Mini Egg Rolls

(Not the best photo.  It was dark, and I took it in a hurry.  Don't let that stop you from trying the recipe though!)

For our annual Christmas party, I thought about making potstickers -again-.  I make them every now and then, and while, they're a hit, I wanted to make something different.  Egg rolls were the first things to come to mind.  I searched different on-line recipes, and finally settled on an adaptation from Allrecipes.com.    I planned on making full sized egg rolls, but when Brian came home from the store, they were out of the full sized wrappers, and just had the won-ton wrappers. In the end, I LOVED the won-ton wrapper size for a party.  They're the perfect bite-sized morsel.  Easy to eat, and tasty too!

Mini Egg Rolls

Mix in a bowl and set aside:
     2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
     2 tablespoons water

Shred:
     3 C cabbage
     1/4-1/2 C carrots

Saute the shredded veggies with:
     2 TB soy sauce
     2 TB water

Cook thoroughly in a skillet:
     1 lb ground pork
     2 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
     2 tsp garlic powder

Mix the veggie/pork mixture together in a bowl.

Place a dab of the pork/veggie mixture in the center of a won-ton wrapper.  Place a dab of the flour paste on the top corner (this will be the "glue", keeping it together).  Fold the side corners in toward the middle.  Fold the bottom corner up toward the middle, rolling upward. Continue until you've used up the rest of the pork mixture. 

Heat oil (about 1/4" in the pan) in a large frying pan to 375 degrees (medium-high heat).  When the oil is hot enough to sizzle, quickly place the mini egg rolls in the pan.  Cook until the side is golden brown, then turn over.  When both sides are golden brown, remove from the pan onto a plate or shallow bowl that's lined with a paper towel (to absorb any grease).  

Serve plain (yes, they're good enough to eat without sauce!) or with your favorite Asian dipping sauce. 

FREEZING

They're also easy to freeze.  I doubled this recipe and served half at Christmas time, and half at our Super Bowl party today.  Once I filled the won-ton wrappers, I placed each mini egg roll on a baking sheet to flash freeze.  Then I placed them in a FoodSaver bag, sucked out all the air, and put them in my freezer, Beauty (Yes, I've named my freezer!!).   To quickly thaw, I put them in the microwave on defrost for a minute.  Then I proceeded to heat up the oil, and cook them following the directions below.  In just 5 minutes the egg rolls were ready to serve to guests.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

VEGETARIAN OPTION
My daughter's a vegetarian, so I used this same recipe and replaced the pork with GimmeLean ground "beef".   There were several vegetarians at the party, who agreed these were worth making again!

Kung Pao Chicken

Early in our marriage, Brian and I bought a Sunset cookbook called, "Chinese Cook Book". It was published in 1979, so was already an "older" publication by the time we bought it (early 90s). We tried several recipes from it before settling on a favorite, Kung Pao Chicken, which we've been making ever since. You can tell from the book, that we made this recipe quite often. (Please tell me I'm not the only cook with food stains all over the books/recipe pages!)

Kung Pao Chicken is one of our oldest "Family Favorite" staples, and I can't believe it's taken me so long to share it on the blog. It's been mentioned in some past posts, but not with pictures.

Over the years we've made some minor changes to it. The ingredients in the "small bowl" below are doubled from the original recipe. The original recipe simply didn't make enough sauce. We also add stir fry veggies to it (usually peppers, as we keep those chopped and frozen year round). You can adjust the spiciness by the number of hot peppers used, as well as the variety of hot pepper.

Kung Pao Chicken
(Adapted from Sunset Chinese Cook Book)

Small Bowl:
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 TB sherry
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB white wine vinegar
3 TB water

Medium Bowl:
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 TB cornstarch
1 TB sherry
1 TB canola oil

Chop: 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Place them in the medium bowl and let sit until ready.

Have ready in 3 small bowls:
4-6 chile peppers
½ C peanuts

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp crushed garlic

2 whole green onions, chopped
Chopped stir fry veggies (peppers, carrots, peas, baby corn, etc.)

Heat wok*. Add 1 TB canola oil.
Add peppers & peanuts. Remove promptly.
Add 2 TB oil.
Add garlic & ginger. Stir.
Add chicken mixture until opaque.
Add peppers, peanuts, green onions, & any other stir fry veggies.
Add small bowl of sauce.
Cook until mixture thickens.

*I used to use a wok, but usually use a large skillet instead. Cook's Illustrated pointed out that heat is more evenly distributed in a skillet than in a wok.

20+ meals in 3 1/2 hours

So my post from yesterday motivated me to make some meals "assembly" style.

I chose chicken as a base, because the hand-trimmed chicken was on sale at Albertsons. I LOVE the hand-trimmed chicken. Before this discovery, I spent many hours chopping off all the gunk from the boneless, skinless chicken breasts: the tendons, fat, thick icky parts, etc. Last year I did a cost comparison. I bought chicken breasts for $1.89/lb. After I trimmed all the gunk off, I re-weighed them, figured out the cost, and realized it was nearly exactly the same as I would pay for the sale priced hand-trimmed chicken (2.99/lb.). So I quickly ditched buying the bargain breasts and now wait until this particular chicken is on sale.

