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Friday, July 2, 2010

Baking spring rolls

I just bought some spring roll wrappers. I think they are made of wheat flour. What I like about these spring roll wrappers is that they have the versatility of pastry dough but with very low fat content. Spring rolls are made mainly by deep frying. I want to try how it turns out when baked. I'm not all that concerned about the combination of ingredients. I choose this current combination only because the stuff is mostly dry. This helps preventing the wrapper from falling apart.



Recipe: Baked spring rolls (5 rolls)

Ingredients:
- 1 fresh sausage, removed of casing, browned and drained
- 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup finely shredded zucchini
- 1/4 cup cooked and mushed sweet potato
- 1 TB oil

Procedure:
1. Defrost spring roll wrappers for 1-2 days in refrigerator. When fully defrosted, open package. Place wrappers on a large plate. Cover wrappers with a damp cloth. At this point, all the wrappers will stick close together.
2. Allow the top wrapper to be lightly softened by the damp cloth (1-2 minutes). Then peel the top wrapper very carefully.
3. Transfer the wrapper to another plate. Put all the ingredients at the center of the wrapper. Fold up into a roll. Place the roll folded-side-down on another plate.
4. When all the rolls are done, line a tray with a sheet of parchment paper. Brush paper with oil. Place the rolls folded-side-up on the paper. At this point, the moisture from the ingredients may have moistened the folded-side of the roll. The wrapper tends to be more fragile when moistened.
5. Brush top of each roll with a little oil.
6. Bake at 350F for 5-10 minutes. Then increase temperature to 375F and bake until rolls are crisp. Serve hot.

Wrappers:

Wrappers defrosted and moistened with a damp cloth:

Wrappers to be used with dry ingredients:

Rolls preparing to be baked:

Rolls baked about 15 minutes or until crispy:

Observations:
1. It works!!! The spring rolls do not turn golden, but they are very crispy both top and bottom.
2. By placing the folded side down at the beginning of making the rolls, the moisture from the ingredients may help the wrapper to stick together. Then, by flipping the rolls the other way when baking, this enables moisture to go the opposite way. Because of the way I fold it, the seamless side tends to have more layers than the folded side. Placing the seamless side down helps cooking the multiple layers through contact with the pan.
3. I have come to conclude that the spring roll wrappers are the Chinese counterpart of the Turkish phyllo dough.

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