Note-to-self #1: I needed to add a lot more salt, more soy sauce, and more sugar than I did initially. Although, in the end, I may have added too much salt.
Note-to-self #2: Easier to use a larger pot than what I used, since you can more easily adjust the flavor and stir.
Ingredients:
- Ground pork (I don't have an exact measurement of how much. My mom breaks up ground pork into balls so they're easy to grab from the freezer and defrost. I used three balls... lol.)
- Green onion (About 4; use only the white parts, chopped)
- Shrimp (2 lbs; de-veined and peeled)
- Cabbage (Half a head of a large cabbage)
- Carrots (3-4 big carrots)
- 1 pack of Plain baked tofu (Furama brand is one my mom always uses. Make sure it's plain baked tofu. The other ones are too salty for this dish)
- Canned sliced bamboo (1 can)
- 1 pack of Spring roll pastry (our favorite brand is TYJ Spring Roll Pastry by Spring Home)
- Rice cooking wine
- Soy sauce
- White pepper
- Salt
- Sugar
- Wu xiang fen (五香粉)
- Corn starch (helps to soften the meat)
Recipe:
Prep work:
- Vegetable prep:
- Grate the carrots into small, thin strips
- For the cabbage, peel off the outside layers and wash. If it's a very large cabbage head, cut it in half and wash. Remove the stem.
- Slice the cabbage into thin strips. The length of it should be about 2-3 inches. They will shrink when cooked.
- Drain and slice the bamboo into thin strips (you can cut these in half if you want)
- Tofu prep:
- Slice the tofu into thin strips, about the same length as the bamboo strips.
- Ground pork prep:
- In a bowl with the ground pork, mix together 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice cooking wine, 1 teaspoon corn starch, and some sprinkles of white pepper and wu xiang fen. Set aside.
- Shrimp prep:
- Chop shrimp into small pieces.
Cooking:
- On medium heat, add vegetable oil into the wok.
- First stir fry the cabbage until cooked but not too soft. Add just enough salt to flavor the cabbage. You'll have to figure out exactly how much salt by tasting it.
- Remove and place into a large pot. Depending on the size of the wok, you may need to stir fry the cabbage in two rounds.
- Add more vegetable oil into the wok, now stir fry the carrots. Again, add just enough salt to add flavor, to taste.
- Remove and place into the large pot with cabbage in it.
- Add some vegetable oil and the chopped white parts of the green onion into the wok. Then add the ground pork. Since the ground pork has corn starch in it, the meat will clump naturally. You'll need to break it up into smaller pieces again. (My mom uses chopsticks first until the meat is cooked, then switches back to a spatula to continue breaking it up.)
- Add some soy sauce, rice cooking wine, and sugar to the meat, also to taste.
- Cover up the wok and let it cook for a bit more over low heat (about 3-5 minutes.)
- Once the ground pork is cooked, add it to the pot with everything else.
- Add more vegetable oil to the wok, then stir fry the tofu. Add a little bit of water and some soy sauce, to taste. Cover with a lid and let it cook for 5 minutes to soak in the flavor.
- Add in the sliced bamboo to the wok and stir fry together. Remove and add to the big pot.
- Add more vegetable oil and the rest of the chopped green onions to the wok, then cook the shrimp. Add salt (no soy sauce this time).
- Towards this step, turn on low heat for the big pot and mix up the mixture inside to let cook. Add the shrimp in, mix and let cook until it starts simmering. This is when you can adjust the flavor by adding salt, soy sauce or sugar. Make sure the cabbage are cooked soft enough too!
- Serve by wrapping the filling in the spring roll wraps. (Tips below)
Tips on how to prepare your spring roll:
- The spring roll wraps dry out easily. Keep them "hydrated" by putting them on a plate between two moist paper towels.
- For the filling, we use two spoons to make sure we squeeze out as much liquid as possible, since the wraps are very delicate and tear easily.
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