Hey, I made good spring rolls!

You know those times when you want a snack but aren't sure what so you wander around the kitchen, looking repeatedly in cupboards and fridge hoping something pops up that wasn't there the last time you looked? I had one of those a few nights ago, the first in months.

I was watching an episode of the series, "The Guardian" on Netflix (that Simon Baker is something else!) and wanted something to snack on but didn't have a clue what. A brief search of my kitchen cupboard and refrigerator contents turned up nothing that appealed to me so I tried to give up and go back to the show. Unfortunately, the desire for something to munch on wouldn't leave and I found myself wandering into the kitchen again to see if something had magically appeared. Nope, still nothing.

Finally, I saw the package of Frieda's won ton wrappers (17 grams of carbs in 4 wrappers) I'd bought a few days before and I toyed with the idea of making some kind of gooey, cream cheese-y, sweet treat but my taste buds didn't seem too enthused. I kept digging in the fridge and saw the bag of broccoli slaw mix I'd bought at the same time as the egg roll wrappers and remembered that I wanted to try my hand at vegetable spring rolls. Hmmm, my mouth started watering a bit and I realized my taste buds were in overdrive. Eureka!

Someone had very recently sent me the URL of the site containing her favorite egg roll recipe so I went to the site and read it but although the tips and hints that prefaced the recipe were awesome sounding the recipe itself seemed a little more complicated than what I wanted to undertake while watching television. I read the tips a couple of times to cement them in my mind and headed back into the kitchen, prepared to wow myself with whatever results I came up with. Okay, let me say that I'd attempted spring rolls before but due to lack of knowledge ended up with a mess in my skillet. The site I'd just read focused on using a small amount of filling and very tightly rolling the wrappers to prevent said skillet disaster and that appealed to me. I decided to work on mastering the rolling part rather than the filling.

Into my wok, I put a bit of olive oil. When it was hot but not smoking I added the broccoli slaw, some finely chopped red onion, and a bit of finely shredded cabbage. I didn't measure any of it so use discretion here. I threw in a spoon or so of chopped garlic and a bit of salt and pepper. Pushing the mess around a bit, I tasted and it was bland so I added a few drops of sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce. I cooked it a bit more and tasted. It seemed good to me so I dumped it all into a glass bowl and moved it to my work counter. Since I don't have a deep fryer, I rinsed the wok a bit and added more olive oil, setting the wok on a low heat burner.

I proceeded with putting a very small amount of the filling in one corner of a wrapper then tightly rolling, folding the side edges in and ending with the top corner tucked under. I had enough filling for 4 rolls and when they were stuffed and neatly rolled I turned up the heat on the wok and put them into the oil. As one side browned, I carefully maneuvered the roll to another side until they were browned pretty much all over. When all of them were a pretty golden color I removed them and set them on a thick towel to drain and cool a bit.

It didn't take long before they were cool enough to eat. I took the first bite and thought, "Hey, this is pretty darn good!" I took another bite and confirmed the first thought. And with a bit of soy sauce to dip them in, they were actually quite good. Yes, I'd finally made spring rolls without destroying the wrappers and making a sloppy mess in my skillet! The filling was still a bit bland so I'll have to work on that but I'm very happy with the results overall. Now I just need to perfect the filling.

And no, mine aren't as pretty as the ones at the site linked above. I didn't follow all her rules but they're good enough for me. 

Do you make spring rolls or egg rolls? If so, how do you make the filling? I'd love to know your recipe or even suggestions on how to spice the filling a bit.