Baked Ground Chicken Egg Rolls

Ah…. Asian food, we have a love hate relationship.  I just had to have a wok, and I am pretty sure it sat under my cabinet for a good 3 years before I so much as steamed vegetables in it.  One day I decided that it was time to show that wok what's what and I made a poor attempt at fried rice, yes, my poor wok is still stained from the burnt rice that managed to glue itself to the bottom of the pan.  So I have been playing around with Asian cooking for about a year now and I am telling you – this one is hard to get.  I just can’t get the flavors to come out right sometimes.

Then my husband and I came up with these… YUM!!!  These take about 30 – 40  minutes from start to finish but are well worth it.  They are crisp, healthy and amazingly delicious.  My favorite part is that you can freeze them for up to 3 months although ours have yet to make it past a few weeks.

Keep in mind, with all of my recipes (exception would be the baked goods) – you can add and subtract the flavorings that you love.  For example I adore garlic!!  I restrained myself and only used 5 cloves but I could have certainly had more.  Also, ginger is something that I have grown fond of so feel free to take this down to a single teaspoon instead of a full tablespoon if you prefer. 

These egg rolls would also be great with shrimp or you can omit the protein all together and have vegetarian eggrolls.  I haven't tried it yet, but I bet these would be precious as little appetizers in wonton wrappers for little mini eggrolls.  Sounds like I have my next appetizer!! 

Ingredients:
1 pkg. wonton wrappers
5 cloves of garlic (finely minced)
1 dried cayenne pepper (1/2 minced)
1/2 small onion (finely chopped)
4 1/2 oz ground chicken
1 small green cabbage
3 white button mushrooms
1 T (heaping) fresh minced ginger
4 1/2 T low sodium soy sauce
1 T sake
1 large carrot
Canola Oil

Directions:
Core the cabbage and chop in the food processor with the carrot.

Transfer cabbage, carrot and 1/2 of cayenne pepper (still whole) in wok with steamer basket, let steam for 15 – 20 min.  You want to cook it until the cabbage and carrots lose their brightness. 

While cabbage mixture is steaming - sauté onions in 2 T soy sauce with 2 cloves of garlic, dash of salt and pepper,1 T sake and 1/2 dried cayenne pepper in a separate pan. 
Once done put in separate bowl. Add 1 t canola oil to pan and add ground chicken to pan with a dash of salt and pepper.  Cook through until pink is gone.

Finely chop mushrooms
Remove whole cayenne pepper from cabbage mixture. 

Add cabbage mixture, mushrooms, chicken,  onions, the remainder of the garlic, ginger, and 2 1/2 T soy.

Squeeze the mixture in cheesecloth to remove all of the moisture (otherwise you will have soggy dumplings instead of egg rolls) put back in bowl.

Assemble:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Take a wonton sheet and brush with canola oil
Spoon 2 T of the cabbage and chicken mixture onto the center of the egg roll (as shown)
Take the the two outside corners of the egg roll and bring them to the middle
Then take the bottom of the egg roll and tightly roll it up, like a cigar
 
Place on cookie sheet and brush with more canola oil, lightly.
Cook until egg roll is a golden brown, rotate, brush with oil and continue cooking.
This should take about 20 minutes.

Ok. So if you want to freeze these you would halt at brushing them with oil and just put them directly on a cookie sheet in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours.  After they are frozen place them in a Ziploc baggie or some other air tight container and when you are ready for one – just pop it back onto a cookie sheet – brush with canola oil and bake at 375 degrees until a warm golden brown.

Enjoy!!