If you are not a fan of deep frying, try making these air fryer pork and vegetable spring rolls. They are absolutely wonderful and crispy good.
I recently made some deep fried vegetarian Chinese spring rolls with an online group of friends, and one of our members tried making them in an air fryer. I was totally intrigued. Besides, I had a lot of napa cabbage in my refrigerator.
These air fryer pork and vegetable spring rolls actually turned out to be pretty delicious! Yes, you can use your air fryer to make spring rolls and even crab rangoon without deep frying.
How to make air fryer spring rolls:
First, you stir-fry the filling ingredients. For these, I used ground pork, garlic, fresh ginger, shredded carrot, scallions, shredded napa cabbage, soy sauce, and rice wine (you can substitute dry sherry for the rice wine).
For the wrappers, I used TYJ spring roll wrappers, which can usually be found in the frozen food section of an Asian grocery store. They are nice and big and easy to fill and roll.
If you can't find them, you can use the egg roll/spring roll wrappers carried by most grocery stores. They are a little thicker and produce a bubbly surface on the egg rolls.
There are also Vietnamese rice paper spring roll wrappers, which are the kind that you dip in water and serve without cooking. They are usually filled with fresh vegetables, rice noodles, and sometimes pork, shrimp, or another protein. Do not use those (I learned the hard way).
To fill and fold the wrappers, place a wrapper on the counter, add about a 1/4 cup of the filling in the center and then roll the point facing you over the filling and the fold the sides of the wrappers toward the middle. Dip your finger in water and moisten the edges of the wrapper pointing away from you.
Roll the wrapper away from to to form a tight cyllinder.
These air fried spring rolls are also great as leftovers. I reheated them in my convection toaster oven at 350 degrees F, and they recrisped beautifully. In fact, they might have even better that deep fried ones as leftovers. If you don't have convection, a standard oven works great too.
Air frying takes a little longer than deep frying, plus, you have to cook them in shifts. Even so, they do stay hot and crispy if you place them in a 200 degree oven while cooking the rest.
I was able to fit 4 rolls at a time in my air fryer. While I haven't tried it, you could try setting it up with a rack to cook two layers at a time.
For comparison, here are some vegetable spring rolls I deep fried in a wok. They might be slightly more golden, plus, they do stay very hot while you are frying the rest, and you only have to fry them for about two to six minutes. Still, I hate throwing away 3 cups of oil.
If you'd rather fry these, you can heat about 3 cups of oil in a wok or medium skillet to 350 degrees F and fry them, turning as you go. They will cook faster in a wok. It's best to use your eyes to judge when they are done and remove them to a paper towel lined plate.
I served these spring rolls with a mixture of soy sauce, Chinese rice wine vinegar, and toasted sesame oil. You could also serve them with Chinese mustard and plum sauce, or whatever your favorite dipping sauce is.
Another look at the air fried version. What do you think?
Welcome to another Multicooker Monday. Our host, is Sue of Palatable Pastime. We post recipes made in Instant Pots, Crock Pots, air fryers, and other small kitchen appliances, so if you've purchased one of these and it's still in the box, be sure to check back on the third Monday of every month for tasty recipes.
Multicooker Monday October 2020:
Recipes using Small Kitchen Appliances
- Air Fryer Roasted Broccoli from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs from Making Miracles
- Kerala Beef Olarthiyathu- Pressure Cooker from Sneha’s Recipe
- Slow Cooker Shiitake Congee from Food Lust People Love
- Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce from Palatable Pastime
- Southern Pimento Cheese Crockpot Potato Soup from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
- Toaster Oven Turkey Schmaltz Cornbread from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
Air Fryer Pork and Vegetable Spring Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 3 scallions, sliced
- 3 cups shredded napa cabbage
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry
- 12 spring roll wrappers (wheat, not rice)
- Vegetable or peanut oil for brushing the egg rolls before air frying
Instructions
- Add the oil to a hot wok. If you are using a large skillet, add the oil to the cold pan and heat.
- Add the ground pork and cook, stirring, until the meat is cooked through.
- Add the garlic, ginger, carrot, scallions, and cabbage. Cook, stirring, until the cabbage wilts, about 3 minutes.
- Add the soy sauce and rice wine. Stir and remove from the heat.
- To fill and fold the wrappers, place a wrapper on a dry surface, add about a 1/4 cup of the filling in the center and then roll the point facing you over the filling and the fold the sides of the wrappers toward the middle. Dip your finger in water and moisten the edges of the wrapper pointing away from you.
- Roll the wrapper away from to to form a tight cyllinder.
- Lightly brush or spray the egg rolls with oil.
- Place the egg rolls in the basket of your air fryer and cook at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes, turning them halfway through. They should be golden and crispy.
Calories
216.03Fat (grams)
11.67Sat. Fat (grams)
3.47Carbs (grams)
14.91Fiber (grams)
1.15Net carbs
13.76Sugar (grams)
0.63Protein (grams)
12.02Sodium (milligrams)
163.18Cholesterol (grams)
36.72
Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes
Not only do I hate throwing away the oil but I hate cleaning up the mess after deep frying.
ReplyDeleteSame here! A wok really helps though if you actually have to.
DeleteOH GOD
ReplyDeleteHa ha!
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