Baked Shrimp Spring Rolls

To begin, you’ll need the ginger, garlic, and scallions. These three ingredients will be essential for creating the flavor profile for the spring rolls and the stir-fry. They’re used so often that chefs commonly just say “GGS.” Begin by finely mincing the ginger and garlic. Thinly slice the scallions. Once these ingredients are cut, combine them together in a small bowl and set aside.

Next, gather the ingredients for the spring roll filling. The chef and I decided to make some shrimp and mixed vegetable spring rolls. For these we used carrots, Chinese cabbage (you can substitute with nappa if desired), and some cooked shrimp. You can also substitute shrimp with cooked pork, beef, or chicken.

We julienned the carrots and cabbage. The chef taught me that to “julienne” means to thinly slice your food product to resemble match sticks. If you don’t feel comfortable cutting the vegetables yourself, you can chop your vegetables in a food processor. Alternatively, you can buy pre-cut veggies at the store, just be sure that they are all cut the same size so that they cook evenly. Once the veggies are cut, combine the GGS (ginger, garlic, scallions) mixture with your carrots and cabbage. Mix thoroughly.

De-shell and roughly chop the cooked shrimp. You’re looking to have the pieces be small enough that they won’t bust the wrapper, but big enough that they don’t turn into paste. Around 4-6 cuts per shrimp seemed to work well.

Toss together your shrimp and veggies.

For the marinade, combine 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup mild vinegar. We used sugar cane vinegar because we had a big bottle, but you can also use rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar.

Pour the marinade into the spring roll filling. Toss to coat.

Whisk together two eggs in a small bowl (we’ll use this to seal the spring rolls). Now for the fun part! Lay a wonton wrapper on a cutting board. (We found these at the store for 3-4 dollars.) Spoon some of the mixture onto one end of the wrapper. Note: if the mixture is too wet, hold the filling on the side of the bowl to let the soy sauce mixture drain off – if it’s too wet in the spring roll, it will probably leak out while baking.

Roll the wrapper tightly halfway.

Fold over both sides of the wrapper to make a pocket like below.

Paint the edge with the whisked eggs (we used our fingers). Don’t throw out the leftover whisked eggs, as you’ll be using these for the chicken and broccoli later on.

Roll the spring roll tightly until it’s fully sealed and transfer to a greased cookie sheet.

We ended up having two extra wonton wrappers, so I asked my hubby if we could make a dessert roll. His eyes lit up and said “Ooo – we can make a banana spring roll!” Let me tell you, this was an amazing idea! For the banana spring rolls, make a sweet mixture: 2 teaspoons brown sugar, 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon sugar. Put this on the spring roll and top with half a banana. Roll these the same way you sealed the spring rolls.

Finally, brush the spring rolls and banana spring rolls with olive oil.

Cook these in a 420 degree oven for 12-14 minutes (or until brown and heated through).

Serve while hot 😉