Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Leng, You Rock!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Leng, You Rock!

Since I had the day off work yesterday, I wanted to do something fun in the kitchen. I remembered Leng's recipes for eggrolls and vegan fried rice, and I knew instantly, that's what I wanted to make. Not very "traditional" 4th of July fare, but that's how we roll. ;-)

Her recipes did not disappoint. I have always been afraid to try making my own fried rice at home as I thought that certain "something" would be missing. Not so, if you know what you are doing. We will go a little easier on the black pepper in the fried rice next time, we ground it fresh, and it was a bit strong for our taste.















Now our eggrolls didn't come out as crispy and golden brown as her's did, but I rarely fry anything, and to be honest, I'm not very good at it, let's just say it was a scary situation where I was ducking out of the way of wildly splashing oil. But they were still very good. As Leng noted on the recipe, you can kind of mix and match to your tastes and what you have on hand. We filled the eggrolls with shredded green cabbage, shredded carrot, shredded zucchini, some sliced onion, adzuki beans, and her spice combination less the hoisin (we're not fans), we added a splash of seasoned brown rice vinegar as well.

The vegan fried rice consisted of some shredded cabbage, sliced carrot, sliced zucchini, onion, and adzuki beans, pretty much the same thing as the eggrolls. I had some edamame I meant to put in it, but forgot.

I served the eggrolls with some sweet and sour sauce. I zested an orange in it, and it made a wonderful dipping sauce.

Thanks Leng!

'Til next time!

16 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

So glad that you enjoyed one of Leng's recipes - you guys are definitely exceptional chefs in the blogging world!! :0)

Oooh, that sweet & sour sauce sounds like a great accompaniment to the meal as well!

Melissa said...

I just was thinking about egg rolls - I made some plum sauce and was wondering what to serve it with. I'll definitely give this recipe a try!

Little Miss Sunshine said...

Wow, what a yummy spread you have there!! Delicious!! I love fried rice, I usually make them myself - coz I can use less oil and it's a good way to use up leftovers haha!!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, very unconventional Fourth-of-July food, but since when did vegans follow the road oft travelled? :-) I'd prefer these delicious dishes to cole slaw and chicken wings any day.

Liz said...

Oh, that looks super-duper good! Perhaps you started a new 4th of July tradition for your family?

Alicia said...

The egg rolls look wonderful. I would like to eat them right now!

Anonymous said...

That is so impressive! The egg rolls look so...professional is the only word I can think of--wow! It sounds like you had a delicious 4th of July feast :o)

Courtney

Anonymous said...

Yay!! you made the egg rolls and fried rice!! and liked it! :-) It wasn't that difficult right?

Funny, I can imagining you duck while the oil splatters. And I will definitely have to try out your sweet and sour sauce.

Have a good Sunday Jennifer!

Avery Yale Kamila said...

I love non-traditional foods on the 4th! Everything looks so yummy, I could really use some right now!

J said...

Veggie Girl - She has some really tasty looking ones, and these were such a success, I can't wait to try the rest. I have my eye on her green beans and tomatoes.

I liked the touch the orange zest gave the sauce.

Melissa - Ooooh, I've never made plum sauce, do you have a recipe for it?

Cecilia - Thank you. I agree, the amount of oil they use when you go out to eat is insane! And you can throw just about whatever you want in there.

Mad About Udon - Haha, so true, rebels.

Ew! No kidding, though I do like me some vegan cole slaw every now and again. I'm going to be posting a recipe for an Asian cole slaw we recently made sometime soon.

Liz - Thank. Sounds like a plan, next year we'll have to have flautas or something. :-)

Alice - They were awesome and so easy, just be careful around the oil.

Courtney - Haha! I think it just LOOKS impressive, that's why I've always been afraid to make this stuff at home, I assumed it would be super complicated, but it's not!

Leng - Thank you so much for the recipes. This was a lot simpler than I thought it would be, I don't know what I was scared of.

I'm just not used to the oil, and I had it too hot, the water in the veggies met the oil and it went nuts!

The sweet and sour made a nice compliment to the rolls. I like the sweet and savory combination.

You too Leng!

Avery Yale Kamila - I enjoy bucking tradition. :-) I know me too, I'm hungry but feeling lazy at the moment. I think it's the heat...

Anonymous said...

Oh I love fried rice & non-egg rolls! I'd never been to Leng's blog before- thanks for the links!

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

veggie "egg" rolls? oh hell YES

Melissa said...

well, regarding the plum sauce, to be honest, I was actually trying to make plum jam...I cooked a bunch of plums (pit and all) in water until they were soft enough to be pushed through a strainer. Then I boiled that mash for a while with some sugar. But it never solidified enough for jam, and it was not sweet enough for jam. I'd probably saute some garlic and toss it in before using with the egg rolls I think...

J said...

Melissa - What an interesting story about the sauce! Haha, at least it didn't turn out at total failure. I think I'll have to try that, certainly someone grows plums in Missouri.

Erin said...

Your egg rolls even have little egg roll bumps! I love homemade fried rice, I always wing it. Seems like as long as there are copious amounts of soy sauce it always turns out well.

J said...

Erin - Haha, they do!

I am going to be making homemade fried rice all the time now, I didn't realize it was so easy. And soy sauce, well it just makes everything better doesn't it? Well, maybe not everything....