Spring Rolls
Michael Chen, Melissa Du, Sophia Wang
We introduce 4 recipes (serve as 4 halves, composing 2 full rolls per serving):
Kimbap roll
Peking “no duck” roll
Shrimp roll, with peanut sauce
Marinated tofu roll, with peanut sauce
Kimbap roll (makes 6 rolls)
Ingredients:
Filling
Sesame oil (for brushing when rolling)
Tamago
6 3” thin strips of Yellow pickled radish (sliced lengthwise)
½ cup Kimchi, juice removed (rough chop)
5 snack-pack sized pieces of seaweed, cut into thin strips
1 cup Japchae sans vegetables (aka soaked vermicelli stir-fried with onion, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil)
1 cup blanched spinach
Tamago
4 large eggs
4 tbsp sweet dashi (recipe follows)
2 tbsp oil
Sweet Dashi (makes 1 ¾ cups)
1¼ cup dashi
½ cup sugar
1½ tsp soy sauce
2 tsp salt
Instructions:
Sweet Dashi*
In a small saucepan, combine dashi and sugar.
Add soy sauce and salt. Turn the heat to medium heat and mix well together.
When the sugar is completely dissolved, turn off the heat and transfer it to a mason jar. Let cool completely before closing lid.
Tamago
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a bowl, combine 4 eggs and 4 tbsp of your sweet dashi mix. Ratio of egg to dash is 1:1 (1 tbsp sweet dashi for 1 large egg)
Line a pan with parchment paper, baking for 15-18 minutes or until set (this is great for scaling up — we made this recipe for 300+ servings).
Assembly
Dip the rice paper in warm water to hydrate it. (no more than 30 seconds). Lay the rice paper on a flat plate. Place Tamago, Yellow Pickled Radish, Kimchi, Japchae, and seaweed on one end of the rice paper.
Make sure to roll it as tight as possible, so it’s easier to dip and eat. Tuck in the sides of the roll before completing your last roll (this is our standard rolling technique).
*recipe inspiration
Peking “no duck” (😂😂) roll (makes 15-20 rolls)
Ingredients:
Filling:
(红烧肉) Braised Pork Belly
1 bunch green onion, cut into thin 3” strips
½ cup (甜面酱) Sweet Soy Bean Sauce
1 large cucumber, cut into thin 3” strips
1 ½ cup fried onions or fried thinly cut garlic
Braised Pork Belly
12 oz lean, skin-on pork belly
2 tbsp oil
2-3 blocks rock sugar
3 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tbsp dark soy sauce (for coloring)
2 cups water
Instructions:
Cut pork belly into ¾-inch thick pieces.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the pork belly for a couple minutes, getting rid of impurities. Take the pork out of the pot, rinse, and set aside.
Over low heat, add oil and sugar. Melt the sugar slightly and add the pork. Raise the heat to medium and cook until the pork is lightly browned.
Turn the heat back down to low and add shaoxing cooking wine, regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water (color and flavor is dependent on having both types of soy sauce).
Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until pork is fork tender.
Every 5-10 minutes, stir to prevent burning and add more water if it gets too dry.
Once the pork is fork tender, if there is still a lot of visible liquid, uncover the wok, turn up the heat and stir continuously until the sauce has reduced to a glistening coating.
Slice each piece in half vertically.
Assembly
Using the same rolling technique, assemble by first coating the bottom of the roll with ~ a tsp of sweet soy bean paste. Then, add green onions and cucumbers. Finish with 3 pieces of sliced pork belly and fried onion or fried garlic. Roll such that a neat row of dark, caramelized pork slices faces you when finished.
**recipe inspiration
Shrimp roll (makes 20 rolls)
Ingredients:
Filling
~8 oz vermicelli, cooked
10 leaves of butter lettuce
~20 thai basil leaves
~20 mint leaves
2 avocados, thinly sliced
3 limes, cut into wedges
30 whole shrimp, cut in half lengthwise
Peanut Sauce †
Assembly
Prepare peanut sauce using recipe below. Sauce should be smooth and able to easily dribble down a spoon.
Using the same rolling technique as the previous roll, assemble by first coating the bottom of the roll with ~ a tbsp of peanut sauce. Then, add vermicelli, ½ of a leaf of butter lettuce, one leaf of thai basil, one leaf of mint, and avocado. Finish with 3 pieces of shrimp. Roll such that a neat row of pink-striped shrimp faces you when finished. Serve with a wedge of lime.
† Peanut Sauce (used for 300 rolls)
Ingredients:
10.5 cups of peanut butter
2.5 cups black Chinkiang vinegar
4.66 cups soy sauce
2.625 cups of honey
1 cup of sesame oil
1 cup of lemon juice
1/2 cup of minced garlic
Combine thoroughly.
Marinated tofu roll (makes 20 rolls)
Ingredients:
Same filling and sauce as Shrimp roll, replacing shrimp with tofu.
Marinated tofu ‡
1 block firm tofu, drained and pressed (wrap in paper towel for about 30 minutes to get out any extra moisture)
¼ cup dark soy sauce or mushroom soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp chili flakes
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp salt
Instructions:
To make the tofu, cut the drained tofu and put into a bowl.
Whisk the dark soy sauce, sugar, chili flakes, garlic powder, salt, and a drizzle of olive oil together. Pour over tofu and let marinate for up to 1 hour.
In a lightly oiled pan, pan-fry the tofu until heated through, turning so that the tofu is cooked evenly.
Cut tofu into ½” x ~3” strips.
Assembly
Using the same rolling technique, assemble by first coating the bottom of the roll with ~ a tbsp of peanut sauce†. Then, add vermicelli, ½ of a leaf of butter lettuce, one leaf of thai basil, one leaf of mint, and avocado. Finish with 1-2 piece(s) of tofu. Roll such that the golden, pan-fried tofu faces you when finished. Serve with a wedge of lime.
‡ recipe inspiration
