Tribute to Dads & Recipe of the Month - My Mom's Egg Rolls

By Lu

My Papa...

We sort of skipped Father's Day and didn't really say much about it - not because dads aren't as important as moms for sure; however, because both Ri and have been too busy having fun. I really did not want to just skip it and forget about it. Sure you have heard the line, "Better late than never?" I think it fits this situation!

I'm sure it is as hard to be a father as being a mother. Being a great dad is not an easy job for any men. There are so many world leaders, famous and powerful men that just simply suck at being a father. I think great dads everywhere deserve a huge and thunderous applaud. I myself have a couple I'd like to tell you about!

One of them is my papa of course. My father is a terrific dad and my mom always indoctrinated that idea in our head since we were small. She always said "No dad loves his children more than yours!" I'm sure many would disagree with her, but I happened to believe her, especially now that I am older. He's not the overly emotional type of dad - not the hugging and kissing type; but I have never not felt his love. I always know he loves me and my two sisters. When I call home at times, he would answer the phone and he said.."Oh hi... how is it going? Here's mom!" LOL. But he will be listening to our conversation and chimed in when needed.

The funny thing is - though my dad is not very emotionally expressive with us daily, each time when we had to say another good bye at the airport, he would be the melancholic one. He even cried seeing us leaving home. My mom, I had to pinch her to make her cry. The only thing that makes her cry is Korean soap operas, go figure!

People always say I look a lot like my mom; however, personality wise, I am my dad 100%. I am very expressive however, but it is quite mesmerizing realizing as I get older how my thought process and decisions I made reminded me of my dad. That is something I hold dear to my heart. My dad is always the life of the party. He's known as the comedian elsewhere, but at home he is always the serious patriarch. It was even more so when we were young. When people said.."oh, your dad is so funny!" I rolled my eyes..not my dad he's not! But he's definitely very goofy in nature and was known to be a brat when he was young.

Talking about being a brat, I was definitely a brat and a spoiled one at it. I just realized something too when I was thinking about writing this post. The difference between the spoiled brats you know from Holywood whose dads are millionaires, and me as a spoiled brat: I appreciated my dad spoiling me when I was growing up as he used all his hard earned money to ensure my happiness and success in life. I knew my dad wasn't a Multi-Millionaire, and he worked damn hard for his money. That was probably why I turned out okay and not a screw up like some other spoiled brats. One of my best friends in high school always teased about her dad having a pool of money as they were rich or then she would say that he didn't have a pool of money. My dad is a successful businessman, but we didn't have a pool filled with money for sure. Yet, I still felt like a million bucks. He gave me things he never had. For that, I considered myself lucky and tried my damnest to make him proud. I hope he's proud of me.

I remember when I was young I wanted to marry my dad. When a girl grows up, she will laugh at the notion and then says..gross! You know what, I don't want to marry my dad anymore; however, if I could find a guy who is exactly like him, I know my happiness will be ensured for life.

My Two Dads - Remember that sitcom?

In one of those airport good byes that my dad cried seeing me go; I was leaving home to come to US many many years ago. When I landed in the US of A, I was greeted at the airport by my new American host family, and Dale Cook happened to be my host dad. Boy, did we have our fun back then. He probably thought how "lucky" he was as his kids were all still under the age of 10 at the time and here come a teenage girl! Lucky lucky him!

Because of Dale, I started liking to cook and eventually finding out that I really really love cooking and baking. He's a great cook himself and he has all kinds of crazy cool aprons and kitchen gadgets. Well, his name is Cook! He's really a Cook! He loves to tell stories about my early cooking mishaps like a hard as a rock brownies because I just turned off the oven and did not take it out; the super salty mashed potatoes because I added 2 tablespoons of salt instead of teaspoon, and many many more. However, one of the first things I made was egg rolls that my mom (still) makes regularly back home and this egg roll became an instant favorite in the Cook's house to this day. This egg roll also became famous amongst my friends. What can I say, the egg rolls are just to die for. The cool part of this particular egg roll, it actually has eggs in it! So, you can actually really call it an egg roll.

My American Dad, Dale with his Kecap Bottle

What my dad Dale likes about this Egg Roll is the sweet soy sauce I use. This soy sauce is a well known condiment in Indonesia, almost like a ketchup here. We put it everywhere - for cooking, for dipping, for... mh...that's about it. Dale even used it in making salad dressing. I give him a bottle of this soy sauce every Father's day now as a tradition. The sweet soy sauce is called "Kecap Manis" in Indonesian. Lately I also heard my Malaysian friends called it "Kecap Hitam" or Black Kecap. It is really dark almost black in appearance, thick, and sweet. Some people said it resembles molasses but it didn't have the same taste, not to me anyway.

You can buy this sweet soy sauce in Asian grocery stores or online if you're outside Indonesia. In Indonesia, people have their preference of brands. However, outside Indonesia, if you found one, grab it. Who cares what brand! You can choose whether you want the "Sweet" or "Medium Sweet." I tend to like the Medium Sweet better as it is milder and not overpowering.

