Chicken and cabbage spring rolls

August 12, 2008
Filed under Asian cooking

For last Saturday’s dinner with my husband’s family, the menu, as originally planned, was supposed to include lumpiang ubod. We had announced it to the would-be guests and the balikbayans were excited. Now, we had been buying our (clean and super tender) ubod from The Landmark at TriNoma so, on Friday, I was there an hour after the supermarket opened so I could pick the choicest pieces. Then, disaster struck. No ubod. Did they move it to another section? I asked a supermarket attendant who consulted with her supervisor. There has been no ubod for several weeks already.

My immediate decision was to make some Vietnamese spring rolls instead. But my husband, Speedy, wanted the garlicky salty-sweet sauce that traditionally goes with lumpiang ubod so I decided to simply substitute shredded cabbage for the ubod. And that was what we served.

Why chicken and not pork? Because, for health reasons, my mother-in-law is banned from eating red meat.

Makes 20 spring rolls.

Ingredients :

20 pcs. herbed spring roll wrappers
400 g. of chicken thigh fillets, thinly sliced
half a head of garlic, minced
4 shallots, finely sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
120 g. of Baguio beans, trimmed and sliced on the diagonal
1 large head of cabbage, cored and finely shredded
3 to 4 tbsps. of cooking oil
salt
pepper

Place the cut chicken in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Heat the cooking oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the seasoned chicken and stir fry over high heat until no longer pink. Add the garlic and shallots; cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the Baguio beans and grated carrot; cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes. Add the shredded cabbage, stir, season with salt and pepper. Continue stir frying until the cabbage softens, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Place a colander over a bowl and pour the cooked spring rolls filling into the colander to drain well. Wet filling will ruin spring rolls. Allow to cool to room temperature. Normally, by the time the filling cools, it has sufficiently drained too. So, just leave it there for an hour or so.

To assemble, place a heaping tablespoonful of filling along the center of a wrapper. Lift the edge nearest you and fold to cover the filling. Lift the left and right edges and fold inward to cover the edge first folded. Roll the spring roll away from you to tuck and seal.

To make serving easier and less messy, cut out 20 3″x3″ inch pieces of wax paper. Place an assembled spring roll on a piece of wax paper, the exposed edge of the wrapper facing down and touching the wax paper. Lift the sides of the wax paper to mold to the shape of the spring roll. Arrange the spring rolls on a platter and cover with cling film until ready to serve.

For the sauce (served on the side):

1 c. of water
1/4 c. of soy sauce
1/3 c. of white sugar
1 tbsp. of tapioca (or corn) starch
1 tsp. of grated garlic

Mix all the ingredients together and cook over medium heat until clear and thick. Double or triple, as necessary.

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Comments

3 Comments on "Chicken and cabbage spring rolls"

Aggie on Tue, 12th Aug 2008 10:50 am

Hi Connie,

Your family can still enjoy (lean) pork because it’s actually the other white meat.

Connie on Tue, 12th Aug 2008 10:54 am

We do, Aggie, except for my mom-in-law.

jinky on Mon, 15th Sep 2008 11:15 am

Hi Ms. Connie,
I made the chicken and cabbage spring rolls yesterday and it was really good, I gave some to my aunt and kapitbahay and they both liked it. I told them that I got the recipe from your site. Little did they know that I was having a hard time making those crepes. Its because I dont have a non stick pan, and I really wanted to make those spring rolls ( I didnt listen to your advise hehe..)so what I did was substitute the non stick pan for a “kaldero” cover. Heated it and wipe some oil using the pastry brush. (I’ve heard before that they used it for making lumpia wrapper, so I experimented) At first, I had a hard time and after a couple of wasted crepes I was able to made 9 crepes. I made a second batch coz there was still some fillings left, I did it without a hitch this time. I think its time for me to buy a non-stick pan, coz this recipe will surely be on our table from time to time..Thanks, Ms. Connie..sorry for making this long, I really wanted to tell you my experience..thanks again.