Egg Rolls

Not your traditional egg roll. Mini, bite size egg rolls! Of course this is my Mom's recipe and yes, she'll call when she sees it and say, "is nothing sacred"? To which I'll say, "nope":) And, "technically" I think I started the mini egg rolls, she makes the full size ones but argue not..you are in for a treat. They are part of our Christmas Eve Appetizer fest and I look forward to them EVERY year! So, this is my little Christmas present to you...My Mom's egg roll recipe:)

These are so YUMMY and they impress absolutely everyone when they see them on your buffet table. They really aren't difficult to make...I promise. The more you make them, the easier they get.

What you'll need:

2 packages of Won Tons
1/2 lb ground Chicken~back in the day, I used to have to grind it up with my food processor...GASP! You could also use ground pork or Turkey
1/2 small onion minced
3 cloves Garlic minced
1 pkg Coleslaw
1 pkg Bean Sprouts
7-9 t Five Powder Spice
2 t Garlic Powder
Soy Sauce
Crisco NOT Oil for frying

Ok, let me first admit that I did "measure" for the first time in the over 20 years that I've made these...O-M-G, did I just admit that I've been making these for 20 years?! That can't be, where in the heck has the time gone. Oops, sorry..back to business...I tweaked as I tasted and went and lost track. So, this will get you close. Tweak and adjust to what "you" like and it will be all good. My Mom didn't have it written down and I managed with just the verbal of how it "looked" as you added stuff so you're a few steps ahead of me;)

Start a pot of water to boiling. Add a couple teaspoons of salt and sugar. When the water is boiling, add the package of cabbage and the bean sprouts. If you want to chop or rip the bean sprouts in half ahead of time you can, but it's not necessary. Give it a stir and boil for about 5 minutes. You want to soften the cabbage, not make it squishy.

Pour into strainer and let it cool. When it's cool enough to handle. Squeeze, squeeze and squeeze some more to get as much water out of it as you can. Break your handfuls of cabbage apart and splash with soy sauce. I'm guessing about 5 to 6 shakes. You want to color the cabbage a light brown. Give it a toss.

Brown your chicken with onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Add 3-4 t of Five Powder spice. You have enough spice when the chicken is darkened slightly by it. You should be able to taste the spice but it shouldn't be overwhelming...make sense? I hope so. Add to the cabbage mixture.

Sprinkle 2-3 more teaspoons of Five Powder Spice, 2 t Garlic Powder and a few more shakes of soy sauce. Taste, if it's missing a little something, something try another shake of soy sauce...did you know when I'm cooking when I think something is missing almost always a sprinkle of salt is all it needs?

Still not right, another teaspoon of Five Powder. You should be more than good by now. Now squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the heck out of it again. You want this as dry as possible so you can roll these egg rolls a little bit before and not make the won tons wet. If you are planning on making the mix, rolling the egg rolls and frying, you don't have to worry as much about the squeezing.

Now I think following the photos will be best.

Boil for about 5 minutes. Just long enough to soften the cabbage
Shake, shake, shake...add some soy sauce
Ground Chicken ready to mix in
Ready to go, you can stop here and put in a large Ziploc and use the next day
Put about a tablespoon on the won ton
Fold the sides over
You're kind of making an envelope
Now, roll it up. You'll need a little dab of water to seal the end. Try to make sure you don't have any holes or gaps, they'll taste fine, you'll just get some splatter when frying.

Line a 13x9 pan with wax paper and put the finish egg roll on that. After first layer, put more wax paper and repeat. You can put these in the fridge for a few hours. If you take them out and they are wet and ripping because you didn't get enough of the moisture out, throw them in the freezer for about 1/2 hour, that should help the problem.
Ready for the Crisco. Heat your Crisco until it's hot and ready to go. The reason I said to NOT use oil is because the oil starts to break down after a few batches and you get these little greasy bubbles on the egg rolls.

Put your egg rolls into the oil. Don't crowd them, they need their own space. Turn them over and drain on paper towels. They are probably in the grease a couple of minutes total.
Serve with Sweet and Sour sauce. Eat just one...I dare you