Classic Pork Egg Rolls with Chinese Honey Mustard

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Written By Mandy Haga

Shatteringly crisp pork egg rolls with a glossy Chinese honey mustard that turns a plate of fried things into dinner.

There is a particular relief that comes from deciding that dinner does not need to be a meal, but can instead be a plate. A plate of egg rolls. Just egg rolls. No sides, no rice you forgot to start, no vegetables pretending to be virtuous. A plate that says: this is enough.

Making egg rolls at home sounds like a project until you actually do it. Then you realize it’s just chopping, cooking, folding, and standing near a pan of oil while something reassuringly repetitive happens. The batch comes together all at once, and suddenly you have twenty of them, which feels like abundance, even if you plan to eat most of them yourself.

These are classic pork egg rolls: cabbage-heavy, properly savory, fried until blistered and bronze. They’re good on their own, better dipped, and best eaten while watching something with chaos and emotional whiplash.

Something like Scissor Seven, a show that understands the beauty of a scrappy situation. Seven is a failed assassin running a barber shop on Chicken Island, unaware that he was once very good at his job. It’s fast, funny, occasionally tender, and perfectly suited to eating something hot and crunchy off a plate you didn’t bother to garnish.

There is nothing wrong with having egg rolls for dinner. In fact, it’s one of the more sensible options.

 

The Recipe

Makes about 20 egg rolls. Can be made ahead and frozen.

Ingredients

For the egg rolls

  • 1½ lbs ground pork

  • 2 green cabbages, thinly sliced

  • 5 carrots, shaved into ribbons with a vegetable peeler

  • ½ onion, finely chopped

  • 3–4 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1–2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated

  • Soy sauce, to taste

  • Sesame oil

  • White pepper

  • Salt

  • 1 package of egg roll wrappers (about 20)

  • Canola oil, for frying

For the Chinese honey mustard

  • 2–3 tablespoons hot Chinese mustard

  • Honey, to taste

  • Salt

  • Black pepper

  • Garlic powder

Directions

  1. Cook the cabbage first.
    Heat a wide pan with a little sesame oil. Add the cabbage and grated ginger, season lightly with salt and white pepper, and sauté until softened and reduced. Remove from the pan and set aside.

  2. Cook the filling.
    In the same pan, add a bit more sesame oil and cook the ground pork with the onion, carrots, and garlic. Season with salt, white pepper, and a drizzle of soy sauce. Once the pork is cooked through and the vegetables are soft, return the cabbage to the pan.

  3. Season and cool.
    Cook another minute or two, then remove from heat and let the mixture cool slightly. (Warm filling is fine; hot filling will fight you.)

  4. Roll the egg rolls.
    Place an egg roll wrapper on the counter in a diamond shape. Spoon filling near the bottom point, fold over, tuck in the sides, and roll tightly like a burrito. Seal the edge with a little water.

  5. Fry.
    Heat canola oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Fry the egg rolls in batches, turning as needed, until crisp and golden on all sides.

  6. Drain.
    Transfer to a wire rack set over a baking sheet, this keeps them crisp.

Chinese Honey Mustard

Stir together hot Chinese mustard with honey to balance the heat. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of garlic powder. If spicy isn’t your thing, that bright pink sweet chili sauce is great too.

Serve

Serve hot. Eat several. Watch something animated, strange, and slightly unhinged. Accept that this was a good decision. They contain vegetables, don’t they?

Mandy Haga