I love egg rolls. Crispy on the outside, tender and crunchy on the inside. And while I’m not vegetarian, I don’t eat pork or seafood, and it’s impossible to find a veggie egg roll when we have the occasional take-out Chinese food for dinner. And while I can occasionally find them in the kosher freezer section of my grocery, they’re generally all cabbage and flavorless. I always intended to try making them at home – bought the wrappers and watched them slowly shrink in my fridge until they became dried up squares of pasta, beyond redemption. Sad, really.

Then, my husband decided to design a board game on China, and invited several couples over to play-test. So when Chris of Blog Well Done and Elle of Elle’s New England Kitchen announced the theme of this edition of #GoJunkFood would be Egg Rolls, it seemed like the time had finally come. I could delay no longer.

And just to make the experience even more intimidating? One of our guests that evening was Hong Kong-born Eleanor Hoh, another Miami food blogger and wok-cooking instructor. Do I know how to put the pressure on myself, or what? And despite that, I cheated anyway. You’ll see.

Vegetarian Egg Rolls
(makes about 16 egg rolls)

Ingredients:

Sauce:

2 Tbs. soy sauce or tamari
2 Tbs. corn starch
2 Tbs. hoisin sauce
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. sriracha or other hot sauce (optional)

Filling:

1 14 oz. package fresh coleslaw mix
8 oz. baby portobello mushrooms (or your choice)
1 8 oz. can water chestnuts, drained
2 or 3 scallions (green onions)

1 16 oz. package egg roll wrappers
1 egg, beaten
Oil for frying

Preparation:

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl or measuring cup and set aside

Run the mushrooms through a food processor until finely chopped (or you can do it by hand if you’re more patient than I am). Set aside. Repeat with the drained water chestnuts. Slice the scallions thinly (both green and white parts). Set aside.

Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the coleslaw mix and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, or until the cabbage just begins to wilt.

Add the mushrooms with the sauce to the pan, combine well, and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the water chestnuts and scallions. Stir to combine well. Allow filling to cool to room temperature.

For each egg roll, lay out one of the egg roll wrappers so that it appears diamond-shaped when facing you. Brush some of the beaten egg along the edges of the upper half of the diamond. Place about 2 heaping tablespoons of the filling on the lower half of the diamond, below the two widest points. Take the point closest to you, bring it over the filling, and tuck it under the filling, tautly. Roll up to the widest points, fold them in over the ends of package and continue to roll all the way up. Make sure that the outer edges are sealed firmly. Repeat with each egg roll.

If you have a deep-fryer, heat the oil to 350º F and fry the egg rolls, no more than 4 at a time, until they’re golden brown, turning once. This won’t take more than 2-3 minutes, so look sharp!

I don’t have a deep-fryer, so I used my large frying pan, into which I poured about 2 inches of oil, heated to 350º F and proceeded the same way.

Serve with Chinese hot mustard, duck sauce, or my favorite dipping sauces – Oxford Falls Three-Pepper Peach Sauce or Cherry Chipotle Sauce.

Notes:

In case you’re wondering, Eleanor ate 2 of these, so I’m taking that as a seal of approval. Either that, or she was just starving after sitting in traffic for over an hour to get to my house.

These are super if you have a time crunch and need to make them ahead of time. Just allow them to cool, throw ‘em in a freezer storage bag, and freeze. To reheat, preheat your oven to 375º F and put the frozen egg rolls on a parchment-lined or foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

A bunch of other folks are also making egg rolls this weekend in their own unique ways. To find out who, search the hashtag #GoJunkFood

Yeah, you heard right: Tempura-Style Fish & Chips.

Chris and Elle decided that this edition of #GoJunkFood should showcase Fish and Chips. Um, okay. You guys know that I don’t like fish, right? Tuna from a can and the occasional Mrs. Paul’s fish stick, notwithstanding. But I have eaten the odd Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips meal once in a great while, and admit that I enjoyed them.

So, what am I doing here? I can cook fish like nobody’s business. Just ask my husband. M can’t figure it out: “I don’t get it – this is so good and you won’t even taste it!” In fact, I made him buy the fish. And I thought I’d do something a little different than the heavily battered English-style and – to paraphrase The Vapors – I thought I’d turn it Japanese.

With a rice flour batter and sliced sweet potatoes, I made a not-so-traditional Asian-ish version of Fish and Chips, suitable even for those with gluten-free diet requirements:

Tempura-Style Fish & Chips
(serves 2 – can be doubled)

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb. total)
1-1/2 cups rice flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. wasabi powder
1-1/4 cups seltzer or “fizzy” mineral water
2 5 oz. cod or other firm white fish fillets
enough peanut or canola oil to deep-fry preferably in a wok or (wok-shaped pan)

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them into rounds about 1/4″ thick. Put the slices in a pot of boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and run cold water over them to stop the cooking, and allow to drain again.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients to combine thoroughly. Slowly whisk in the seltzer (it should foam up a bit, briefly) till the batter comes together. It should be a bit thinner than pancake batter.

Heat the oil in the wok or deep pan, until a drop of batter sizzles when it hits the oil. Slide several of the sweet potato slices into the batter to coat well and slip gently into the hot oil. You can cook about 6 or 7 slices at a time. Fry for about 2 minutes and turn them over with a slotted spoon or spider (you know, that long-handled thing with the wire basket end? that you didn’t know what to do with? yeah, that thing.). Drain on paper towels and remove to a rack and place in the oven, set to warm, while cooking the fish.

