Shanghai spring rolls

Directions

1. Cut the pork (or chicken) into "strips". You do this by first cutting it into thin slices about 1/4” thick, and then cutting each slice lengthwise into several strips also about 1/4” thick. Depending on how bulky your piece of meat is, you may have to cut it down into thinner "logs" first (~1.5" thick) before beginning - do this lengthwise along the natural grain of the muscle if you can. Ultimately, you’ll want the cut meat pieces about 1/4” thick by 1.5” long. Mix with marinade ingredients (tamari/soy, sesame oil, salt, white pepper powder) and set aside for 20 minutes to marinade. Meanwhile, slice your shiitakes and napa cabbage.
2. Heat a wok over medium-high heat. Once heated through, add 1 tbsp of oil and add the meat. Sauté until just cooked through. Add shiitakes and sauté a couple minutes more. Scoop out into a bowl and set aside. To the wok, add another tablespoon of oil and ginger slices. Move them around 10 seconds to bloom the flavour, then add all the sliced napa cabbage, along with salt to taste. It will seem like a lot of cabbage but they cook down a lot. 
3. Sauté on high heat for three to four minutes until wilted and water is cooking out of them and evaporating from the heat. Napa cabbage is very watery and for spring rolls, you need a fairly dry filling to avoid sogginess. Pour off any excess liquid that doesn’t evaporate. Turn heat down to medium and add sliced shiitakes and continue to sauté everything a minute more and until the white parts of the cabbage is tender all the way through. Taste one more time and season with salt as needed. Scoop out into a wide dish and allow it to cool fully, discarding the ginger slices.
4. Wrapping: The technique is similar to a burrito, except with much less filling! Start by placing one wrapper in front of you, positioned like a diamond with the four corners at 12/3/6/9 o’clock. Place four tablespoons of filling about 1/4 of the way up from the lowest corner and spread it across about 4” wide. 
5. If for whatever reason, your filling still has quite a bit of liquid, be sure to shake it off before placing it in the wrapper to avoid soggy spring rolls. Bring the bottom corner up and over the filling, and roll it once fully. Bring the side corners in snugly next to the filling. Continue rolling upwards until only the last 1-2” of wrapper is showing. Dab a bit of water with your index finger and apply all over that last corner and seal. Place spring roll seal-side down on a plate. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
6. Shallow-fry: the amount of oil will depend on the cooking vessel you’re using. Fill it with enough oil so it comes just above halfway up the sides of a spring roll or ~3/4” at the deepest (this works out to be about two cups of oil in my wok). Once oil is hot (i.e. ~350f-375f with a cooking thermometer or, you see bubbles rise up the sides of a wooden chopstick or spatula inserted into the oil), shallow fry spring rolls in batches of three to five, ensuring not to overcrowd which drops the oil temperature down too much. Fry one side about two to three minutes or until golden brown, flip and fry another two to three minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Tip: It’s important to adjust your heat to maintain the oil at or around the same temperature throughout. If you oil is getting too hot (i.e. smoking), add some oil to cool it down quickly. If desired, you can move them to a parchment lined baking sheet and keep them warm in a 200F oven. Serve as is, or with a dipping sauce such as our go-to Worcestershire sauce or Chinese black vinegar. So good!
7. To freeze: once wrapped (before frying), place spring rolls on a parchment lined baking sheet, not touching, and freeze for at least two hours or until thoroughly frozen through to the middle. Transfer into a freezer safe container. To cook, shallow fry from frozen.