Lunch: Five Spice Vegetable Egg Rolls

Ingredients

2 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and drained
1 small carrot, julienned
1/2 red pepper, seeded and julienned
1 small handful bean sprouts
2 scallions, julienned
2 tablespoons plus 1 quart peanut oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
12 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons sriracha
Low-sodium light soy sauce
Eight 10-inch spring roll wrappers (preferably made from wheat flour, salt and coconut oil)
1 egg, beaten
2 scallions, julienned and soaked in iced water for 5 minutes to make curls
Sweet chili sauce (store bought), for serving

Instructions

For the filling: Discard the stems from the soaked dried shiitake mushrooms and thinly slice the caps. Mix the mushroom caps, carrot, red pepper, bean sprouts and scallions in a large bowl and toss well. Heat a wok over a high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the oil, give the oil a swirl and then cook the garlic and ginger, tossing for a few seconds. Add the fresh shiitake mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until they start to soften. Add the Chinese five-spice powder and toss well. Add the vegetable mixture and oyster sauce and toss well, cooking for less than 1 minute. Add the sriracha and soy sauce to taste, toss well and transfer to a plate to cool. Reheat the wok over moderate heat and add the remaining quart peanut oil to fry the egg rolls. To assemble the egg rolls, place a spring roll wrapper on a flat surface with a corner pointed toward you and top with a second spring roll wrapper, lining up edges. Spoon about three tablespoons of the filling across the middle of the wrappers. With a pastry brush, brush the wrapper edges lightly with the beaten egg (this helps the egg rolls from bursting open while frying). Fold in the side corners of the wrappers toward the middle, fold up the bottom corner and then roll into a cigar shape. Press gently to seal. Repeat with the remaining 6 wrappers and filling to form 4 rolls total. Deep fry the egg rolls in hot oil, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with the scallion curls and serve with sweet chili sauce.
NotesFilled with crunchy vegetables, this healthier version of an indulgent appetizer is great for larger crowds. Seasoning the mushrooms with Chinese five-spice powder gives them a richer flavor. The rolls can be made ahead and frozen, then fried from frozen.

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