Everybody loves to eat spring rolls (aka egg rolls in America) and while you can buy pre-made spring rolls easily, in my opinion it always tastes better when you make it yourself at home. Not only that, you get to decide exactly what ingredients go into it. 

Nowadays in Australia, you can find frozen spring roll pastry that are Made in Malaysia – they might be labelled as Kulit Popiah (ie. spring roll skin in Malay) and they’re vegan friendly, so have a look in the freezer section of your local Asian grocery store next time you go shopping.

Here are six of my ideas on how to use Malaysian spring roll pastry – 3 savoury and 3 sweet – plus an extra suggestion on what to do with any leftover spring roll skin. I thought of a few more after I shot this video, so if you want to stay up-to-date with my recipes and tips, don’t forget to sign up at MalaysianChefs.com/Recipes

I’ve listed the ingredients I used for the video in this article but note that nothing is closely-measured (at all – I’m the queen of agak-agak), so feel free to adapt and adjust according to your own preferences and what you have on hand:

1. Vegan/Vegetable Spring Rolls – 

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups mung bean noodles, soaked & strained

1/3 cup carrot, shredded

1/3 cup mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup beansprouts

1 stalk spring onion, sliced

To fry –

1/4 cup onion, diced

2 TBSP cooking oil

1 TBSP miso paste

Dash of pepper

2 tsp mushroom seasoning or soya sauce

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp tapioca starch + 2 tsp water

To wrap, place 3 TBSP filling in the middle of the wrapper, roll up, seal and deep-fry at 170C until browned.

2. Samosas – 

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced 

1 TBSP ginger, minced

4 TBSP curry powder (preferably Malaysian)

4 TBSP cooking oil

500g minced beef

2 cups potatoes, diced

2 TBSP chicken powder or other seasoning

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

To wrap, fold into triangle, brush with egg wash, fill & seal. Fry until browned, remove, cool slightly then serve

3. Mini spring rolls – 

INGREDIENTS:

500g minced meat

1 TBSP oyster sauce

Dash of pepper

1/2 onion, diced

1 stalk spring onion, sliced

1 TBSP sesame oil

1 TBSP chicken powder or 1 tsp salt

1 egg white

2 tsp tapioca starch

To wrap, cut spring roll sheets into 4 squares, place 2 tsp filling in the middle, roll up tightly, fold in the sides, seal then deep-fry at 170c until done.

4. Cream Cheese & Pineapple –

INGREDIENTS:

250g cream cheese, softened/mashed

1 TBSP caster sugar

1/4 cup pineapple, cut into chunks

2 TBSP icing sugar for dusting

To wrap, cut spring roll wrappers into 4 squares, spread with cream cheese, top with pineapple followed by more cream cheese, roll up, seal, then fry until done. Serve sprinkled with icing sugar.

5. Durian – 

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups durian pulp

2 TBSP sugar

1/4 tsp salt

To wrap, fold pastry into triangle pouch, fill with cooked durian filling, seal and deep-fry until done.

6. Banana –

INGREDIENTS:

2 bananas, sliced

2 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP butter

Chocolate sauce for drizzling (optional)

Spread some butter on the wrapper, place sliced bananas on top, sprinkle with white, brown or palm sugar, fold up then bake or fry until done.

7. Crispy topping

Use up leftover spring roll wrappers by slicing them thinly, then deep-frying oil until crispy. You can optionally season them with a dash of ikan bilis powder, chicken powder or mushroom seasoning. Allow to cool, then store in an airtight container and use as a crispy topping in congee and other dishes.

So there you have it, these are just some quick ideas to get you started, but of course, there are all kinds of filling you can use for these spring roll pastries. Don’t forget to sign up at MalaysianChefs.com/Recipes so I can send you more tips and recipes based on this series and more.

The post 7 Ways To Use Spring Roll Wrappers (Kulit Popiah) first appeared on Jackie M..

The ingredients listed in this recipe reflect my go-to options, since they’re readily available in my pantry; feel free to adapt to your own situation, and definitely treat this as one of those “fridge clear-out” type dishes where you can throw in any variety of leftover spam, chicken, ham and vegetables etc. depending on whether you want to build it into a substantial meal in itself, or serve it as a side dish. Fun fact – the Thai version, from what I’ve seem, adds some curry spices to the dish – this is something you might want to try as well.

Pineapple Fried Rice

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup pineapple, cut into chunks
2 cups cooked white rice
2 Tbsps dried shrimp (soaked and minced) – optional
2 tsps minced garlic
1 tsp chicken powder
½ tsp white pepper
½ tsp fish sauce (alternatives – soya sauce, Ayam seasoning sauce)
½ tsp sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsps oil

Garnishings – cucumber slices, chillies, spring onion.

METHOD:

1. Heat wok until it starts to smoke, then drizzle oil in it.
2. Break eggs into wok, spread it out and remove when it’s still runny. Set aside.
3. Add more oil, heat until smoking hot.
4. Add rice and spread it out to make sure it heats evenly.
5. Add garlic and fry until aromatic/lightly browned. Add more oil as needed, but in small amounts, drizzling around the perimeter of the food.
6. Add dried shrimp and toss well. Add pineapple and cook a further minute or so.
7. Add all other seasoning ingredients, stir and cook until rice is light and dry, drizzling oil as needed.
8. Add eggs and fold into mixture. Remove from heat once egg mixture is cooked through, garnish with cucumber, sliced chillies and spring onion, and serve.

NB. When cooking fried rice, remember to adjust the heat as you go along, so you don’t end up with a risotto on one end of the spectrum, and burnt rice on the other.

The post How to Cook Pineapple Fried Rice first appeared on Jackie M..