The members of the Wild Things CSA Farm get to enjoy “baby cabbages” rather than a full head of cabbage when it’s in season. A baby cabbage is just about the right size for a meal and you don’t have all that cabbage left over to deal with for weeks on end (it seems like anyway). Last night for supper I fixed Sweet and Sour Pork with Brown Rice and these yummy cabbage rolls. A lot of people are afraid of using egg roll wrappers, but they are really not as scary as they seem.
The ingredients and preparation are as follows:
1 head baby cabbage (green), sliced into thin slices
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, grated
dash of soy sauce
dash of garlic powder
I used a pork chop left from supper the night before that I had put in the blender but you can use chicken or shrimp, or any kind of meat (I’ve never used beef, but I suppose it would be tasty). A vegetarian cabbage roll would be perfectly fine too, you could add tofu maybe…..
Saute’ all of these ingredients in either a wok or a frying pan until it’s all limp, but not quite done (it will finish cooking in the wrapper)
Take an egg roll wrapper and lay it out on a flat surface. I use a small bowl of water on the side to dampen my fingers then run them around the edges of the wrapper to moisten them. Put a heaping spoon of the cabbage mixture in the middle of the wrapper (about 1/4 cup or so). Fold the bottom third of the wrapper up over the cabbage and kind of tuck it in under the cabbage mixture then roll it all the way up and stick the top part of the wrapper to the roll. Take the ends and mash them till the wrapper seals together then fold them over towards the middle about 1/2″ or so and voila’, you have a cabbage roll! Roll all of them out; this recipe made 14 rolls. You can keep the extra wrappers in the fridge and use them later. They also freeze well.
Back to the rolls–heat up about 1/2-1″ oil in a wok or frying pan (I used the same one from the cabbage mixture, just wipe it out). If you use a wok it takes less oil. Place the rolls in the oil, a couple at a time, and turn them when the bottom side gets brown. It only takes a couple minutes to cook them. Drain on paper towels and serve with duck sauce, sweet and sour sauce, hot mustard, or whatever you choose.
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