Potstickers Inspire Spring Rolls

Jennifer at Culinaria Eugenius had a great post recently about doing up some  little green potstickers. I couldn't have come across it at a better time. With a fridge full of yummy CSA produce, I was nonetheless feeling a bit of a cooking doldrum.

Then I remembered that we had a bunch of spring roll wrappers in the freezer. Left over from a "roll your own" egg roll party we did for my birthday, I snagged a pack out of the freezer for about an hour's thawing.

From there, dinner was easy. I whipped up enough spring roll filling to do up rolls for 3 people, with leftovers.

Ingredients

All ingredients should be chopped small. Not minced, just small.

• Oil for stir frying and frying
• 1 chicken breast
• Couple of cups of greens (spinach, joi choi, bok choi, whatever)
• 1 carrot
• 5 mushrooms
• 1 spring onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1-1/2 tsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• Cumin
• Lemon pepper
• Black pepper
• Chile flakes
• 2 eggs, whisked
• A wee bit of water, say about 1 tsp.

Cooking

1. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. As oil heats, add a few dashes of cumin to flavor the oil. Add onion and garlic and stir-fry for about 30 seconds.
2. Add chicken and cook until no more pink is visible. Season liberally with lemon pepper and black pepper, and maybe a bit more cumin. Add all vegetables except the greens. If the greens have an edible stem that needs more time to cook, go ahead and add the stems too. Stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add sugar, soy sauce and oyster sauce.
3. Add chile flakes and greens. Cook for about 3 minutes or so, stirring regularly to mix all ingredients and blend flavors. Add about half the egg and kill heat. Stir to scramble and cook egg. Remove wok from stove.
4. Now the really fun part.
5. Mix the bit of water with the remainder of the egg and stir. You'll fill the spring rolls with about a tablespoon of filling each. Plop a spoonful of goodness in not quite the middle of an eggroll wrapper. Fold part of the wrapper over the filling. Brush egg mixture over the edge of the wrapper. Fold in sides, then roll the whole shebang up. Repeat.
6. Clean out and dry your now-empty wok. Heat over medium to medium-high, and add enough frying oil to cover at least half the spring rolls. When the oil is hot — either when a thermometer hits 375°F or a bit of wrapper chucked in the oil fries — start frying.
7. Lay in 2-3 spring rolls at a time. They will not need much time! The filling is already cooked and ready to eat. You are only getting the fried goodness part now. You'll need to fry only about 30 seconds to a minute per side. When side of roll in oil looks like it's browning, flip it. When other side looks like it's browning, remove roll. Lay it on a plate covered in paper towels to blot oil. Repeat, repeat, repeat until are fried a lovely golden brown, and your local Chinese restaurant delivery guy is asking if he can stay for dinner.
8. Enjoy with your choice of dipping sauces. Soy sauce and rice vinegar, red chile sauce, hot mustard, whatever. And a beer.