If you can't find the sweet soy sauce, you can just use regular soy sauce. You can add sugar to make it a little sweet. My sister, Ri, actually does not like this egg roll sweet, so my mom only uses regular soy sauce to make egg rolls for Ri.

Egg Rolls.....yuuummmm...

So as a tribute to my dad Dale, I am sharing this recipe - the first recipe I actually attempted to make in the kitchen in my whole cooking life. They're not only easy to make, but it doesn't taste like any egg rolls you have ever consumed. It is quite special! I know this is my second egg roll recipes in three months; however, I thought this recipe is very fitting for the event. Believe me, I won't write an egg roll recipe again in awhile! Promise! However, now you know there are all kinds of egg roll styles not just those ones filled with cabbage and more cabbage! Hope you'll try to make it and I hope you will also like it!

INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground chicken (turkey can be a substitute)
1 cup milk
1 package firm or extra firm tofu, diced small and fried
5 eggs
2 shallots, minced
approximately 5 to 6 tablespoons of Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce) or to taste
Splash of cooking wine
salt and pepper to taste
1 package egg roll/spring roll wrappers
Oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

Main ingredients

Okay, so these are the main ingredients. Prep the egg first by scrambling it and then chop them finely. I used to make thin omelettes that I would cut into thin strips. That works too but too much work! Scrambling is fine but you don't want big chunks of eggs, so make sure to chop it into quite small pieces. The tofu needs to be diced and then deep fried until crispy. To people who don't like tofu, do not worry. The tofu here is so fine, and cooked in yummy sauce you wouldn't even know there's tofu unless somebody tell you. My Dad, Dale, doesn't like tofu and he loves this egg roll! Besides, tofu is good for you.

Brown shallots first, then add chicken

In a skillet, sweat the shallot until you can smell its nice aroma. Then, add the ground chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste, and then add a splash of cooking wine to glaze it, and some sweet soy sauce, maybe a couple table spoons (you will have to add more later so don't go overboard here). It is really hard to measure condiment when cooking as there's no set measurement. I gave you the ball park figure and you can adjust accordingly to your liking. You want the end result to be savory and sweet, and if it's bland -  you know to add more. If it's too sweet, then you add too much!

Add tofu, egg, milk, and sweet soy sauce

Once the chicken is cooked and brown, add the egg, tofu, and milk. Mix it well, then a little bit more salt and pepper and then the sweet soy sauce again. Add the sweet soy sauce to your taste. Be moderate. If you add too much, just add a little more milk. Let the milk reduce until it is completely dry (but not burnt).

Cook it down until no more liquid left

You don't want the filling to be wet as you will have problem with the wrappers later when rolling. Wet wrapper tears. So, you don't want that. Once done, cool before rolling. You can get the ready to use wrappers at most grocery store. If you want to know my preference check out my other post on Filipino Fried Lumpia here. This brand, Spring Home Tyj, is my favorite and I always use this one. But any wrappers will do.

To roll, use a clean surface and put one single wrapper in diagonal position. Add filling in the bottom corner, maybe about 2 tablespoons. I suggest to use slotted spoon when adding the filling so if there's still any jus left, it can drain before adding onto the wrapper.

Then, fold that bottom toward the top, and fold each side on top of it so it resembles an open envelope.

Continue rolling the egg roll, until you're almost to the other end of the wrapper. Use water, or if water did not hold it, add some flour to the water to act as glue. Add the glue to the flap of the egg roll envelope to seal it. Roll it to it, and seal.

The end result should look like this. Yes, like any egg rolls you've seen before. Nothing new! Then, at this point you can either freeze them for later consumption, or fry them for instant gratification. To fry, heat up some frying oil in the skillet. Wait until the oil is hot enough for frying. I'm not going to give you a temperature as I doubt any of you will dip a thermometer to the oil! Just wait till you can tell it is ready for frying or splash a little water to it. If it's sizzling, it's ready. Fry egg roll in the hot oil and make sure they are submerged. This egg roll doesn't take a lot of time to fry as they will brown pretty quick. Plus, everything inside is cooked, so you don't have to worry about the inside being done. When it's brown and crispy, take it out of the oil and place in a plate that's been lined with paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Then....enjoy! This egg roll is so savory and sweet at the same time it is already rich in flavor. You really don't need sauce to go with it. If you use sweet and sour sauce with it, you just really going to ruin the taste. However, it is your prerogative! My host dad, Dale, usually dips it in...yes..more Kecap Manis!

Though it is a little late, I still wish dads all around the world the warmest regards. Hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day and was able to spend the day with those you love.

Special warm regards to Dads who touched my life: Yusuf Alam, Donald Moonert, Steve Spiro, my uncle Harry Alam, and Atle Andreassen.