Chinese 5-Spice Eggrolls and Pampered Chef Bar Pan Winner

Congratulations to Helen Watson for winning the Pampered Chef Mini Bar Pan!  –

“My favorite christmas recipe is an oyster and cracker casserole. It is so very easy to make, 2 pints of oysters, saltine crackers and butter. Crush the crackers and put them in the bottom of a casserole dish. Put a layer of oysters, dot with butter and repeat two more times.  Add milk until you see it thru the crackers. Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 20 mins.”

Chinese 5-Spice Eggrolls with Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce

Chinese 5-spice powder encompasses all five flavors – sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty.  The number actually refers to 5 elements: wood, fire, water, earth, metal, and water.  It is a mixture of five spices; star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel and cloves.  Is it just me or did I literally just go off on a list tangent??  Should that have been a power point with bullets??  Um ok, anyway…..

There are other variants, but this is usually the typical (from what I’ve seen at least).

-Mise En Place-

1 package egg roll wrappers

1 bag broccoli, carrot and cabbage slaw (found in the bagged lettuce section)

2 cups fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced very thin

2 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup chicken or beef broth

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp cornstarch

1/2 cup water

About 1/2 cup canola oil, for frying

Heat sesame oil and garlic in a large saute pan over medium high heat until fragrant.  Add slaw and mushrooms, stirring to combine.  Reduce heat to medium and add the 5-spice powder, broth and soy sauce.  Cook, stirring occasionally until soft.  Feel free to add more broth if you think it needs it, but not too much – it should be a thick consistency.

Combine the water and cornstarch in a small bowl, set aside.

Start by lying one eggroll wrapper flat on your workspace.  Using a pastry brush, line the outside edges with the water/cornstarch mixture.

Add a small amount of eggroll filling at one corner.

Starting at the bottom corner, very gently begin to roll up keeping it tight.  When you get about halfway, fold the two sides in.

Continue tightly rolling and fold the last corner over, making sure there’s enough water mixture on it to form a seal.

Repeat with the rest of ingredients.  These can be refrigerated if you plan on cooking them later.

Otherwise, heat the canola oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.  When the oil is ready, add the eggrolls a few at a time, making sure they have enough room (don’t crowd them).  Fry about 30 seconds to a minute on each side until golden brown.

For the Dip:

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 tbsp dijon mustard

Combine in a small bowl and serve with eggrolls.

~Enjoy~

Dixie Chik