I must have said "I'll try making spring rolls" a dozen times. Today, it finally happened. Initially I prepped my veggies: cabbage, carrot, green pepper, onion just to give me some moral to do it start later, since I had other things to do. But as always, the call of food won. Let's get started.
flour (all purpose)
chicken
veggies (cabbage, carrot, green pepper, onion, ginger, garlic)
salt, powdered pepper
oil
I began with the dough. I used an all-purpose flour (leftover from a cake I made weeks ago, I do not know the exact weight but should be around 200grams) and added a little salt( 1/2 teaspoon), and just enough water to form a firm dough. After a good knead, I set it aside to rest for 30 minutes.
For the filling, I went with a simple mix: finely shredded cabbage, chopped carrots, chopped green peppers, cut onions, and some pre-steamed, seasoned chicken from my last cook. (quantity depends on the number of rolls you want to make).
I started by frying a finger of ginger and a bulb of garlic (chopped very fine) in some oil.
note to use very little oil, to avoid having a very wet fill in which can soil the wraps laters.
Then, I added the cabbage first, letting it fry down for a minute before adding the carrots, green peppers and onion. I seasoned with half a teaspoon of salt, powdered pepper and a little shrimp powder to taste and gave it all a good stir before finally adding the chopped chicken. The whole mix took about 10 minutes to come together perfectly.
The real adventure was the wraps. With no rolling pin, I improvised with a long, smooth bottle. I divided the dough into 4, rolled out each portion into a thin flap, brushed one with oil, dusted it lightly with flour, and layered another on top. I used a round lid to cut perfect circles, and then gave each a final roll to make them a bit larger and thinner. I cooked it in a dry pan for about two minutes per side before carefully separating the layers
For assembly, I made a simple paste of flour and water as my "glue." For the samosas, I folded the wrappers into triangles, filling each with a tablespoon of the veggie-chicken mix. For the spring rolls, I used two to three tablespoons of filling, rolling them into neat cylinders.
Finally, I fried them in medium-hot oil until they were a beautiful, crisp golden brown. The result? A plate of homemade snacks that took me right back to when I helped a friend make them years ago-only this time, I made them for my family.
