Saturday, January 29, 2011

Egg Roll with many symbols for Chinese New Year

Do you know why spring rolls is one of the side dish for Chinese New Year? I just found out what its symbolic significance is. It symbolizes wealth because of it's somewhat similar appearance to a gold bar. So if you make spring rolls and put it on a bed of lettuce, you have both wealth and rising fortune because the Cantonese for lettuce, sang choi, sounds the same as "sang" for rising fortune. Wow!

So egg rolls, which uses egg for the skin, versus the bean curd skin of spring rolls, can be a nice side dish for Chinese New Year too. Why? Okay, let me see what I can make out of the recipe. The skin of eggs symbolizes fertility. The skin is yellow and that color symbolizes success and gold. There is chili inside and it is red so which is another, more generalized symbol of good fortune. Put a little sugar for rich and sweetness in life, and the addition of cornstarch makes the filling stick together for family togetherness, while the layers symbolize rising abundance. Last but not least, the sound of prawn in Cantonese is "ha" so many prawns inside becomes "hahahaha" and there will be lots of laughter too. (I made that up, haha) Chive for garnishing is perfect because it's sound in Cantonese is eternity. What do you think? Does egg roll qualify to be served as a Chinese New Year dish or not?



Ingredients:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
10 medium prawns, removed shell, deveined and minced
1 tbs chopped choy poh (preserved radish)
4 thinly diced chili or 1 thinly diced red chili 2 florets of black fungus, (soaked and thinly sliced)
¼ tsp ground white pepper
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp corn starch
4 chives for garnishing

Method:
Mix minced prawns, choy poh, pepper, sugar and corn starch. In a 6 in. pan, pour in egg enough to thinly cover the bottom of the pan and let it cook on medium heat. Remove cooked egg wrapper from pan and let it cool. Repeat till eggs are finished.

To assemble the rolls:
Place an egg wrapper onto your work surface with one corner pointing towards you. Place about 2 tablespoons of cooled filling in a heap onto the bottom third of the wrapper. Fold the bottom corner over the filling and roll firmly to the halfway point. Fold the left and right sides snugly over the roll, then continue rolling until the top corners seal the roll Repeat with remaining egg wrappers. Heat water in the steamer to boil and steam the rolls for 20 mins. Cut and arrange on a serving plate and garnish with chives.

29 comments:

  1. ohh i love this Quay Po can i have a plate?

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  2. Jess, Anytime, will you come if I invite you? hehe

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  3. These look so incredible! Can I leave out the shrimp? We have an allergy in our house so I can't use shrimp....I would still love to try making egg rolls though!

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  4. Lo-mo: You can use fish paste instead. So you leave out the laughters and put in "surplus" to everything! Fish in Cantonese is "YU" which means surplus!

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  5. Oh, I think I can taste this right now. The photos are fabulous. This would be fantastic and easy to make.

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  6. I have never made egg rolls before. This looks so delicious I am inspired to make too. Thanks very much for sharing.

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  7. Beautiful and looks so delicious.
    Happy Lunar New Year to you, Quay Po :)

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  8. Think I may have to change some contents here as I may have difficulty in finding the exact ingredients. I would really like to try this though and of course I will serve it with lettuce :) Diane

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  9. Love these any time of year, but almost happy new year!

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  10. They look amazing! The symbolism is so cool, Chinese culture is so interesting!

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  11. Happy New Year! I would eat this anytime, so yes I'd count it as a CNY dish!

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  12. I didnt know the significance of egg rolls too!:P Thanks for enlightening me and making me drooling over your egg rolls photos!

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  13. So many great symbolic meanings in this one dish! Definitely a fantastic addition to the Chinese New Year meal, I'd say. These spring rolls sound delicious. I love that you used shrimp. Surely more "ha ha ha" for me ;-)

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  14. I love this and need all the wealth, you can skip the fertilty since I am a mom of twins already. They look beautiful.

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  15. Not only do these rolls look amazing but your photos just blow me away!! Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

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  16. It's sto interesting to learn what everything symbolizes. The egg rolls look delicious, and your photography is amazing!

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  17. Nice post, it really interesting to read about symbolic significance of this dish. You make delicious dishes.

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  18. Wow, the dish holds so much significance.
    It looks very good, just like restaurant stuff. Very nice.

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  19. Love your deluxe egg roll and also of course definitely auspicious and fitting for Chinese New Year!

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  20. LOL, thats a nice proposal to put egg rolls forward as an official CNY dish! They look wonderful too!

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  21. Ron, Jacqueline, Mary, Diane, Rachel, Polwig, Ameena, Darlene, Swathi: Thanks for your comments. They always make my day.

    Ann, Belinda, High low, Jeannie, Wendy, Jen, crustabakes: Gong Xi Fa Cai to you all and please know I love your visits.

    lequan: I always look forward to your visits. I would love to laugh with you in person some day. Do you celebrate the Lunar year as well?

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  22. Wendy: Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your family. I have responded to you about the Bloggers get together event. Look forward to meet you in person. Thanks for your compliment.

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  23. Looks so beautiful and tasty!!! Love the photos too :)

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  24. My friend made egg-dumplings last year using egg (skin) as the wrapper and she says they resemble the tael :)

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  25. hi my dear, of course this qualifies as a new year dish! success yes! fortune i want! togetherness yes! fertility..hmmm....hey qp, you sound like feng shui master today!

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    1. Lena, I don't believe in Feng Shui but I sounded like one didn't I? LOL

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  26. Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your family! Thanks for sharing...Look delicious! want to try this out...what preserved radish you used...the sweet or the salty type..

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