Chinese spring rolls may very well be one of the best appetizers ever. They are crispy, tasty, and extremely easy to make. This spring roll recipe is inspired by the spring rolls I get at dim sum restaurants. I use ground pork but ground chicken or beef works just as well.
Key ingredients and steps for Chinese spring rolls
Taro in Chinese spring rolls
What is taro?
Taro is a vegetable found very often in Southeast Asian cooking. There is a brown outer skin that needs to be peeled and a white center with purple specs. It is similar in texture to a potato and I would call it a hybrid between a sweet and regular potato in flavor.
This may come as a surprise, but taro is actually the most important ingredient in this recipe. The ratio of taro to pork is about 3:2. They are extremely starchy which is why we rinse some off before cooking. I would recommend only giving the shredded taro 1 quick rinse so that there is still some starch remaining. This will help thicken the mixture when cooking.
Ground meat
You can use any type of ground meat that you prefer. I used ground pork, but a really great substitute would be ground chicken instead. There would be more protein and less fat making it more macro friendly for all you fit people.
Pre cook filling?
In addition to the type of meat, you must also pre cook the meat before wrapping. Not only does this ensure that the filling is cooked, it also changes the texture. If you don’t pre-cook the filling, the spring roll texture becomes similar to a chicken nugget. By cooking first, you can appreciate each ingredient as it’s own
Vegetables
Vegetables are a must when creating any type of filling. I only used onions, garlic, carrots and of course taro. However, feel free to add anything else you like such as cabbage or mushrooms. Keep in mind that the more vegetables you add, the more it will dilute the flavor, so adjust seasonings accordingly.
Worcestershire sauce as a dip?
Growing up, I would eat these spring rolls at dim sum restaurants and the dipping sauce was always worcestershire sauce. You can choose to dip in a sweet chili sauce, mayo, honestly anyuthing you want, but worcestershire sauce will always be my go-to
Wrapping Chinese spring rolls?
What wrappers to buy?
Spring roll wrappers are very easy to find in any Asian grocery store. They are usually frozen and come in many different sizes. The size really doesn’t matter too much but I got the medium sized ones. Here are what they look like along with the brand I use.
Wrapping process
- Lay out the spring roll wrapper so that a corner is pointing towards your body. It should look like a diamond instead of a square.
- Add 3-4 tbsp of filling onto the wrapper. Keep it as compact as possible and positioned closer towards your body than it is in the middle.
- Fold the corner closest to your body over the filling, just enough to that the corner touches the middle of the spring roll wrapper.
- Keeping the middle corner tucked, fold the left and right corners towards the middle.
- Spread your corn starch + water mixture along the edge of the final corner farthest away from your body and roll the spring roll towards it to seal
- Optionally you can double wrap to be sure nothing falls out and I also found it results in a crispier final product.
Chinese Spring Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 package spring roll wrappers
Filling
- 350 g taro (shredded)
- 250 g ground pork
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- ½ yellow onion (fine diced)
- 1 medium carrot (fine diced)
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1½ tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp water
Corn starch slurry
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Make sure your spring roll wrappers have been defrosted in the fridge.
- Dice your onions, garlic, and carrots in advance.½ yellow onion, 1 medium carrot, 5 cloves garlic
- Peel taro and grate into a bowl.350 g taro
- ONLY rinse the grated taro once, in cold water. This is to make sure there is still some of the starch remaining for the cooking process. Make sure to drain out all the water.350 g taro
- In a med-high heat pan add 1 tbsp of oil and add the ground pork. Cook for 1 minute.250 g ground pork
- Add onions, garlic, and carrots, cook another minute.½ yellow onion, 1 medium carrot, 5 cloves garlic
- Add drained taro, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and water. Continue to mix to cook and break apart the ground pork for 5-10 minutes or until the mixture starts to come together.350 g taro, 3 tbsp oyster sauce, 1½ tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp water
- If the filling is falling apart easily, add a tablespoon of corn starch to help thicken it.
- Allow the filling to cool down before wrapping.
Wrapping
- Mix together corn starch slurry ingredients.2 tbsp corn starch, 2 tbsp water
- Add 3-4 tbsp of filling onto the spring roll wrapper.1 package spring roll wrappers
- Fold the corner pointing at you over the filling until it touches the center of the wrapper.
- Fold the left and right corners towards the middle.
- Spread the corn starch slurry along the edges of the final corner pointing away from you then roll the spring roll towards that corner to seal.
- Optionally repeat this again to double wrap which results in extra crispy final product.
Frying
- Deep fry at 350F for 8-10 minutes until golden brown or brush with oil and airfry at 390F for 10-15 minutes
- Serve with worcestershire sauce and enjoy!
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