Egg Rolls



           I don't know about you but I love egg rolls and spring rolls.  My high school sweet heart was Japanese.  I must say she was as American as they come.  Her mother was Japan- Japanese.  Her father was Hawaiian- Japanese, a first Sergent in the army.  Talk about a strict parent.  If they got bad grades, it was a boot in the you know what for real.  When I was little my father was stationed in Japan.  Here is a picture of some of my fathers friends back then.



           Now this girl in high school could not speak a word of Japanese, and never dressed like this.  An Issei, is a Japanese person born in Japan.  A Nisei, is a Japanese person outside of Japan.  Now, a person born of these two is third generation Sansei.  Later this girl became my wife and mother of my two girls.  They are Yonsei, and what is neat my daughter studied Japanese in college.  She went to Japan and tought English.  

          A little history there, other that egg rolls, I would not eat their food.  Yes I was stupid, back then, if it didn't look good, I didn't eat it.  I did not even try any of their food.  Now, I wish I had.  One day in her moms kitchen I saw an octopus trying to get out of a boiling pot of water.  No I did not eat any of it, to this day I regret it.  Kemchi, is another thing she made I would not eat.  When they ate it, it was so hot you could smell it on them.  I was 17 and didn't like hot food.  How things have changed.  Kemchi is cabbage fixed like sauerkraut, except very-very HOT.

 

            The cabbage, we are going cut this in shreds, thin to put in the wraps.  As you can see here I lost my job chopping.  There are no onions in this, if there were onions, or peppers, I would be doing the cutting.  We are going to cook this on the stove until tinder. 



          We are only going to cook 1/2 of the cabbage.  Cabbage, is a staple food,  It doesn't cost much and there are many ways to cook it.  As you have seen I'll cook a whole cabbage just to eat with cornbread.  Chow-chow is made with it too.  Enough about that let's put on some shrimp.  These little popcorn shrimp are perfect for this.  Pre-cooked we are going to boil them just long enough to thaw.  Spread a dish towel on the table.  We will put the cabbage and shrimp on it the dry some.



          Strain off your cabbage, and shrimp and place on towel.



          This is the hard part for me, do not eat any shrimp  they are for the egg rolls.  OK what is the difference in egg rolls, and spring rolls?  No, one doesn't have an egg and the other does.  Spring rolls don't have meat, and egg rolls do.  One thing is missing here, bean sprouts.  O-well the grocery store didn't have them.  The wraps can be found where you get the fresh cabbage in the store.  Lay out some wax paper on your table to work on.  Take one egg and scramble well in a bowl.  You will paint egg on wrap to seal it closed.



           This is not rocket science, you can do this.  Every thing I show you, I use pictures to help you along.  My favorite egg rolls are with sausage and some green peppers.  You can use chicken, or pork too.  All of these with meat in them are egg rolls.  Ever how you do it is fine.



A little cabbage, a little shrimp.

          We are moving a little fast here.  Take your time and try not to tear the wraps by putting to much in them.  Now all you have to do is heat up the Fry Daddy, Fry Baby, but you don't have one.  Not a problem,  fill a deep cooking pot with vegetable oil and heat it up for frying.  If you do use a pot save your oil.  The way I check oil to see if it is hot enough, is a drip of water.  Be careful doing it this way, the oil will pop out on you.

          We are going to have fried rice with our egg rolls.  You need day old rice, we had to make some rice.  I didn't know Mom had a 3X5 card for fried rice, I always just make it with what I have.  Mine always has green peppers and onions.  We are doing this by the card.  1/2 cup of shrimp chopped fine, but you can use ham, chicken, or pork. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. 3 oz can of mushrooms or fresh if you have them.  4 cups of rice, 1 chopped onion and after all this is stirred well, add 1 egg and continue stirring until cooked well. 

           Some thing else that goes real good is stir-fry.  Today you can get the stir-fry vegetables in the frozen foods.  A must have is a can of water chest nuts.  I love water chest nuts, I could eat a whole can.  Bamboo shoots too.  When you start adding those, the price goes up. 



          We are on a budget, so it is just the fried-rice.  We do have a pile of egg rolls to go with it.



           Once again this is enough food for two nights.  I hope you enjoy the food.  I try to show just how easy, and fun cooking can be.  Cooking like this does not cost that much,  you feed a family, and smiles are free.  Share this with your friends, and click on the ads to support the Blog.  Become a follower and read all the blog's at Charles Kenneth's Corner.