carrot-ginger eggless egg rolls

Today we're revisiting the fried okara spring rolls, only this time we're making them with egg roll wrappers. It took me forever to find egg roll wrappers that were vegan! In my opinion, spring rolls just aren't meant to be fried, and this tastes much better with the egg roll wrappers.



Over medium heat, sautee
1/2 cup okara
2 Tablespoons agave nectar, sugar, or combination of the two
1 Tablespoon tamari
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
and stir for several minutes, until the liquids have been mostly evaporated and the contents have been thoroughly combined.

Move okara-carrot mixture to a bowl and stir in
2 Tablespoons finely chopped cilantro



Now it's time to fill the egg roll wrappers. You'll need about
20 vegan egg roll wrappers (or wonton wrappers)
give or take, depending on the size of the carrot you used.



Put a half Tablespoon of the okara mixture into the egg roll wrapper. Place it on one side of the wrapper and leave enough space to fold down the tops and bottoms.



Obtain a small cup of water to dip your fingertips into. Moisten the top and bottom of the wrapper, and then fold over the top and bottom of the okara filling.



Roll the wrapper over the filling. When you have a little flap of wrapper left, moisten it and stick it to the rest of the wrapper, sealing it.


Fry the spring rolls in hot
oil
I used canola oil but something like sesame oil might be more appropriate for a dish like this. If the oil is deep enough to submerge the rolls, fry them until they turn a golden brown. If the oil is too shallow for full submersion, make sure you flip the rolls to ensure even browning. Remove from oil and drain on a paper towel.

Verdict: Much better with the egg roll wrappers! I love the taste, and thought they were fine without any dipping sauce.

fried okara spring rolls

Update: A newer version of this recipe is available here.



Spray a pan with vegetable oil and saute
1/2 cup okara
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon agave nectar
1 Tablespoon tamari
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
and saute over medium heat for a few minutes, until the liquids have been mostly evaporated and the contents have been thoroughly combined.



Move okara-carrot mixture to a bowl and stir in
2 Tablespoons finely chopped cilantro



Soak a
spring roll wrapper
in some warm water, just long enough to soften it. If you haven't worked with spring roll wrappers before, be advised that it might take some getting used to. They can be sticky and tear easily, which can be pretty frustrating.



Above: You can see that I didn't clean the pan after cooking the okara mixture in it. It really wasn't necessary!

Put a heaping Tablespoonful of the okara mixture into the center of the spring roll wrapper.



Fold the spring roll wrapper around the okara mixture, as if you were folding a burrito. Fold one side over, then fold the bottom up toward the center of the wrapper. Then fold the top down toward the center of the wrapper, and then take the center part with the okara mixture and roll it toward the other side.

Repeat these steps -- soaking a spring roll wrapper, putting down a Tablespoon of filling, and folding the wrapper -- until you run out of the okara mixture. I was able to make seven spring rolls with this recipe.



Fry the spring rolls in hot
oil
I used canola oil but something like sesame oil might be more appropriate for a dish like this. After a few minutes, turn the rolls over and fry on the other side for a few minutes. They might turn a little golden, but spring roll wrappers seem to stay pretty light in color ... Unless you fried it for a really long time, I guess. It wasn't necessary to fry these for very long.



Remove from oil and drain. I drained them on a paper towel, to which a few of the spring rolls stuck, so maybe it'd be a better idea to drain them on a wire rack.

Verdict: I really liked the way these tasted! I didn't even use a dipping sauce. The spring-roll wrappers, however, were a little on the sticky/chewy side, so these probably would be even better with wonton wrappers. I can't find ready-made wonton wrappers that are eggless, however, and they are kind of a pain to make by hand. But if you would like to make your own wonton wrappers, or if you can find appropriate wonton wrappers at the store, you might like to use those instead. I would probably consider this to be one of my best okara recipes if I used wonton wrappers instead of spring-roll wrappers.

This recipe only made seven spring rolls -- since I was just experimenting, I didn't want to make a whole bunch in case the experiment ended in failure. If you want more than seven, feel free to double, triple, etc., the recipe.