Shrimp Egg Rolls with Cucumber Sauce

I had wanted to make these for a long time. If you like this, you may like another eggroll recipe without seafood. This is another one of those recipes adapted from my fave, Giada de Laurentiis from the Foodnetwork that does a lot of Italian and Californian style recipes. I keep a bag of jumbo shrimp in my freezer, mostly for when I have guests over or want to make something that looks fancy fast. Ok, this recipe is not a fast one. It takes some time to chop and roll. With the hang of it it gets faster. I made these for T & G for dinner last Sunday and the words 'very impressed' were used, by T, which means more than when coming from G (doesn't take much to impress that one ;)

I started with the sauce because as with most sauces the longer is marinates together in the 'fridge the better it tastes when time comes to devour it. 

Cucumber Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonaise 

4'' piece of cucumer diced finely

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp chilli sauce (the kind I used has extra garlic in it)

Blend these ingredients well and cover with plastic wrap or in a tupperware and store in the fridge until ready to use.

Shrimp Egg Rolls

18 egg roll wrappers (premade is the way to go here)

2 shallots

2 cloves garlic

1 carrot

3/4 lb (500 grams) shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined

1 cup of mixed mushrooms (I used shitake and black flower fungus)

1 cup lightly cooked bean thread noodles

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs fish sauce or oyster sauce

peanut oil for frying 

1.) Finely chop the onion, garlic and carrot as best you can. Add to a larg bowl.

2.) Prepare the shrimp, chop them, chunky, not too small. Add to the vegetable mixture.

3.) Chop the mushrooms also a bit smaller than the shrimp but not as small as the vegetables. This all goes more easily with the help of a food processor, but if like me you do not have one, this is not impossible, just time consuming. My mushrooms were in the dried form, so this step required soaking in hot water for about 20 minutes before chopping. Add to the mixture.

4.) Add the soy sauce, sugar, and fish sauce to the mixture and blend well.

5. ) Now that the mixture is ready to roll, set up your rolling area so that you have everything you need in close proximity. You may want to roll the egg rolls and lay them flat on a baking sheet until ready to fry. Have a small bowl of water on hand for dipping your fingers in and wetting the ends of the wrapper when ready to close, have the bean thread noodles, drained, cooled and possible chopped into 2'' or otherwise manageable lengths. and as you can see from my picture of course, coffee.

6.) Starting with an egg roll with the point facing toward you, like a diamond, place a heaping tablespoon of the shrimp and veggie mixture in the middle of the square. Add a few of the bean thread noodles on top. Don't over do it, you'll need to wrap this soon, but you'll figure out the best amount as you go.

7. Roll tightly the first half up. Tuck in the two sides. On the last triangle, dab some water on the tip with your fingers and finish the rolling. The water keeps the roll 'glued' together. Place on the baking sheet with the closed side down (this gives it some time to firm the seal).

8.) When almost ready to serve, heat the peanut oil in a large pot or a deep saucepan. You will want just enough oil to almost cover one egg roll dropped in, not much more. The deeper the pot or saucepan the less likely it is for you to get splattered with hot oil. When the oil is hot enough, an eggroll will take only about 20-30 seconds to brown. You may have to gently flip the egg roll to the other side if it is not completely submerged in oil. This part goes relatively quickly.

9.) Return to the baking sheet and drain on top of paper towels for several minutes.

10.) Transfer to a serving dish or plates and serve with the cucumber dipping sauce.