Healthy Shrimp Spring Rolls

I’m not really sure if spring roll is the right name for this dish as I used eggroll wraps instead of the standard spring roll wrap.  I prefer to use them though as they are bigger and easier for me to roll up.  Regardless of what you call them, they are tasty and worth the rage!
Ingredients

1. 1 lb. Shrimp, peeled and deveined
2. 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
3. 1 T Ginger, minced
4. 1/2 t Pepper 
5. 1 T Sesame Seeds
6. 4 lb. package of coleslaw mix(the cabbage and carrot mix without any seasonings or dressings)
7. 1 Red Pepper, diced
8. 1 Egg Yolk
9. 1 Package of Egg Roll Wraps
10. Olive Oil
11. Salt to taste

Quick Directions

1. Heat olive oil in wok or frying pan, just enough to get a nice coat on the bottom of the pan.
2. Add shrimp and cook till done, making sure to stir often.
3. Remove shrimp and add oil if needed to get the same coverage as step 1.
4. Add coleslaw mixture, cook for 5-8 minutes.
5. Add red pepper, continue to cook another 3-5 minutes.
6. Add seasonings, cook another 2-4 mins.
7. Return shrimp to pan and toss everything together.
8. Place filling on wraps, brush bottom corner with egg wash, roll up.
9. Steam spring roll for 15-20 minutes.
10. Enjoy

Detailed Directions

There are 2 main parts to this dish, the filling, and the rolling.  I also made a Ginger Apricot Chutney at the same time to use as a sauce to go with the spring rolls.  You can click the link to that recipe if you would like to make it for these but anyways, back to the spring rolls.

Start by heating up your pan on medium high, add a small amount of olive oil, but you don’t need a whole lot, we want these to be healthy!  Once it is heated toss the shrimp in and cook in a rage.  They won’t take very long, about 2-3 mins on each side, they will also turn a nice pink/orange  color to let  you know as well.
A side note on shrimp.  Usually, you can purchase shrimp already deveined and peeled, but that doesn’t mean they are ready to go.  There will be bit of shell on the tail that needs to be pulled off as well as sometimes the legs and some shell will remain on the body of it, I pull all of these things off and rinse in cold water before cooking.  Lastly, you need to check that each vein has been removed, sometimes a little bit of the vein may still be there.  The vein will be on the outside, or the side that isn’t curling in, and can be cut out with a knife.

Once the shrimp is cooked, remove it from the pan, add a small amount of oil if needed and dump the coleslaw mix and red peppers into the pan.  Stir these constantly for 10-15 minutes.  Add the garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, pepper and salt(if you wish to leave the salt out you can).  Cook for a couple of minutes, making sure to fully incorporate your seasonings.  Remove from heat and return the shrimp to the pan, mix well and get ready to roll them up.

Start by laying the wrap out flat on your working surface.  Place about 2 tablespoons of filling on the top center of your wrap.

Dab or brush on some of the egg wash on the bottom corner of the wrap.  It doesn’t take very much, but is an important part of this roll as it will keep it from coming open.

Next roll it up. Start by rolling the top over your filling.  I like to tuck it under the filling once over.  Then keep rolling it another turn, fold the left and right side in, and then roll it all the way closed.  This may take some practice before you get it right, but once you get the hang of it, its pretty easy though time consuming if you ask me.

Once they are all wrapped up and ready to be cooked, it is time to steam them.  If you don’t have a steamer there are several ways to rig one up at home that will work almost as well.  One option is to place a metal colander inside of a large pot, place water in the bottom of the pot and the rolls inside the colander.  Another option would be to make large balls out of aluminum foil and place something like a metal pie plate on top of them.  Whatever you can rig up will work as long as it meets a few requirements, and those are that the items must be safe to use on the stove, the surface your rolls are on is above the water so that only the steam is interacting with your rolls, you can cover it and there is room between your lid and rolls.  Once you have something figured out, get the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, add the rolls in and cover.  Cook for 15-20 minutes.  Check every now and then to make sure that your steam hasn’t found a way to escape so that your pot doesn’t go dry.
Once they are done, your spring rolls are ready to be enjoyed.  You can serve them with something like the ginger apricot chutney, create something of your own, or just go with an already known favorite dipping sauce.

Substitutions and Variations

• You can replace the shrimp with another kind of meat or leave it out altogether and just have a veggie spring roll.  Lots of room for personal choice here.
• Follow all of the steps up to the steamer portion and instead fry them.  Cook to a nice golden brown color.  This is actually how I would prefer them but then its not as healthy and thus defeating the goal I set out to meet.
• Another alternative cooking method would be to place them in the oven.  This would work well also, but I don’t know exactly how long they would take as I haven’t tried it.  I would heat the oven to 350 and check every 5 minutes, looking for the wrap to get a nice golden brown color.  Since everything is cooked inside before it was rolled up, it will be done by the time the wrap is.

Rage on!