Sunday, February 6, 2011

Avocado Egg Rolls with Dipping Sauce

Finally, I have found a good appetizer to serve for the Super Bowl.  These egg rolls surpass the standard chicken wings or nachos. Think of a very "chunky" form of guacamole stuffed in an egg roll wrapper and fried.  That explanation alone qualifies it as a favorite with beer and definitely "man" food.

Now, the dip is another story.  Even though it has cilantro, it has quite a bit of honey.  The sweet dip offsets the savory of the egg roll.  I liked it because I am not into real spicy foods, however my husband as well as male friends stated that they would rather have hot salsa as a dip instead of the sweet.

Note that the dip recipe contains some hard to find ingredients. I left out the tamarind paste. It only called for 1/2 tsp, so I do not think had much impact on the taste.

The recipes for the dip and egg rolls are actually a copycat recipe from Cheesecake Factory.  It is for 2-4 servings.

Avocado Egg Rolls with dipping sauce
adapted from Food.com

Ingredients/dipping sauce   
1 tsp ground cumin
1 pinch of saffron
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp tamarind pulp
2/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 chopped green onions
1 tsp of minced garlic
1/2 cup of chopped cashews
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp white vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey

Take a microwave safe bowl and mix together the honey, both vinegars, tamarind pulp and saffron.  Once the tamarind is dissolved, cover bowl with a paper towel and heat in microwave for 1 minute. Set aside.

Put all the other ingredients (except for the olive oil) in a blender, then pour in the tamarind mixture. Puree until all is fairly smooth.  Place in a bowl and mix in the olive oil.  It should resemble pesto when completely combined.  Cover and place in fridge until ready to use.

Ingredients/Egg Rolls

1 beaten egg
dash of salt
1/2 tsp cilantro leaves
2 tbs chopped,sun-dried tomatoes in oil
1 tbs finely chopped red onion
1 avocado-peeled, pitted and diced.
4 egg roll wrappers


If you want to bake the egg rolls, line a baking sheet with foil and spray will non stick oil coating.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To fry them, preheat your oil to 375 degrees (pan or deep fry).

Set the egg roll wrappers as well as the beaten egg aside.  In a large bowl, combine all the other ingredients with a wooden spoon until evenly distributed.  Take the filling and place a line of it in the center of one egg roll, having a corner at the top and bottom of the line and leaving about 3/4" border at each end.  Fold bottom border up onto filling.  Then brush beaten egg on all edges of the rest of the wrapper.  Roll both sides up over the filling and fold the top corner or border down.  Continue with the rest of the wrappers.

To deep fry the egg rolls, place 2 at a time in your fryer and let cook for 3-4 minutes until browned. We fried ours in a pan of oil for about 3 minutes on each side.  If baking, place on prepared sheet and brush or drizzle with oil.  Baking time will vary, so check for crispness after 3 minutes.  They may need to be turned and cooked another 3 minutes.  Once done, slice each in half at an angle and serve with desired dipping sauce.