Japanese Egg-Roll “Lasagna”

I am a mad scientist. It isn’t so much that I am good at usual types of science. I did not fare very well in high school biology. I couldn’t even dissect a fish properly to show the brain well. It could have been used as a commercial about a fish brain on drugs. Chemistry wasn’t much better, and after 2 lab station fires and a threat to be kicked out, I switched to my sister’s class. The crazy thing? She was a freshman. I was a senior. And I needed her as a lab partner to get my grade in chemistry. 

 

 

Sorry... I digress... But yes. My kitchen isn’t a kitchen. It isn’t even a test kitchen. No. My kitchen is a science lab, and I am the mad scientist. I am no doctor. I just love to cook, and come up with some crazy stuff.

 

 

 

A while back, I made Italian Egg-rolls. I made the usual meatball mixture, and wrapped it in egg-roll wraps, deep fried them, and put my awesome spaghetti sauce on it. Those were delicious. So, anyway, I went to make my egg-rolls. I didn’t have wraps, and the store was out. So, I decided to make lasagna noodles with some more of the semolina flour, and this time? Perfecto! So here is the deal....

 

 

Eggroll ingredients: 1# ground pork; 6 cups shredded cabbage (I like Napa, but it’s your choice); 1/4 cup shredded carrot; 3/4 cup minced dry shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted; 1/2 bag of fresh bean sprouts, minced; 3 tsp sesame oil; 2 tsp soy sauce; 1 tsp fresh squeezed ginger juice; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp Accent; a drizzle of chili oil. Blend, let rest.

 

 

Roll out your fresh dough, after chilling for 30 minutes. Make them thin, and layer them in. between each layer of dough, place your egg-roll mixture. Make a sauce with soy sauce, the water from the mushrooms, shredded pickled ginger, some Dashi, and a splash of teriyaki sauce. Bring to a boil, simmer 10 minutes. Pour into baking pan with lasagna, bake 45 minutes. Serve with a side of soy sauce to dip each biteful in, and rice with pickles.

 

 

It wasn’t bad. It actually worked, in a weird sort of way, even though the egg-roll taste was spot on, the flavor is different from when we deep fry it. Next time, I will make the pasta to use as the wrap to fry. With what is left, I will use with other flour to bake a loaf of bread. I even used a little hemp seeds in with the flour. I come up with weird things, but, they are interesting. You can never be bored with the food here. It’s always a game, and a scientific experiment, and I have 3 willing guinea pigs willing to be my taste testers. Welcome aboard to the place where people are encouraged to play with their food.