Homemade Turkey Eggrolls

I love eggrolls, lumpia, mandu, and potstickers. Basically fill something with meat and veggies, fry it and give me a shoyu based sauce to dip it in and I’m a happy camper. It started in Korea where I lived pre-school through 1st grade. We would have yakimandu at every church potluck, school event, or birthday party. I loved it, my favorite joke was “This mandu isn’t yucky, it’s yummymandu!”

Then we moved to North Carolina for a few years and I settled for premade eggrolls frozen in a box. Now, after 15 years living in Hawaii and eating fresh homemade eggrolls and lumpia, I don’t think I could settle for anything else! (Well, except Ling Ling Potstickers, they’re one of Eric’s favorite things to make me for lunch)

I love homemade eggrolls, although they can be kind of a pain to make, if you make a bunch at a time you can freeze them and then they’re ready to go the next time you want some. They freeze really well. I usually make firecracker shrimp at the same time since I have the wrappers out, they’re really good and Eric prefers them over eggrolls. They freeze well too. One important thing is to make sure you use the frozen wrappers from an asian market (unless you’re in Hawaii or an Asian country you probably won’t find them at your regular grocery store). Defrost them overnight in the fridge and always keep them covered in a damp towel, even after you’ved filled them, until they’re fried or being frozen. Seal any leftovers in a ziploc bag.

I like to use ground turkey in my eggrolls, I figure it makes them a little bit healthier than beef since I’m deep frying them. I don’t use pork because I’m allergic to it and can only eat a little at a time, this way I can eat more! I always use Napa Cabbage (I love the stuff!) and the other ingredients vary depending what I have on hand. I have a big bag of dried shiitake mushrooms that I rehydrate by steaming (you’re supposed to do it in water overnight, but I’m lazy and this is faster).

I love serving them with some fresh mango. If I just have a few left and need some side dishes, it’s great with asian slaw and sweet garlic noodles. I also love to make different dipping sauces, having more sauces gives variety and makes it seem more special somehow. The easiest one that requires no prep is Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce. I’ll also give you the recipe for a yummy soy based sauce.

Turkey Eggrolls

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp cornstarch
2 TBS Aloha Shoyu
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 carrots grated
2 cups shredded napa cabbage
6 rehydrated shiitake mushrooms
1 TBS olive oil
1 tsp mirin
1 TBS Aloha Shoyu
30 egg roll wrappers
a little cornstarch and water to make a paste for sealing wrappers

Instructions

Mix the first seven ingredients in a bowl, let it sit while you prepare your veggies. I use a food processor to grate the cabbage, mushrooms and carrots and mix them all together.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the meat mixture. Fry it, stirring until it’s cooked through. Add the veggies, mirin and shoyu. Mix well and transfer to a bowl.

Fill one wrapper at a time with a TBS of the filling. I tend to use more and kinda overstuff them! Rather than drawing out how to fill and wrap it, I found this site for you.

Heat a couple inches of vegetable oil in a pot on high. Carefully lower eggrolls in with tongs, let cook for 2 minutes or until golden (a little longer if frozen). Remove with tongs and drain on a wire rack over paper towels.

Egg Roll Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

2 TBS Aloha Shoyu
2 TBS Rice Vingear
a few drops of sesame oil
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 TBS chopped green onion

Instructions

Whisk ingredients well.