My Spring Rolls Recipe with Shishito Peppers is a simple but very delicious dish. It may sound complicated, but it’s actually easy to make. This recipe is inspired by the famous Filipino’s “Lumpia”.
Lumpia are fried spring rolls filled with different varieties of ingredients such as mixed vegetable, ground chicken, ground pork or a combination of ground meat and mixed vegetables. It’s usually serve as an appetizer and even as a snack or as a side dish. It’s a very versatile dish that’s why it became such a popular Filipino food.
In my Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup with Jalepeno and An Asian Twist Recipe, I mentioned how I started cooking my spring rolls recipe. Spring rolls are one of my husband’s favorite foods so I learned how to cook it until I came up with my own version of spring rolls. I remembered the first time I served my spring rolls as an appetizer at our family gatherings, it was a hit with my husband’s family. Since then, it has become one of my signature dishes.
Why I Added Shishito Peppers In My Spring Rolls
To be honest with you, I only became aware of the existence of shishito peppers this year in 2021. While we were doing our grocery shopping at Meijer, I spotted an unfamiliar pepper. I grabbed the bag of shishito peppers because I was instantly curious about them. I pointed them out to my husband and asked him if he knew about these peppers and he said he had never herd of them either. That same night, I started to do some research into shishito peppers and what I have written below is what I have learned.
Shishito Peppers come from Asia and are particularly popular in Japan, but how come I did not know about them?!? They are thin-walled, slender and quite a small pepper which makes them easy to cook. They turn from green to red when ripe but are commonly harvested when green. It is said that one in every ten shishito peppers is spicy which makes it very interesting and fun to eat. This is probably the same reason why they become a popular appetizer pepper aside from the fact that they’re a mostly mild chili pepper.
A few weeks later, I started experimenting with shishito peppers and came up with My Mogolian Style Beef Stew with Shishito Peppers. Since then, my interest with the unfamiliar peppers grew and I wanted to make another recipe with shishito peppers. That’s when the idea hit me of adding shishito peppers into my spring rolls recipe!
Shishito peppers are usually cook by sauteing them in high heat known as blistering, by deep frying or by roasting. Since spring rolls are a deep fried dish so adding a shishito peppers to them is the perfect combination. I also thought of coating shishito peppers with cornstarch since cornstarch adds a crispy texture to the dish.
After a few days, I decided to put my idea of using shishito peppers as one of my spring rolls fillings into action. The result was surprisingly delicious! Shishito peppers gave the spring rolls added depth. The fresh peppery flavor with the hint of heat that comes through is a very pleasant surprise.
By the way my husband like to eat the springs rolls with nothing on them while I prefer to eat my spring rolls dipped with sweet and chili sauce. How about you?
Egg Roll with Shishito Peppers
Ingredients
- 14 oz. bag Classic Coleslaw
- 14 oz. canned Bean Sprout drained and rinsed
- 12 pcs, shishito pepper remove the stem and coated with cornstarch
- 12 pcs. egg roll wrappers
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- vegetable oil for frying
- 1/2 large red onion diced
- 4 gloves garlic minced
- 3 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a skillet, saute the onions and garlic in hot oil until the onions are translucent. Add the bag of classic coleslaw, salt, pepper, fish sauce and stir fry until all vegetables are wilted.
- Add the bean sprouts into the mixture and stir fry for an additional 5 minutes. The vegetable should be slightly crisp.
- Remove the pan from heat. Drain the excess liquid in the mixture and allow it to cool down at room temperature.
- Place an egg roll wrapper with it pointed toward you. Scoop 2 tablespoon of vegetable mixture across and just below the center of the egg roll wrapper. Add one shishito pepper coated with cornstarch on the top of the vegetable mixture. Fold the bottom point of the egg roll wrapper over the mixture. Then tuck it under the mixture.
- Fold the side corners of the egg roll wrapper over the vegetable mixture, forming an envelope shape.
- Roll the egg roll toward the remaining corner of the wrapper. Moisten the top point with water and press firmly to seal.
- Heat the vegetable oil about two inches deep over medium heat in a frying pot. Fry the egg rolls for 3 to 5 minutes or untill all sides are golden brown. Place on paper towels to drain the excess oil.
- Serve with sweet and chili dipping sauce.
