Right….Spring Rolls and Roast pork Fried rice

I had a spring roll craving the other day and even though I’m on a budget I managed to knock up some pretty tasty spring rolls for less than $20. Thinking about it thats not actually that cheap but they were well tasty and I managed to make some tasty fried rice with the same ingredients so it was all good.

So for the spring rolls you’re going to need some spring roll pastry. Normally it comes frozen and won’t cost you more than about 3-4 bucks.

For the filling you can put anything in there really. I decided to make roast pork spring rolls with some vege. I can get excellent pork from china town from a place called BBQ King. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before. It’s my favourite restaurant. All I normally get is BBQ pork and rice, it has to be my ultimate meal. Simple, great ingredients and so tasty. Pretty healthy too. Anyway, you can buy the pork by the weight if you want to cook with it so I got $15 worth. Half for the spring rolls and half for the stir-fry.

What you need for the spring rolls;

Spring roll pastry – normally comes frozen and takes about 30 mins to defrost. Make sure to keep it covered as it can dry out very quickly

Garlic
Ginger
Spring Onions
Bamboo Shoots
Water Chestnuts
Fresh Red Chilli
Shitake Mushrooms
Red pepper (capsicum)

For the fried rice you will need a wok or a large frying pan with a lid. The extra ingredients you will need are;

some left over spring roll mixture 
Eggs – 2-3 whisked and seasoned with salt and pepper and a dash of sesame oil. 
boc choi
extra ginger, garlic and spring onion. finely diced.
soya sauce
sweet soya sauce
fresh chilli

1. So first thing you want to finely slice everything. This is the only time-consuming part of the dish really. Get it as finely sliced as you can. Don’t worry too much if you end up with random sized bits. In terms of the length of everything try to make sure nothing is longer than 2 inches. Next grab half the pork and dice it up. you want it in pretty small chunks. Pop everything in a bowl and mix it well. Add a splash of soya sauce. Make sure to make a large blow of the mixture so you can use some of it for the fried rice.

2. OK so grab a sheet of the pastry. You want to have the pastry so one of the points is facing towards you, like a diamond. Place the mixture 2 inches from  the front point. try not to put too much. Probably 3 inches long by 1 inch wide and high. Bring the point over the mixture and start to roll keeping it quite tight. When you get half way fold up the left and right point to the centre finding the edge of the filling so it’s all nice and tight. Continue rolling until you get to the end and have about an inch left. Wet the point with some water and finish rolling, pressing down the point. Put on a plate and repeat until you have enough spring rolls. You can probably make about 8-10 spring rolls leaving half the mixture left for the fired rice.

3. To cook the print rolls either deep fry if you have the ability to or shallow fry in a heavy based frying pan. Do them in batches and let them brown on all sides, prob 3-4 mins per batch. Add the spring rolls to an oven dish and pop in the oven on 160 while you cook the rest of them. Once you’ve finished cooking the last batch add the last ones to the oven and give them 6-8 mins in the oven to cook through a bit. If you’re deep-frying them they will take 5 mins and you won’t need to oven them. If you want to be a bit more healthy brush them with a tiny bit of oil and oven cook them. about 12-15mins in the oven on 180°C

4. Now for the rice. Very easy. Cook the rice. Get a tea-cup and fill with long grain rice. Wash the rice then put in a pan and add 1 and 1/4 cups of water. Make sure to use the same cup you used to measure the rice. Add a pinch of salt then lid on and bring to the boil. As soon as it is boiling turn right down to 1 and make sure not to remove the lid at any point. The rice should be done in 12 mins. It should be ever so slightly undercooked. remove the lid and empty the rice onto a large plate and spread out to allow it to cool.

5. Now grab large frying pan or a wok. Get it on the heat, once it gets really hot and smoking add a dash of oil then add the ginger garlic and spring onion. Fry off for 2 mins then add the left over spring roll mixture and a handful of extra pork. You can leave this pork chunky. Stir fry it all around for 2 more mins then tip out onto a plate. Now add the whisked egg and stir around. Essentially we want it to scramble. Once it’s cooked add the mixture back to the wok and add the rice. Stir it all around and add a tablespoon of soya sauce and a tablespoon of the sweet soya sauce. Keep moving this around for a few mins so the rice is heated through. Now get the boc choi and lay it on top of the rice add a dash more soya sauce and put the lid on the wok for 2-3 mins.

Serve.

Add a garnish of spring onion and some chopped fresh chilli if you like a bit of spice!