Cook’s notes
It wasn’t planned, this dish. We ordered Korean food, we finished all the main dishes but there was plenty of leftover cabbage kimchi which I stored in the fridge. Two days later, I used it to make these spring rolls.
Making the filling is easy enough. Just mix together and leave to marinate. Don’t skip the marinating part. I know it’s ground meat and it just takes a few minutes for the tiny morsels to soak up flavor.
But the thing is as the meat marinates, it also rests. During this time, all the liquid seasonings — plus the kimchi juice — get soaked up by the meat turning the filling into a pasty mass. Instead of the liquids bleeding on the wrapper while you’re rolling your spring rolls (or, worse, when the spring rolls are already frying), they stay embedded in the meat to ensure that it stays moist.
About the wrappers… They come in different sizes. Some are square and some are round. Neither size nor shape matters. I used 14 six-inch square wrappers but you may use larger ones. You may even use rice paper if you like. If you need help with wrapping spring rolls, see how to wrap, store and reheat spring rolls.
As a final tip, remember the secrets to crispy spring rolls:
Making the filling is easy enough. Just mix together and leave to marinate. Don’t skip the marinating part. I know it’s ground meat and it just takes a few minutes for the tiny morsels to soak up flavor.
But the thing is as the meat marinates, it also rests. During this time, all the liquid seasonings — plus the kimchi juice — get soaked up by the meat turning the filling into a pasty mass. Instead of the liquids bleeding on the wrapper while you’re rolling your spring rolls (or, worse, when the spring rolls are already frying), they stay embedded in the meat to ensure that it stays moist.
About the wrappers… They come in different sizes. Some are square and some are round. Neither size nor shape matters. I used 14 six-inch square wrappers but you may use larger ones. You may even use rice paper if you like. If you need help with wrapping spring rolls, see how to wrap, store and reheat spring rolls.
As a final tip, remember the secrets to crispy spring rolls:
- Seal the wrappers well.
- Use plenty of oil so that the spring rolls swim freely during frying.
- Make sure that the temperature of the oil is correct before sliding in your spring rolls. If you use a thermometer, 350F is the standard frying temperature. If you don’t use a thermometer, take a bamboo skewer and plunge one end in the oil until the tip touches the bottom of the pan. If small bubbles form around the skewer, the oil is hot enough.
- Never overcrowd the pan so cook the spring rolls in batches if your frying pan is on the small side.
Easy crispy pork and cabbage kimchi spring rolls
Ingredients
- 250 grams fatty ground pork (about half a pound)
- ½ cup mature cabbage kimchi chopped
- 1 teaspoon rock salt
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 heaping tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
- 1 generous drizzle sesame seed oil
- 14 6-inch spring roll wrappers separated
- cooking oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Place the ground pork, kimchi, salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and sesame seed oil in a bowl and mix thoroughly until the mixture looks homogenous. Cover the bowl and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Spread a heaping teaspoon of filling on a wrapper, wet the edges of the wrapper with water, roll outward to cover the filling, fold in the sides of the wrapper then continue to roll outward to seal the filling.
- In a wok or frying pan, heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of three inches.
- When the oil is hot enough, fry the spring rolls for four to five minutes (in batches if necessary), rolling them around in the oil for even browning.
- Serve the spring rolls immediately.
Chinese-style scrambled eggs with pork and tomatoes
