You don't need me to remind you that Christmas is fast approaching. Last year, for the first time I can remember, there were no parties, no dinner guests - just lockdown. Let's hope this year more than makes up for that! I thought I would re-post a couple of my Christmas fusion dishes for you to experiment with now that you will be doing some seasonal entertaining again.
So, this weekend's recipe is my sweet mincemeat spring rolls. Yes, a sweet spring roll! Don't be
deceived, these sweet, deep fried parcels make a great alternative to traditional British mincemeat pies. They are a little smaller - maybe like me you struggle to finish a whole mincemeat pie - so there are fewer calories to pile one and I find that the soft, sweet mincemeat makes a great partner for the deep fried, slightly crunchy spring roll wrapper. I know that most people associate spring rolls with savoury foods but they really do work well with sweet flavours as well. (In my humble opinion, I think they work really well with mincemeat but you should be the judge of that.) I made my mincemeat at home with less sugar and (vegetable) suet than the mincemeat you can buy in the shops but with a tangier taste (more zest and lemon/orange juice). Use shop bought mincemeat by all means if you prefer. If you make the mincemeat yourself, my advice is to let it rest for at least a couple of hours once you've mixed all the ingredients together so that the flavours can develop. You can store any leftover mincemeat in a sterilised jar in the fridge.
You can buy spring roll wrappers at any Asian store. (Tip: The wrappers do sometimes unravel when they're fried so I use water and cornflour to stick them closed rather than just water alone - the cornflour makes for a nice gummy seal.) If the odd wrapper still refuses to behave itself and unravels in the pan, just use chopsticks to hold it and it will some stick together again.
I made up enough mincemeat for about 75 rolls. (Party time - yippee!) If you don't want to make such a large batch at one go, then, as I said above, just pop the mincemeat in the fridge in a sterilised jar and it will keep for a week or two. Any unused spring roll wrappers can also be wrapped in clingfilm and refrozen. On the other hand, you could make up more rolls than you need and pop half in the freezer to deep fry later.
Your sweet spring rolls won't take long to deep fry - just a minute or two. When they are a nice, light golden colour, remove from the pan and rest either on a rack or a square of kitchen paper for a few minutes to cool. (Don't be tempted to eat them straight out of the pan or you'll burn your tongue!)
If you want to try something that's deliciously different this Christmas, give these a go! Interested? You can find the recipe below. For the Youtube tutorial click Sweet Spring Rolls or scroll to the bottom of the page.
Happy Christmas cooking! Kurumi XXXX.
Sweet Spring Rolls.
ingredients:
(makes 25 rolls)
50 (12.5x12.5cm / 5 in) frozen spring roll wrappers
120g currants
120g sultanas
120g raisins
120g vegetable suet
1 medium apple, peeled & very finely chopped
75g dark brown sugar
zest & juice of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon & 1/2 juice
60ml port wine
1 tsp cornflour dissolved in 60 ml water
some vegetable oil for deep frying
a rack or some squares of kitchen paper for resring your spring rolls
how to:
to make the mincemeat:
combine all the dried fruit, finely chopped apple, sugar, suet, orange and lemon zest, port wine, lemon & orange juice in a bowl. mix well and set aside for at least 2 hours
place 1 tsp of mincemeat on the lower corner of a spring roll wrapper. brush the edges of the wrapper with the cornflour water mix to seal
take the lower corner and cover the mincemeat. fold the two side corners inwards, then roll from the bottom & seal tightly. repeat for however many rolls you wish to make
fill a pan with 1.5 - 2 cm / 1 in of veg oil & heat to 170 C.
deep fry the rolls until golden brown which will take about 1 - 2 minutes. don't put too many rolls in your pan at a time - you don't want them to stick to each other
rest each batch of spring rolls on a rack or kitchen paper
sprinkle with some icing sugar and serve immediately. like all spring rolls, these are at their best when freshly cooked.
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