Recipe: hoisin chicken eggrolls.

(heavily adapted from a recipe that appeared in Gourmet magazine)
I'm not a big fan of eggrolls at most places... something about mystery fillings just bother me. So when the girlfriend was in the mood for some, I decided to make my own. This recipe started as a mu shu recipe from Gourmet magazine, but I think lends itself well to this super easy take on eggrolls. And trust me, they're way better than you'll get at your local chinese takeout joint.

HOISIN CHICKEN EGGROLLS

Ingredients
1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1 (16-oz) bag coleslaw mix
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 packages of eggroll wrappers
2 1/2 to 3 cups coarsely shredded cooked chicken, without skin (from a 2-lb rotisserie chicken)

Preparation
(I like to begin by mixing about a tablespoon worth of soy sauce, another tablespoon of teriyaki, a teaspoon worth of fish sauce, and a pinch of salt into the chicken and stirring it around until the chicken has absorbed everything. Then just set the chicken aside covered with plastic wrap until you need it later. You're more than welcome to skip this step though.)
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook eggs, stirring, until just cooked through. Transfer scrambled eggs to a plate. Add remaining 3 tablespoons oil to skillet and heat until hot but not smoking, then cook garlic and red pepper flakes, stirring, until garlic is golden, about 1 minute. Add coleslaw mix and 2 tablespoons water and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until coleslaw is wilted, about 5 minutes.

Stir together soy sauce, sesame oil, remaining 2 tablespoons water, and hoisin sauce in a small bowl. Add to coleslaw mixture along with eggs and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place about a spoon full worth into each eggroll wrapper, fold and seal with water. Deep fry in enough hot oil to submerge until golden brown. Serve with additional hoisin or soy sauce, and enjoy!



From there you can edit them as much as you like - last time we made them we added some leftover corn niblets to the mix and they turned out better than ever. So experiment with it all you want. And if you do try the recipe, please come back and let me know what you thought!