Egg Roll in a Bowl
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes| Serves: 8
Egg Roll in a Bowl is a fun way to eat your veggies. Whoever came up with this trendy recipe was brilliant in my eyes. Just deconstructing an egg roll to make it healthier. Brilliant. And this is another VERY versatile meal… you can make this with just veggies or use a protein that you like. I personally love pork here. You can serve this over rice, cauliflower rice, or just scoop it into your bowl. Feel free to make adjustments to ingredients to make this meal your own; use the veggies you enjoy!
This is basically a stir-fry. I use my wok, but you can use a Dutch oven or a stockpot if you do not have a wok. If you’re cooking half this recipe, you might be able to get by with a wide, but deep skillet.
Be prepared with all your ingredients before you start cooking, as this goes fairly quickly once you get started. Mise en place: a French culinary term for “everything in its place.” Basically, it means having everything prepped and ready to go. Meat, vegetables, sauce, everything. Since this meal is cooked like a quick stir-fry, you will need all your ingredients ready for the hot pan. No time to stop and chop. Make your sauce beforehand, too, if you choose to use one of my options below. Personally, I like #1, the HOT one.
A microplane comes in handy for grating fresh ginger and garlic. When you want very, very small pieces of ginger, this tool is really nice to have around. The tiny “teeth” allow you to have the flavors of ginger and garlic throughout the meal without biting into chunks. I also use this tool to make ginger-lemon-honey tea when I’m feeling under the weather. It’s also perfect for zesting citrus fruits to add into cake batter, frostings, etc…
I buy the bag of pre-shredded carrots for this recipe because they are much sturdier and bulky than if I had grated carrots myself on my hand-held grater. Just a personal preference.
The easiest way to cut the canned water chestnuts is to stack several on top of each other and slice through about 4 or 5 times across, resulting in “matchstick” shapes. I love water chestnuts in this recipe for their crunch.
Purple cabbage will defintely add more color in this meal, but it will bleed onto everything else and alter the other pretty colors of the red pepper and green onions, etc… Just giving you a heads-up.
Garlic-chile paste… Yumm. Another great product. If we have leftover rice (and carbs are no issue), I will eat this paste over warm rice. It has heat and tang that I love. It is so tasty with Thai or Asian food, and most certainly delicious with this Egg Roll in a Bowl!
You could use practically any meat here…. Cooked and sliced flank steak, ground beef or ground turkey or chicken, sliced chicken breasts or thighs, or sliced pork. You cann also sear tofu, which I will admit I have never tried in this recipe, but it is an option.
Delicious and simple. This is also good way to use up those vegetables that are about to be past their date.
Enjoy!
Egg Roll in a Bowl
Equipment
- wok, helpful, but no necessary
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil, or other neutral oil
- 1 head Napa cabbage, finely shredded (or 2 bags of shredded coleslaw cabbage)
- 8 ounces bag matchstick carrots
- 8 ounces water chestnuts, cut into matchsticks (or halved)
- 6 scallions, green and white parts, sliced into 1/4" pieces
- 1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
- 1/2" piece fresh ginger, grated on a microplane (see Notes)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or grated on a microplane
- 2 cups purple cabbage, optional, see Notes
- 1-2 fresh, hot chiles, optional
- kosher salt, to taste
- ground white pepper, to taste
- 1 pound Meat (protein) or tofu, see Notes
Sauce #1 (HOT)
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce, lower sodium
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons (or more) gochujang (or Sriracha)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated on a microplane
- 2 teaspoons fresh garllic, minced or grated on a microplane
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Sauce #2
- 1/4 cup hoisin
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce, lower sodium
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated on a microplane
- 1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced or grated on a microplane
Sauce #3
- 1/2 cup hoisin
- 1/4 cup soy sauce, lower sodium
- 1 3/4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons garlic-chile paste
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Instructions
Instructions for the Sauces:
- Place all ingredients in a 1 or 2-cup measuring cup and blend with a whisk until all ingredients are well combined.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust as desired. So simple!
Instructions for Egg Roll:
- If using meat, cook thoroughly in the wok and set aside, covered, to keep warm.
- In a wok (or Dutch oven), heat oil over medium-high heat. From the ingredient list add the cabbage through the chiles (if using) and stir fry the vegetables, stirring about every 30 seconds until slightly softened for about 6 minutes. (Of course, if you don’t like your vegetables very crunchy, cook a little longer until softened to your preference.)
- Add the precooked meat and sauce (or serve sauce alongside), toss, and heat through. Scoop into bowls and serve with green onions. Simple and oh, so yummy.
I love that this is low carb and filled with fresh veggies!
I made a batch of this tasty dish on a weekend and had it ready for my lunch or dinner throughout the week. Plus, I added teriyaki chicken for some protein. Sauce #1 topped it off. It was delicious!
I was looking for a fun yet healthy Asian recipe. This hits all the markers! Super delicious and easy to make. Will definitely make again.