Spring rolls

Ingredients

4 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly slices
50g rice vermicelli noodles
300g pork mince
2 tsp ginger, finely grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
50g chinese cabbage, shredded
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
20 sheets spring roll pastry, just thawed
1 egg, lightly whisked
vegetable oil for deep frying

Cucumber dipping sauce

1 cucumber
80ml water
60ml white vinegar
50g caster sugar
1 red chilli, optional

Method

Place the noodles in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 5 minutes to soften. Drain well and chop roughly.

Heat a frying pan over high heat. Add pork mince and cook for five minutes until browned. Break up lumps as the meat cooks.

Add the mushrooms, noodles, ginger, garlic, carrot, cabbage and the sauces. Stir for a couple of minutes until well combined.

Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.

Place one of the spring roll wrappers on a clean, dry surface. Place one tabelspoon of the pork mixture diagonally across the middle of the pastry sheet, leaving 5 cm clear on each edge.

Brush all the edges with the whisked egg. Tuck the sides of the pastry in and then roll the pastry from front to back, making sure that the end is completely sealed. You should end up with a 10 spring roll.

Continue until you have used all the spring roll wrappers.

Heat enough oil in a saucepan, deep fryer or wok so that there is at least 10cm of oil in the bottom. When the oil is hot, cook the spring rolls in batches for 3 or 4 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper before serving.

To make the cucumber dipping sauce, combine the water, vinegar and suger in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Remove from the heat.

Cut the cucumber down the middle lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Dice the cucmber flesh.

Combine the vinegar mixture and the cucumber and leave to cool.

Notes:

I used Pampas spring roll pastry and they were really easy to use – they are lightly floured so are easy to manoevre.
I don’t own a deep fryer so use my wok instead. I find the wok is great because it heats the oil really quickly and because it is wide, I can cook quite a large number of spring rolls at the same time.
You need to make sure the oil is hot enough (a cube of bread should become golden brown in 10 seconds) before you begin cooking – otherwise you’ll end up with very soggy, oily spring rolls.
Take care that the oil doesn’t become too hot or you will burn your rolls. If you think it is getting too hot, turn off the stove for a minute before turning it back on again. This should be enough to bring the temperature down.
This recipe was created by Ella Walsh for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder .