Duck Spring Rolls, Sweet Chilli Hoisin Dipping Sauce

Greasy spring rolls from the Chinese takeaway may become a thing of the past once you have tried my version. Now I'm not planning to send my dinner off to a lab for calorific analysis, but I'm pretty sure these spring rolls are quite healthy. I managed to get a whole bag of supermarket prepared stir-fry veg into just four spring rolls and according to the blurb on the bag, this is two of my five a day. If you use my technique of sealing the spring rolls with flour paste, very little oil gets inside and they were super crispy but not greasy at all. With this justification at the forefront of my mind, I scoffed the lot.  Really easy to prepare, it took me just 10 minutes to make up the spring rolls and a few minutes more to fry…it's got to be worth go right….?

Ingredients:

6 Spring roll wrappers - you can get these frozen from Chinese stores

1 bag of ready prepared stir fry vegetables

A knob of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

A clove of garlic - peeled and chopped

1 tbsp of soy sauce

A handful of shredded duck, chicken, pork or whatever you fancy

Vegetable oil for frying

2 tbsp hoisin sauce from a jar

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp flour

Method:

Add a tbsp of oil to a frying pan and get on a really high heat - you need to cook away any water that comes out of the vegetables so make sure the pan is smoking hot. Quickly fry the ginger and garlic and when just starting to colour add the vegetables, stir frying until softened. Add the duck and soy sauce, and bubble away to nothing. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool. 

If your spring roll wrappers are frozen you can sometimes get a knife between the sheets and carefully ease off 5 or 6 in a lump. You can then put the rest back in the freezer for another day. I stated six spring roll wrappers on the ingredients list as sometimes when you separate the sheets, you tear a few - I only used four.

Make a thick paste (think wall paper paste) from the flour and a little water. Now take a spring roll wrapper. Place 1/4 of the duck mix along one edge leaving an inch or so clear each side. Tightly roll up half way. Rub a little flour paste along both side edges and along the edge furthest from you. Fold the sides in then continue to roll up completely using a little more flour paste to seal any open edges. I'm not sure I need to describe what the finished product should look like - a spring roll, clearly! Repeat for the other three spring rolls and set aside.

Heat your deep fat fryer to 180c or put about an inch of oil in a deep pan. If using a pan you can tell the oil is hot enough by dropping in a little bit of bread - it should cook to golden in about a minute. Fry off the spring rolls (in batches if necessary) until golden and crispy.  Drain on kitchen roll.

While frying, mix the hoisin with the chilli sauce and a little water. Have a taste. All shop bought sauces vary in flavour so try adding a little honey or lime juice to correct the dipping sauce to your taste. Tuck in.