Ground pork is probably one of the mostly used ingredients for my cooking. It's so easy to incorporate into various dishes ranging from Asian to western, appetizers to entrées. This time, I'm going to take my old ground pork stir fry recipe and create a new dish that can serve as a side dish or even party appetizers!
Egg rolls with bean sprouts and your favorite type of ground pork stir fry -
Ingredients (for each roll)?
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon of chopped scallion
- 2 teaspoons of water
- 1 sheet of dry rice paper
- Some sea salt
- Some white pepper powder
- Some olive oil
- Your choice of Asian style ground pork stir fry
Some ground pork stir fry suggestions:
Ground pork stir fry with Chinese pickled mustard greens 酸菜肉末
Ground pork stir fry with spicy garlic chives 辣炒韮菜豬絞肉
Ground pork stir fry with dried radish 蘿蔔干炒肉末
Thai style ground pork stir fry 打拋豬肉
How?
I've listed some ground pork stir fry recipes from the past where you can utilize in this egg rolls recipe. Meat choice can be substituted with round chicken or ground beef, but the higher fat content from the pork works better here, offering tenderer and juicier bites for the egg rolls.
Rice paper can be found in Asian grocery stores. Don't be fooled by its dry and fragile appearance, this rice paper can transform into soft and sticky wrappings when in contact with moisture.
Just prepare a large bowl of water, hold the rice paper on the side and quickly dip into the water. The rice paper will soon starts to soften and look almost like the non-fried spring roll wrapper served at a Vietnamese restaurant. You can also cover the dry rice paper with a damped towel and let it softens slowly while preparing other ingredients in the meantime.
Discard the bottom stems from the scallion and chop the remaining. Pick out and discard the thinner, drier parts of the bean sprouts -
Bring a pot of water to a boil and sprinkle some salt into the water. Add the previously prepared bean sprouts and cook for about 2 minutes. Make sure to bring the water to a boil during the process. Once done, drain well and shock the sprouts with ice cold water. Drain again when the temperature drops completely (when the bean sprouts feel cold) and set aside for later use.
Break two eggs into a bowl, add in one to two tablespoons of chopped scallion, two teaspoons of water, small pinch of salt, and just a tiny bit of white pepper powder. Beat well till slightly fluffy.
Drizzle about one tablespoon of olive oil into a medium flat and non-stick surfaced pan. Turn to medium high heat and pour in the egg mixture. Swirl the pan so the mixture can evenly coat the bottom of the pan. Don't stir fry the egg, just let it sear peacefully in the pan. Gently separate the eggs from the bottom of the pan by sticking a spatula under and around the edges.
Try to cook the eggs till the very bottom has been cooked while the top still runny. Top the eggs with moist rice paper and press it down, helping the rice paper to bind with semi-runny egg mixture. Carefully flip the egg to the other side and cook the rice paper. Remember to press it down with a spatula to make sure the mixture sticks well with the rice paper.
Transfer the egg wrap to a big plate or onto a chopping board, let it cool down for few minutes.
Add a thin layer of bean sprouts onto the egg wrap -
Then add a thin layer of ground pork stir fry on top of the bean sprouts -
Roll up the egg wrap tightly. I was too greedy the first round as you can see some spilled meat here and there..ok I meant everywhere.
Give the egg roll a few chops, about 1 to 1.5 inches in width.
The key here is making sure to roll up the ingredients tightly. However, you can always use a decorated toothpicks or skinny forks to keep the rolls together, which actually looks great when served as party appetizers!
Afternoon tea, or high tea in a fancier way is very popular in Taiwan. In fact, that's where I got the habit of pampering myself with tiers of sweet and savory treats during afternoon hours. Every little item on the plate is carefully created to please not only your palate, but also your eyes. Unfortunately, there aren't that many high tea selections in Southern California so I was thrilled when finding out about this place in West Hollywood.
Boxwood Café is located inside a boutique hotel called The London West Hollywood, crafted by a renowned British chef Gordon Ramsay. You might heard of him on the TV shows Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares.
Afternoon tea is only available daily from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. There are mixed reviews about this café on the Internet, but I just have to give it a try myself.
Maybe partly affected by the online reviews and partly due to the lack of "high tea" frenzy crowds like me, there weren't that many people on a weekend afternoon. However, I do enjoy a quiet and peaceful time with my friend at the Boxwood Café. The decor and furniture selection made me felt cozy and comforting. However, it also carries a certain degree of luxury and modern touch in a subtle way instead of shouting out "Look, we come with hefty price tags!"
Our seat was next to the windows where we can overlook the quiet WeHo neighborhood hidden behind fancy shops and restaurants on the street.
Service here was wonderful, our waiter stopped by several times during the short 2-hour time frame checking on our needs.
Afternoon tea menu was $28 per person and $40 with one glass of champagne (Schramsberg, blanc de blancs brut, North Coast). We skipped the sparkling wine and picked our tea instead - Rose with French vanilla, natural rosehip with hibiscus.
Ah I missed you so -
Top tier comes with freshly baked scones with plain and black currant flavors. Served with Devonshire cream and lemon curd. Second tier comes with tea sandwiches with curry chicken and golden raisins flavor, egg and watercress. There are also some canapés including smoked salmon and cucumber, hummus spread toasts. The bottom tier comes with honey madeleines, l'opera cakes, apple crumble, fresh fruit tarts, and lemon meringue bars.
Supposedly there's a certain sequence to enjoy different tiers of food. I personally don't really care about that, just go ahead and grab whichever one you want to enjoy the most at the moment!
You can tell that Boxwood Café really put in some effort in all these miniature items instead of just assemble all the components like a factory line. The flavors were all there despite their petite sizes and every individual dish can stand on its own. Even now I still remember the tastes from my curry chicken sandwich. The curry wasn't too over-powering and matches well with hearty bread. It'll be nice if they offer that quadrupled the size during regular lunch hours.
And the meringue was just too cute to be eaten. They look like clouds floating in the sky!
Online reviews might not be too welcoming for Boxwood Cafe's regular dining selections. However, compared to most of the high tea places in SoCal, I think Boxwood did a pretty good job on their afternoon tea offerings. I would definitely come back every time when the café changes their high tea menu!
Cindy's rating: 7
Boxwood Café at The London
1020 North San Vicente Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone: (310) 358-7788
Email: grlwh@thelondon.com
Website: http://www.thelondonwesthollywood.com/gordonRamsay/boxwoodCafe-en.html
Opening hours:
Breakfast -
Monday to Friday 6:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Saturday to Sunday 7 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Weekend brunch -
Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Lunch -
Daily from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
*Afternoon tea -
Daily from 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Note: Valet costs differ depending on if you're here for dinner, afternoon, etc. Don't ask me, I have no idea why they do that.
The London - West Hollywood
Website: http://www.thelondonwesthollywood.com/gordonRamsay/
