Chinese Spring Rolls- with Thai Peanut Sauce

Meeting with like-minded people has its own charm, you have all the topics in the world to discuss and binge upon. Especially when it comes to ladies and on top of it Food-Bloggers, forget about a second’s peace in the room. The same thing happens when us, the 4 Bloggers’ buzz girls meet together. Whenever we meet, its end-less chatting over every damn thing in this world, food being just a small part of it. Time just seem to flies away, when we sit down together and talk Business and other random stuff. 

So last weekend, all 4 of us got together to attend this Food media event where different Brands from food industry had got together to showcase their new  products. Amidst looking at different brands, we chatted and patted each other for doing good job at BB 2013 ( Yes, we do that a lot, self-motivation it’s called ! ) So yeah, apart from being fun, it was very heavy too since we carried home a load of Samples from the event, some to review and some to enjoy. One such Sample was from Farrington Oil company, a bottle of Mellow Yellow Rapeseed oil. 

Now I have this weird habit of trying different brand in oil and mixing and matching it with various cuisines. And then deriving my own conclusions about which oil suits which Cuisine the best. And hence, I had tried rapeseed oil before, and I pretty much liked it. It has a neutral sort of taste, which blends easily with the food. I have tried it with Curries and there it replaces the usual Olive oil  very well. Plus some stir fries as well, since it has that nutty taste  as sesame oil, very subtle but still there. Must be the effect of the cold-pressing method they use to extract oil which preserves the natural flavours and the mellow taste. The name seems all apt for the smooth texture and neutral taste :)

Although I never tried this oil for deep frying, I knew that it can be used for the purpose due to its high smoke-point. So when I got this bottle to use, the first thing I did was to deep fry some Spring Rolls. The taste was pretty much neutral, although you can taste that distinct fragrance of rapeseed, which in my case was a good thing. The rolls didn't absorb too much of oil, and hence were light and crispy. I am now very much intrigued to try this oil in any of my rice dishes, since so far I only like Mustard oil and Sesame oil for savoury rice dishes. 

Coming to the recipe for today which is Chinese Spring rolls, S asked me why have I named it as Chinese Spring rolls since  spring rolls are officially Chinese and there is no other variety of these fried bugs anyway. Now, I can’t tell him that I have named it like that since in Delhi we do get a whole range of Spring rolls starting from Thai to Bombay spring rolls which actually are different from each other. So just to prove him wrong I did some research and dug out some articles which state that yes there are other Countries which do these rolls and there is a variety in this. Phew! Such a big work to get your husbands convinced on something. You can’t afford them to prove you wrong , at least I can’t :P

I wouldn’t have tried this recipe, if it wasn’t for any challenge or event. So this one goes to Jagruti’s potluck party and the source is Nivedita's Blog here.  I am not too fond of deep fried foods, neither do I have caliber to stand in the kitchen and fry them all and then store the left over oil and then use that for roasting, shallow frying etc. I just hate the whole process, but that doesn’t mean I don’t do it. I have had a few deep fried goodies in my kitty, like this Khasta Kachori, Raj Kachori etc. And everytime I have had them, I promised myself not to eat any other deep fried stuff for at least 3 months which of course if forgotten and forgiven by my foodie soul soon. This time too, I am looking forward to keep the promise again ;)

What you need?
8-10 Spring roll wrappers 
Oil to deep fry

For stuffing: 
1 cup Mix vegetables chopped very fine - Carrot, Cabbage,  Beans, Corns, Bell Peppers etc. 
1/2 cup bean sprouts 
1 cup fresh egg noodles 
1 tbsp Soy sauce 
1 tbsp Vinegar
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp spring onion, chopped small
3-4 green chilies, chopped very small - optional 
1 tsp black pepper 
Salt to taste 
1 tsp Oil

How to Make?
Heat oil in a pan, fry ginger garlic paste, green chillies and spring onion for a minute.
Add all the vegetables and cook uncovered for 3-4 minutes, stirring them frequently. The texture should be crunchy and not soft hence dont cover the pan while cooking. 
When its all done, add soy sauce and vinegar and seasoning. Mix well and now add Egg Noodles, give a gentle stir and turn off the flame. 
Keep aside this stuffing till gets at room temperature, cold enough to be handled by bare hands. 

Once its OK to touch, heat the oil in a wok and keep it ready for frying
While the oil is getting hot, fill in the spring roll sheets with the stuffing, fold it well and keep in a plate
Deep fry each roll on a medium flame, careful not to burn them, serve immediately

I served these Spring rolls with Thai Peanut Sauce, sweet chili sauce and Mint sauce will also go well with this Chinese snack.

My Notes:
When chopping the vegetables, keep the size even and lengthwise. This will help in keeping the right texture and  even cooking
If folding the wrappers seems too difficult a task, simply fold the sheets in a Samosa shape for Chinese Samosas 
I have chosen the cheats way and used ready made frozen sheets for the snack, you may go ahead and prepare the cover from scratch. The recipe is available on Nivedita's blog here. 
Selection of vegetables totally depends on your choice, I havent stuffed in sweet corn. You may omit Egg noodles as well if you want, but I like the presence since it goes well with the crunch of the outer shell.

Look what I have brought to this Potluck Party so far, linking to the Jag's Pot luck party
 
Raj Kachori 
bottle Guard with Soya Nuggets
Thai Mushroom Soup 
Watermelon Carrot Juice 
Moong Dal Khasta Kachori
Summer Cous Cous Salad

** With a special thanks to Farrington Oil Co. for the bottle of Mellow yellow Rapeseed oil. 

 
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