My plan was to choose four recipes*, shop for the ingredients, set out on the counter all the supplies/ingredients, do a little prep work, and then...fill the bags assembly style!

Here are the plans, complete with step by step instructions and recipes. The first two are pretty much complete, while the last is more like a "Meal Starter"....there is a bit more work to do when it's time to cook them. But most of the work will be ready in the bag!

RECIPES

Cajun Curry Chicken (CCC)

Mix the ingredients in a baking dish. Add the chicken pieces, and mix so they are all covered by the sauce.

1/3 C honey
3 TB water
3 TB Dijon mustard
2 TB margarine
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts.

Bake uncovered at 350 for about 30 minutes. I often place red, green, and yellow peppers in the dish as it cooks. Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked rice.

Note: This sauce freezes well. If you like REALLY spicy foods, you can add up to 1 more tsp of Cajun seasoning and up to 1 more tsp of curry powder.

Grilled Herbed Chicken (San Francisco Encore) (GHC)

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Marinade:
½ C olive oil
½ C lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
1 TB rosemary, fresh & chopped
1 TB tarragon, fresh & chopped
1 TB sage, fresh & chopped
1 TB oregano, fresh & chopped
1 TB chives, fresh & chopped

Marinate at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. While grilling, brush frequently with the marinade.


Kung Pao Chicken (KPC)

Small Bowl:
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 TB sherry
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB white wine vinegar
3 TB water

Medium Bowl:
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 TB cornstarch
1 TB sherry
1 TB canola oil

Chop: 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Place them in the medium bowl and let sit until ready.

Have ready in 3 small bowls:
4-6 chile peppers
½ C peanuts

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp crushed garlic

2 whole green onions, chopped
Chopped stir fry veggies (peppers, carrots, peas, baby corn, etc.)

Heat wok. Add 1 TB canola oil.
Add peppers & peanuts. Remove promptly.
Add 2 TB oil.
Add garlic & ginger. Stir.
Add chicken mixture until opaque.
Add peppers, peanuts, green onions, & any other stir fry veggies.
Add small bowl of sauce.
Cook until mixture thickens.


1. SET OUT ON THE COUNTER

All measuring cups & spoons

Pantry:

• honey
• olive oil
• garlic
• cornstarch
• sherry
• white wine vinegar
• canola oil

Spices:

• cajun seasoning
• curry powder
• pepper
• salt
• white pepper

Refrigerator:

• soy sauce
• Dijon mustard
• lemon juice
• margarine
• fresh parsley
• fresh Tarragon

Herb Garden:

• fresh chives
• fresh oregano
• fresh sage
• fresh rosemary

2. PREP WORK

CCC

• 1 clove garlic, minced

GHC

• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
• 1 TB rosemary, fresh & chopped
• 1 TB tarragon, fresh & chopped
• 1 TB sage, fresh & chopped
• 1 TB oregano, fresh & chopped
• 1 TB chives, fresh & chopped

Chicken: The Kung Pao Chicken takes about 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts per recipe. The other marinades make enough to season/coat 6-8 boneless, skinless breasts per recipe. When I prep my chicken breasts, I actually slice the breast in half, length-wise, so they are a little thinner. This way they tend to cook a little quicker, whether it's in the oven or on the grill.

To figure out how many chicken breasts you'll need, plan on 6-8 for each marinade recipe, and 3 for each Kung Pao Chicken recipe.

Tonight I made 3 CCC (18 thin breasts), 3 GHC (20 thin breasts), and 3 KPC (3 breasts chopped into bite sized pieces) recipes. This took a total of 21 skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves from the store.


3. FILL THE BUCKETS

Wanting to be like the meal assembly stores, I wanted to drop my freezer bags into buckets. I looked around my home, and couldn't find anything practical. So I searched the aisles at the big store (nameless because I hate shopping there, but you can find nearly everything...) with no luck. I found some glass, stainless steel, & ceramic canisters, but they were pretty pricey. As I was leaving the store, I saw a huge display of Sunny D drinks in plastic jugs. The jugs would be PERFECT, I thought. And, at only $2 a bottle, it was a steal. The "juice" inside was an added bonus. The jugs were going to be used immediately, so I poured two of them into my neighbor's juice containers, and one into my own. (The fourth is still full as I just used three today.) After discarding the liquid inside, I cut them up and came up with this:

I lined the buckets with zip-loc style bags. I'd recommend using freezer bags (they are heavier and better for freezing) unless you'll be vacuum sealing them in the end.

