Egg rolls seem daunting – like they’d be much harder to make than they are. But they’re actually really easy, with room for creativity, and delicious in their crispy deep-fried fabulousness.

I have my mom to thank for teaching me how to make egg rolls, as I do most of the excellent recipes I end up with. Here’s how we do it:

Egg Roll Recipe
1/2 lb. sausage
1 small head green cabbage, chopped
chopped onion

Brown the sausage in a skillet and add onion. Then add the cabbage. It will seem like a lot but it cooks down. Let this cool while you prepare egg roll wrappers and a small dish of water. Place a wrapper in front of you like a diamond, with the mixture in a line straight across it. Fold up the bottom first, and then fold  both sides in, around the mix. Dip your finger in the water and wet the top corner of the diamond, then roll it up the rest of the way and seal with the wet edge. Heat oil in skillet on med-high and fry until golden brown.

That will make more than enough for two people, and it won’t use the whole package of wrappers. So, in a very experimental mood, I tried to make crab rangoons with the rest. They turned out pretty good — just enormous. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I could eat a whole stick of cream cheese. And a whole crab. So both ingredients in a deep fried package = ecstasy.

Crab Rangoon Recipe
4 oz cream cheese (half a package)
4 oz flaked crab meat (half a package, I found mine under the seafood deli counter)
a couple shakes each of Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce
1 clove garlic, chopped
chopped onion
ground pepper
Place a big spoonful of mixture in middle of egg roll wrapper. Pinch two opposite sides together (wetting with water to seal) and then the other two sides. Fry.

Both recipes are almost as good as takeout. Now fried rice…that’s something I haven’t mastered quite yet, and still opt for takeout.