Cloud 8½

One of the appetizers my husband and I look for on restaurant menus is any kind of Southwestern Egg Rolls, but we often run into an issue because I hate cilantro and it’s such a quintessential southwestern flavor that it’s inevitably in anything labeled as such. When I was assembling our Cinco de Mayo menu I knew that I wanted to finally try my hand at empanadas, but I wanted another appetizer as well.

I came across the original recipe while trolling Tasty Kitchen for inspiration and decided, since the empanadas were going to be chicken, I’d make these with ground beef instead. They weren’t the biggest hit at the original Cinco de Mayo dinner (everyone there loved the empanadas more, but no one thought these were bad), but when I took the leftovers to my sister’s house, they went over huge there. I thought they were tasty and am definitely glad I gave them a shot! While assembling the rolls I kept flashing back to the Chinese restaurant my parents owned when I was a kid and assembling “regular” egg rolls in the kitchen there. It all came back!

I’d like to thank the bloggers behind So Tasty, So Yummy and What’s Cooking, Chicago? for their advice on baking the egg rolls instead of frying them. Frying would make for a better appearance and overall crispiness, but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle or the mess. Please go whichever route you prefer, though – they’re going to taste good either way!

Mexican Egg-Rolls
Adapted from MonsterMama

Ingredients
1 pound of ground beef cooked with 1 packet of Taco Seasoning (note – I always use less than a full packet before I find packaged taco seasoning to be a little overwhelming – watch for homemade taco seasoning eventually)
⅓ cup Sour Cream
1 can (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup Corn, drained
1 cup Diced Petite Tomatoes, drained
2 cups Shredded Mexican cheese
1 package (16 Oz. Package) Egg Roll Wrappers
Water for sealing
Pam or similar spray-oil

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Place a rack in a rimmed baking sheet and spray thoroughly with PAM or other similar nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine taco-seasoned ground beef with sour cream and then gently fold in the remaining ingredients – beans, corn, tomatoes, shredded cheese. It’s very easy to mix-and-match the ingredients, to play with them to suit your own tastes.

Lay out your egg roll wrapper with a point facing you and add about 2 Tablespoons of your mixture just south of the middle of the wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and run it around the edges of the wrapper to make sealing easier. Fold the bottom point over the filling, tuck in the sides, and then complete rolling to the northern point. Make sure edges are sealed to prevent the filling from escaping and don’t overfill.

Place egg rolls onto oiled rack and back for 15 minutes or so until golden brown and crisping around the edges.

Serve with sour cream and salsa.