“Indian” Spring Rolls

Concoction.  That’s what my brother calls anything I throw together without a recipe.  I’ve been doing it since I was little, and I figured I should add these endevours to the blog as well.  The word Indian is in “quotes”, because I’ve never realy had or made Indian food.  I’m sort of familiar with the flavors, had a great masala sauce to go with the rolls, a burst of creativity, and some food in the fridge that needed to be used up, including spring roll wrappers, so I went at it.  Here’s what I did:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup couscous
• 1 green onion, finely sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 half red pepper, finely chopped
• 1 shallot, grated
• 2 garlic cloved, grated
• 1 tbsp ginger, grated
• 1 tsp curry powder, hot
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil + extra for brushing
• 1 chicken breast, or equivilant amount of rotisserie chicken, shredded
• Spring roll wrappers
• 1 egg, beaten with water to make a wash

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 425°
2. Boil or microwave chicken stock until simmering, add couscous, cover, and let sit.
3. Stir together all ingredients through olive oil.
4. Add couscous and chicken to combine.
5. Spoon about 1/3 cup of mixture onto wrapper and fold according to directions using egg wash to seal edges. 
6. Brush with olive oil.
7. Place rolls onto wire rack that has been put on a cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, turn, and bake for another 8 minutes.
9. Enjoy with masala, or sauce of your choice.

After Thoughts:

There was too much of a sharp onion flavor.  I think I could correct that by omitting the shallot, and possibly sauteing the garlic and ginger with the green onions.  Other than that, I thought these were fantastic, and it got me thinking about other things that could be rolled.  My next trial will be chicken parmesan rolls.  I think Jim would get a kick out of the surprise of cheese, chicken, and basil in a wonton wrapper to dip into marinara sauce.