Egg Roll Cravings

Sometimes we have cravings.  For me, that craving is often Chinese food, and not just any Chinese food, but the old-school greasy appetizers that barely qualified as any sort of nutritious meal, but were so delicious and addicting.  One of those favorites of mine was egg rolls: deep-fried flour-wrapped ground pork, cabbage, carrots, and green onions.  I’m not sure what else was in these exotic delicacies of my youth, but as I grew older and my taste buds matured, I learned how to make a variety of versions of various rolls.  All were delicious, and all were very time-consuming.

Recently during a craving for these Asian flavors, I decided that it was time to go the easy route.  The easy route is also a bit healthier as it requires no flour wrappers and no deep frying which also meant much easier clean up as well!  What I’m talking about here folks, is a big pan of egg roll filling.  Yup, just the good stuff.  In a big bowl. Comfort food at its best.  So here you go:

Egg Roll Bowl

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground pork
• 12 oz shredded cabbage*
• 6 oz shredded carrots*
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons Soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil
• 1-2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger
• 2 achopped green onions

*shortcut alert: One 12 oz bag of cole slaw mix which is primarily cabbage and carrots can take the place of manually shredding cabbage and carrots

Method

In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, white part of chopped green onions, ginger, and garlic. Set aside.

Brown ground pork, then add a third to half of the sauce mixture**.  Add cabbage, carrots, and the rest of the sauce mixture.  Cover and cook on low until cabbage is softened.

Serve in a bowl, as is or over rice. Top with green part of chopped onions and a drizzle of toasted sesame seed oil.

**shortcut alert:  Prep all veggies and sauce in advance.  Cook pork and refrigerate up to a day in advance.  When it’s time for dinner, heat up pork and add veggies and sauce.  Pork mixture can also be made ahead and frozen for a future meal – just add veggies and sauce!