a welcome sight. But will I turn it into slaw or kraut? I’ve been yearning for the tangy, vitamin-C drenched goodness that is sauerkraut here lately, so I may try my hand at making my own. I hear it’s wicked easy… Have you ever made it? Please share your tips, if you have!

Grapefruits, too, are good to see – and conveniently loaded with vitamin C, too. In fact, beets are also great sources of this antioxidant nutrient. Is it a coincidence there’s so much of the magical C to be had locally as we get into the heart of cold and flu season??

I might just turn this week’s apples and those I have leftover from last week into a pie, or perhaps a galette. And those lovely mixed greens? They look like a sautée waiting to happen – perhaps with a little bacon or smoke-dried tomato for added flavor. I’m glad to see avocadoes again, too, as my husband wants to try a crazy avocado pie recipe he found – it’s sweet, with a graham-cracker crust! To me, it sounds just crazy enough that it might be wonderful.

What have you got planned for your Local Box this week?