Then, one recipe at a time, I simply started adding the ingredients to the buckets. THIS was the fun part! Plop, plop, plop...within minutes I had three meals...then six...and more! COOL!! There were a couple times when I lost track of how many teaspoons I'd added. That was when the handy-dandy kitchen scale came in handy. I simply weighed the buckets, and if the one in question was a little low, I added more.

Grilled Herbed Chicken (San Francisco Encore)
½ C olive oil
½ C lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
1 TB rosemary, fresh & chopped
1 TB tarragon, fresh & chopped
1 TB sage, fresh & chopped
1 TB oregano, fresh & chopped
1 TB chives, fresh & chopped
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Cajun Curry Chicken
1/3 C honey
3 TB water
3 TB Dijon mustard
2 TB margarine
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Kung Pao Chicken

Quart bag 1:
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 TB sherry
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB white wine vinegar
3 TB water
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Quart bag 2:
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 TB cornstarch
1 TB sherry
1 TB canola oil
chopped chicken from 3 breast halves

(Because the KPC is in two smaller bags, I placed quart sized bags into plastic containers that I had on hand. The two smaller bags went into a larger bag to keep them together. There are still some steps to follow when making the dish, but this prep work will really make the rest much easier.)
Soon after I had 11 bags of meals ready for the freezer. Each bag will provide 2 meals for our small family, plus some leftovers for lunches. I started at 2:30 (getting out all the ingredients) and was cleaned up by 6 p.m. In fact, we had friends over for dinner and we were ready for them!

*Originally this post included a fourth recipe, "Chicken with Gloppy Marinade." The "20+" meal total includes the meals from this recipe. While it is a yummy dish, it wasn't a good freezer meal. The sauce came out way too salty, and the texture just wasn't right.

Potstickers

Last summer we had a 14 year old Chinese exchange student (Ying Hong) staying with our family for a few weeks. One night we made a Chinese dinner together. She made most of the dishes, and they were delicious...nothing like you'd order from an American Chinese restaurant. We also invited two Chinese college students to the dinner. MY contribution to the dinner was Potstickers, which were just as popular as the dishes Ying Hong made.

When I make these, I usually make a couple recipes and freeze them. If you flash freeze them they won't stick together when you take them out of the freezer. It makes it really easy to cook up a small amount, saving the rest for later. To flash freeze, place a single layer of uncooked dumplings (potstickers) on a jelly roll pan. Freeze them until hard, and then transfer to a freezer bag.

Chinese Potstickers
(San Francisco A La Carte)

2 packages (100 total) round potsticker wrappers

Core and chop finely:
1 pound Chinese cabbage*

Sprinkle over cabbage:
2 t salt (Let this sit out for one hour, then press through a strainer to drain any extra water.)

Let the cabbage sit for one hour. Place it in a strainer, and press out the water. (Hands work best for this.)

Mix together and set aside:
1 ½ pounds ground pork
3/8 C soy sauce
6 green onions, minced
1 TB sesame oil
2 TB peanut oil
½ tsp fresh grated ginger
1 egg
2 cloves garlic, minced

When the cabbage is ready, add it to the mixture above.

To assemble: Fill a small bowl with water. Place a potsticker wrapper on your work surface. Place about 1 tsp of the filling in the center of the wrapper. Dip your (clean!) finger in the water, and run it along the edges of the wrapper. Fold in half, and pinch it closed. Make sure you don't leave any little spaces for the filling to escape. Keep going until all of the meat mixture has been used. (You can freeze any left-over wrappers.)

Heat in a skillet:
2 TB peanut oil**

Line up the potstickers around the edge of the pan, with the seam side up. Saute them for about 2-3 minutes (medium heat), keeping them from burning.***

Add to the pan:
1/2 C water

Cover the pan, and let them steam for about 20 minutes.

Serve hot with Potsticker Sauce.

*I've used "regular" cabbage in a pinch, when I couldn't find Chinese cabbage. It works just fine!

**I do recommend using peanut oil instead of canola (which I usually use for things like this) as it has a much higher burning point....meaning you can cook with it at higher temperatures than other oils. Our sautee pan was splattering because it was so hot! I wanted to turn it down, but Ying Hong said that's how it was supposed to be done.

***Instead of sauteeing/steaming them like the recipe called for, Ying Hong told me to steam them first (she boiled them until they were firm, but done) and then sautee them. She said you could eat them steamed or sauteed. Just don't steam them so long that they break apart and lose the filling.

Now for the sauce. My favorite potsticker sauce came from a Chinese restaurant in Bloomington, Indiana. Since then, I haven't found anything close that I like. Until, I combined a couple recipes to come up with this unique recipe:

Potsticker Sauce

In a small bowl, microwave for 30 seconds:
1/4 C jalapeno jelly (Safeway sells this in a gourmet jelly display)

Add:
2 TB soy sauce
2 TB water
½ tsp rice vinegar
1 ½ tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced fresh ginger

This recipe is a sweet Asian dipping sauce with a spicy kick!