Pinterest rabbit-hole

Hence, somewhere, sometime, probably long-ago on Pinterest, Eggroll in a Bowl was born. Modifications have been made, of course, but let’s be forreal. Whenever I see a picture of someone else’s take on Eggroll in a Bowl, it hasn’t looked that appetizing to me. Their cabbage is overcooked & over-wilted, it’s usually swimming in grease, and is bland in color. Let me tell ya, it’s true that green cabbage quickly turns into a sickly looking grey-white, and *surprise* it actually ain’t that appetizing. MOVING ON.

The choice of ground meat can be a pivotal choice in this dish – and I’ve seen many choices. Ground Beef is the easiest & most obvious choice. Ground Turkey is a healthier alternative and seems to be one of the more popular choices. I’ve also seen this be a straight vegetarian dish, so that’s always an option too! I chose to use a package of the Meatloaf Mixture – the package comes in a bit bigger container 1.33 LBS and contains Ground Beef, Ground Veal, Ground Pork. All 3 meats have a great flavor & just the right amount of fat – but it won’t overkill your dish with grease or heaviness.

Instructions, 1

Mis En Place – get yo shit together.

I actually believe this can be a calming recipe. I love slicing a bunch of ingredients – it gets you into a relaxed rhythm and can make cooking all the more enjoyable!

Cut both cabbage heads in half – remove the core by cutting a V directly in the middle of the half of the head – the core is super hard, tough & not what we want for this dish.

Discard the core, cut the half of the cabbage head into manageable pieces & begin to slice thinly.

The cabbage should be slicing into long sheets of ribbon and will easily separate with your fingers.

Chop both half heads of your cabbage & set aside.

Dice BOTH of your sweet & green onions into small pieces – set aside & keep the greens of the onions separate, you will use those as a final garnish for plating.

Cutting the baby carrots may prove to be more difficult, so be careful & take your time.

Open & Drain the can of water chestnuts, set aside.

I personally enjoy using Baby Carrots due to their size difference – the ingredients in this recipe are all fresh & crisp so the different sizes of the cabbage, carrots, onions & water chestnuts can really be welcome to the eyes!

Once you have sliced all your veggies, now its time for the order of operations to begin.

This dish isn’t “quick” in the sense that you are flambéing shit and throwing ingredients around, but it definitely has a flow to it and can truly be an enjoyable meal to make as long as you have all your ingredients at the ready!

START (finally, shit) by drizzling in the toasted sesame oil in a pan on medium-high heat– it should instantly smell amazing. Drop in whatever ground meat you have chosen along with the sweet onion & whites of the green onion ((if you are choosing the vegetarian route, then simply start with both of your onions)) into the pan.

Brown the meat & sauté the onions until they are soft and transluscent.

Now its time to drop in the diced water chestnuts – these will take a few minutes to cook down so they will still have a texture but not be super cronchy or have that raw element.