INTRODUCTION

When Ms. Patricia Ho posted this dish in my Chawan (Zhao An aka 诏安） dialect Facebook group, I am so excited because I have almost forgotten this dish. Ms. Ho has a lot of unique Chawan dishes that many has forgotten.

I started to recall eating this dish prepared by my late Chawan auntie during festival times. Beside bak kng or ngoh hiang, this was one type of meat rolls that she would prepare. Another type is the liver meat rolls which I cannot really appreciate when young but now trying hard to locate the recipes.

I am rather surprised that my late parents never prepared this ginger flavoured meat rolls and uniquely wrapped by crepes. The appearance is so distinctive with the yellow skin. Possibly my late mum did not know  how to prepare but it will appear in my  auntie’s house whenever there are occasions such as birthday or Chinese New Years.

But I also remembered eating something like this in the canned form. I knew my parents ever bought the canned meat rolls but not common. However, I cannot remember the taste if it is similar to my Chawan ginger version. I have been searching this canned meat rolls for many year in Singapore but not successful. Possibly it is banned by the Government or there is market for this canned meat rolls?

I posted in Teochew Facebook Group, nobody claimed that it is a Teochew cuisine. When I posted in Taiwanese Facebook Group, none have ever seen it. However, when I posted in a Malaysian Group, many Chawan came forward to claim that it is their festival dish.

In Hong Kong, one member said that she is a Hakka and her family prepared this during festival too. Well, I do not rule out this is also an influence of Hakka cuisine because half of the Chawan dialect is Hakka influenced and the other half is Teochew influenced. 

Since there are some Hakka who insisted that this is Hakka meat rolls, I do not have any Hakka recipe and I cannot check if it is the same. However, this is ginger flavoured meat rolls that yields a very unique aroma. An aroma that bring fond memories and that I can instantly recognize.  Feel free to call it Hakka egg rolls but since the source recipe is Chawan, I will still classify as Chawan cuisine. For Chawan, we always eat this as a cold dish or as a steamboat item.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from: Ms. Patricia Ho’s 诏安蛋卷 published in Y3K Magazine

Servings: 5 meat rolls

Crepe Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 5 tablespoons of plain water
• 2 teaspoons of corn starch

Filling ingredients

• 500 grams of minced pork belly meat
• 120 grams of ginger, minced and juice extracted
• 1 egg, separated in egg yolk and egg white
• 1 tablespoon of corn starch
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine
• 2 teaspoons of chicken stock
• Salt to taste

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Stir the corn starch and water in a mixing bowl until well combined. Crack the eggs and beat slightly until it is well mixed. Avoid heavy beating as air will be incorporated into the beaten eggs and hence your crepes will have bubbles.
• Heat up a 8” diameter non stick frying pan, pour about 1/4 cup of the beaten eggs into the pan. Pan fry under medium to low heat until the sides start to curl up. Use hand to pick up the crepe as soon as possible. Perform the same for the remaining beaten eggs. Cover the crepes with some clingy wrap to prevent the crepes from drying up.

• Put all the filling ingredients (except egg yolk) into a food processor and blend until as fine as possible. As you blend, it will become more and more stick. The stickier it is, the more spongy will be the meat rolls. If you do not have the food processor, you can chopped the minced meat until it becomes sticky.

• Take a piece of the crepe, put 2-3 tablespoons of minced meat on the centre of the crepe. Fold the sides of the crepe and roll the meat like rolling the sushi. Brush the remaining crepe with beaten egg yolks and roll until the end of the crepe.

• Steam the meat rolls at high heat for about 10 minutes until a skewer insert into the centre of the meat roll comes out clean. The meat roll can be served as appetizer or as a steamboat item.

CONCLUSION

I have to thank Ms. Patricia Ho for providing this recipe. Without her recipe, I am not issue this recipe because I cannot remember the taste. I have also modify the recipe to suit my taste bud. Finally, I hope that this post will benefit the next generation of Chawan and keep a record of Chawan recipes. For my Hakka readers, you decide if it is Hakka version as this is a ginger flavoured meat rolls.

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