When all of the sweet potato slices have been fried, repeat the batter and fry procedure with your fish fillets. They should cook for about 6-7 minutes or till golden brown, turning them over about half-way through.

Mix up a quick little dipping sauce with 1/2 cup soy sauce (or shoyu), 1/4 tsp. minced ginger, 1/4 tsp. wasabi powder, and 1/4 cup honey, all whisked together in a small bowl (or even the measuring cup!).

And speaking of Asian-style, wait till you see what’s in store next month for #GoJunkFood!

M and I were called to go to my father-in-law’s last night. Right in the middle of making the dinner that was going to be my #GoJunkFood post. His aide didn’t think he was going to last the hour it took us to drive up here.

For this edition of #GoJunkFood, the Twitterverse decided that we would take on Hot Wings. And what goes better with friends getting together to watch a game on TV than wings, people? With an orange juice base, freshly ground chipotle chile powder, and Washington State buckwheat honey, I put together a sweet, hot, and sticky concoction that’s a fusion of Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest that’ll get the party started in your mouth!

Chipotle Orange Hot Wings

For the Sauce:

4 Tbs. butter or margarine (I used Smart Balance Light spread)
3 tsp. minced garlic (about 3 large cloves)
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
4 tsp. chipotle chili powder
2 cups orange juice
3 Tbs. honey

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter or margarine over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and salt and cook until the garlic appears to soften a bit (about 3-4 minutes). Add the chipotle chili powder and cook for a few seconds, then add the orange juice. Mix well and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium and, stirring occasionally, simmer till the sauce reduces to nearly half. This should take about 15-20 minutes.

Add the honey and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

For the Chicken:

1-1/2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 cup rice flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. chipotle chile powder

1/2 cup peanut or canola oil for frying

Cut the chicken into 1-inch wide pieces, crossways. Place all the dry ingredients into a one gallon-sized zip-top bag and mix well. Toss the chicken pieces in the dredge, zip the bag closed, and toss until completely coated.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. With a pair of long tongs, take the chicken pieces out of the bag, one by one, shake off the excess flour, and drop into the hot oil. Don’t crowd the pan – you will probably have to do this step in two batches.

Fry the chicken until lightly golden on both sides. This should take about 5 minutes per side – maybe even a little less. It cooks pretty quickly – since there’s no skin or bones here, you don’t want the meat to dry out. If you’re using real wings, cook a little longer. Lay the fried chicken pieces on a paper towel-lined plate until they’re all cooked.

To Assemble:

Put the cooked chicken in a large bowl, pour the sauce over, and toss till every piece is completely coated. Serve with the traditional celery sticks and blue cheese or ranch dressing on the side for dipping.

*Notes:

This version is “boneless wings”, in that I couldn’t locate any kosher chicken wings (What’re you doing with all those wings, Empire? I used to be able to find bags of wings in my grocer’s freezer!). I cut up boneless, skinless chicken cutlets, so I guess they’re just a tad healthier, and they definitely fry up a lot faster than traditional wings. But whether you use wings or go boneless, the sauce is definitely the key.

Depending on your heat tolerance, this sauce is not painful-burn-your-mouth hot. I was going for a balance of heat and sweet, and really wanted the flavor of the chipotle to shine. If you want to go hotter, add more chili powder, but taste it first.

I used buckwheat honey here because its dark, smoky flavor enhances the smoky chipotle beautifully. If you don’t have buckwheat honey, try to use a darker variety available where you live. If I had wanted to accent the orange juice more, I would have used a lighter orange blossom honey. What can I say – I’ve become a honey freak lately, and I just love the flavor variations between the different types. Experiment! See what’s available in your area and try it all!

Speaking of trying it all, here are the rest of the #GoJunkFood bloggers – see what they’ve cooked up for you, too!

Chris at Blog Well Done
Elle at Elle’s New England Kitchen
Paula at The Dragon’s Kitchen
Heather at He Cooks, She Cooks
Judy at No Fear Entertaining

What’s next? Who knows – but it’ll be tasty!

Chris at Blog Well Done inspired (instigated? dared?) me and Elle of Elle’s New England Kitchen (one of my regular co-conspirators in gastronomic excess) to concoct Loaded Fries for a first-ever #GoJunkFood extravaganza in hedonism.

For my first offering, I enlisted (however unwittingly) a group of my friends who came over Saturday night to playtest MJ’s new boardgame (shhhhh!). I wasn’t quick enough – or sneaky enough – to get photos of what they put together, but it was a great excuse to do the deed, right?
Really? You want a recipe?

Chili Loaded Fries

Mixed white potato and sweet potato fries

1 recipe of your favorite chili

Your favorite chunky salsa

White cheddar cheese sauce

Sour cream

Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

For a crowd, I recommend you get frozen fries. They bake up in about 15 minutes in the oven, and no grease mess.

Here’s the chili recipe I used… Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone they weren’t eating meat! Heehee!

For the White Cheddar Cheese Sauce:

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 stick butter
Approx. 3 cups milk (your choice)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. white pepper
Approx. 3 cups shredded white cheddar cheese

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour till smooth and just starting to bubble. Add the milk and whisk until thoroughly combined and bubbling.

Add the salt and pepper. Begin whisking in the cheese, a handful at a time, continuing to whisk until melted and completely blended.

Taste your sauce. Not cheesy enough? Add more. Too thick? Add more milk. Whisk completely after each addition and make sure it’s bubbling before making any further adjustments. You want a super-cheesy, pourable consistency. The whole process shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.