A few weeks back we went to have dinner at our cousin’s house for a communion party. Our cousins are really into good Chinese food, and dim sum in particular, among other things of course. As a new Chinese restaurant opened up in town, called J.J. Chen’s Eatery, our cousins have been sampling their menu and decided to order a bunch of food from them. Needless to say, their food is actually really good and is pretty competitive with some of our local favorites, Fortune. There were some of the standard dishes like fried rice and beef and brocoli, but there was one item that stood out. It was a simple egg roll. My first reaction was ‘oh great, another egg roll with soggy cabbage and other crap’, but when bitten into, whoa, I was taken back. It was an egg roll alright, and a simple one, but it was an eggroll with nothing else but shrimp inside! I’ve never had such a thing before. Sure, I make egg rolls all of the time (here, here, here, here, and here), but never had I imagined that a simple egg roll loaded with shrimp would be that amazing.
So, you know what I had to do right? Recreate it. AND.IT.WAS.AWESOME.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs of fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined, roughly chopped
- 1 package of Spring Roll Wrappers (view here)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 cups of canola oil
Yep, that’s it. Four simple ingredients that will just please your soul. I guarantee it.
Begin by having all of your ingredients ready. Take one egg roll wrapper and place it in front of you. Review this video on the egg roll wrapping process. Add a a couple tablespoons of the chopped shrimp, and take the egg roll wrapper and fold over. Roll a couple of times, then fold in the sides, tucking them in, and continuing to roll. When you are about an inch or so from the end of the wrapper, brush on some of the beaten egg, and roll to seal. Repeat until all of your shrimp is wrapped.
Heat a pot on medium to high heat. Add the oil and let this come up to about 370 degrees. Add a few egg rolls into the preheated oil and cook until they are golden brown, about 6 minutes or so. Repeat.
Remove them from the oil and let them drain. Don’t eat these immediately. As tempting as it is, they are just super hot. Let them cool for about 5 minutes or so. When you are ready to eat, serve them on your party plate and let your guests dig in.
The result? Well, nothing but amazing. As simple as this sounds, the shrimp are super moist and tender and the crunchy exterior just make these a great appetizer. Give it a shot. Hope you enjoy.