So I’ve been eating meat every now and then. But it’s rare, and I’m not a carnivore, so it’s okay! A friend requested that I make egg rolls for him, so I whipped some up these Extra Crunchy Beef Egg Rolls because I’m a good friend. The filling is the same as when I make dumplings, but I add a little more cabbage and some cellophane noodles for texture. Typically, I would make the egg rolls with pork and shrimp. Still, I decided to try mixing ground pork with ground beef (I’ve seen them do that on Food Network when making meatballs because one adds flavour and one adds texture) and omitting shrimp because I am too poor to afford such luxuries. But you can try whatever combination of proteins and vegetables that you want!
I ate these beef egg rolls the Vietnamese way, which is cut up and mixed together with shredded lettuce. Usually, there are rice vermicelli noodles, too, but I was trying to cut down on the carbs and was too lazy to cook them.
I could’ve been really authentically Vietnamese and wrapped the filling in tapioca sheets (the ones I used to make spring rolls), but I prefer the crunch from Chinese egg roll wrappers. Also, the tapioca sheets are so delicate that they always seem to rip when I deep fry them. I’m starting to think it’s me, not them.
This Extra Crunchy Beef Egg Rolls recipe is pretty simple, and I find the most challenging part to be deep-frying them because I always seem to have the heat on too high! I like to keep the heat on medium to medium-low to ensure that they’re golden all around and cooked through inside.
Extra Crunchy Beef Eggrolls Recipe
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef (minced beef)
1 pound ground pork (minced pork)- ½ cup cellophane noodles
½ medium yellow onion - diced
1 bunch green onions (scallions or green shallots) - diced
4 cups cabbage - shredded
1 medium egg
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper- 1 package eggroll wrappers
¼ cup vegetable oil - for deep frying
1 bunch iceberg lettuce - shredded- 2 tablespoons fish sauce - dipping
Instructions
- Soak the cellophane noodles in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and roughly chop them up into about 1/2-inch pieces.
- Combine beef and pork into a large bowl. Add onions, green onions, cabbage, and cellophane noodles and mix together. Add egg, fish sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, and black pepper. Marinate overnight.
- Roll up the mixture into eggroll wrappers. Deep fry in oil set at medium heat. Allow to cool before cutting them up and serving with lettuce and dipping fish sauce.
