Crispy Spring Rolls with Asian Slaw
Crispy spring rolls often get a bad rap for being fatty and oily (from being deep fried). It was a revelation when I discovered you can bake them and get the same crispy delicious results!
Ingredients
Crispy chicken spring rolls
- 1 tablespoon oil e.g. peanut, canola or soy
- 600 6 chicken thighs boneless and skinless, diced into 1cm cubes
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 inch ginger finely grated
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 2 onions thinly sliced
- ¼ cabbage chopped
- 15-20 spring roll wrappers you can buy these in the frozen section of supermarkets and Asian grocery stores
- oil for brushing
Asian slaw
- 4 spring onion/scallions
- ¼ purple cabbage
- 2 carrots peeled
- ¼ cup peanuts roasted
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ¼ cup coriander/cilantro chopped
To serve
- sweet chilli sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390 Fahrenheit.
- Heat oil in a large fry pan on high heat. Cook chicken, garlic and ginger for 3-4 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Add hoisin sauce and mix together. Set chicken mixture aside, but keep pan on the heat.
- Add onion and cabbage to the pan, and cook for 3-4 minutes until starting to caramelise (the sweetness in the leftover hoisin sauce in the pan will help this). If the vegetables catch on the bottom of the pan, add a couple of tablespoons of water to prevent them sticking and burning.
- Add back cooked chicken and mix together. Season with freshly ground black pepper (it may not need much salt as the hoisin can be quite salty).
- To assemble spring rolls, lay one wrapper on a clean, dry flat surface. Place 2 spoonfuls of chicken mixture (about ¼ cup) in the centre of each wrapper, leaving 1 ½ inches clear on the left- and right-hand edges.
- Fold wrapper over to encase the filling, then fold in edges and continue to roll up. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. Place spring rolls on a baking tray with the seam facing down. Brush with oil and bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp and golden.
- While the spring rolls are baking, make the slaw. Finely slice the spring onions and cabbage; shred or grate the carrots; roughly chop the peanuts. Mix lemon juice, soy sauce and sesame oil together and toss with slaw just before serving.
- To serve, place 3-4 spring rolls on each plate and serve with slaw on the side. Serve with a little sweet chilli sauce.
Notes
Here’s my recipe for a much healthier version of crispy spring rolls, served with a slaw with lots of fresh vegetables, coriander and peanuts with a tasty Asian dressing. They’re similar to the takeaway version but so much healthier, and the kids will love them! You could add tofu instead of chicken for a great vegetarian version, or even pork mince. The salad is a classic and goes with anything.