Air Fryer Eggrolls

I had been planning to make air fryer eggrolls for at least a month but there was always some reason why I couldn't. For example, I ended up with norovirus twice and didn't trust myself touching anybody's food. Some weekends, I don't have time; others, I just don't feel like it. I decided to take the plunge today.

The good news is it really isn't that difficult. The bad news is there are a lot of things that can trip you up and completely ruin the experience. Here's what I learned. Most of them can be ended with "Ask me how I know" or "Trust me on this."

1. If you have some medical condition that causes you a lot of problems with fine motor skills on one hand, you may elect not to attempt this. Wrapping and manipulating eggroll wrappers can be tough if the fingers on one hand don't work. If you're stubborn like I am, ignore the warning and keep reading.
2. Learn how to roll an eggroll. Eggroll wraps are not that different from burrito wraps. I have always had trouble wrapping burritos. I read a while back that to properly wrap a burrito, you have to wrap it tightly. When you order a burrito from a chain restaurant, those things are wrapped tight (even though the employees are not.) That comes from practice, and I don't have that. I've been doing it wrong for so long that I just continue to do it wrong. Eggroll wrappers are more delicate than burrito wrappers. You still have to wrap it tightly, but you must be careful, or you will end up with a shredded egg roll. (For all I know, it might taste good, but it certainly doesn't look appetizing. When in doubt, stick it on a salad.) I think one of my bigger problems is I tend to overstuff it. I posted a picture of a burrito I attempted to make a while back. The reason it kept falling apart was that I used way too much filling, so the wrap would open itself or break. (The filling was also too soupy, so the wrap got soggy, but that's a different issue.) What can I say? I like stuff in my stuff. When I make soup, I put a lot of things in it. I shouldn't spend an hour or two cooking soup just to eat broth. There was a commercial a long time ago of a row of kids passing soup down the table, each kid taking some. When it gets to the last kid, he starts spooning soup into his bowl, only to exclaim, "Wow, I didn't know there was chicken in this soup." Well, that's me. I put chicken in my chicken soup, just like I put burrito stuff in my burritos. Maybe that's why I look so well-fed: I have to resist the temptation to overstuff things like steak sandwiches. When I look at how little filling the recipe (or common sense) wants me to put in it, I always feel like it's not enough. Then it falls apart when I try to roll it or eat it. I looked up a recipe online to determine what kind of time and temperature to use.* The instructions said to use a teaspoon of filling. That just did not look like enough so I did end up putting a little more than that in the egg roll wrapper. It was still possible to wrap it, but I had to be careful because the wrapper kept trying to rip. (The egg roll wrappers might have dried a little. They've been in the refrigerator for at least a month.)
   
   * Most of the time, I end up on Reddit's r/airfryer sub. They don't post a fake story to monetize a recipe they have never made. I can be assured that the poster actually tried it and will report something that works.
3. Follow the directions the first time, even if you don't think they're correct, then learn from the experience. My Ninja air fryer has a wire tray and a convection fan that blows the heat all around the food. The recipe often says to flip the food halfway through the cooking time so it cooks evenly. Opening the door lowers the temperature, so the recipe adds a few minutes to compensate for that drop. Those steps are usually unnecessary for my Ninja because it cooks on all sides simultaneously. No flipping is needed. (I can cook frozen french fries without flipping them halfway through, so they cook faster.) I occasionally have to decrease the time because the Ninja runs hotter than other models (something most reviews warned me about), and I don't have to allow for preheating because that is built-in to the cooking time. Still, I do it the way the recipe asks the first time to see what happens. Next time, I will not flip them halfway through, and I will remove a minute or two from the cooking time. I feel the egg rolls got a little dark in some spots. They definitely turned out crispy, but I don't like that burnt look. I would rather they be brown all over (although that might be an effect of bathing them in hot oil.) I will probably have to experiment with the cooking time the next time around.
4. If you have hair that gets in your face, tie it back or wear a hat.
5. Egg roll wrappers tend to stick together, so be sure you have only one before you start filling it.
6. When the egg rolls are done cooking, you may have the urge to grab and eat one. WAIT for it to cool! Most air fryer directions ask you to spray the food with oil if it uses breading that was originally meant to be deep-fried. Plus, the eggroll is a sealed container of food and steam. That sucker is going to be hot!
7. Stop peeking at the food. Once you've determined it is not going to smoke or burst into flame while it is cooking, walk away and let it cook. Alton Brown used to say, "Your patience will be rewarded." That is definitely true of eggrolls.
8. If you have a door between your kitchen and your living room (or whatever room has the smoke detector in it), you may wanna close that door. I decided to do scrambled eggs and sausage for this batch of eggrolls (I ran out of chicken.) Butter, like bacon grease, can smoke if you're not paying attention or your pan is too hot. Smoke, oddly enough, sets off smoke detectors. It also occurred to me that the last thing I cooked in my air fryer was chicken wings. They dripped chicken fat on the heating elements of the air fryer, which created a lot of smoke. (I keep joking that the next time I make batches of chicken wings, I will do it on the porch.*) I was afraid it might smoke this time due to any chicken fat I missed when I cleaned it, but fortunately, that did not happen. My wife says, "Just close the door between the kitchen and the living room," but that just makes too much sense to me. 😃 <– not a duck, but it looks like one.
   
   * It was 45 degrees and windy. Not a good day to cook outside.

I was trying to find something to eat for breakfast today, and as usual, I settled on eggs for a weekend breakfast. Paula bought a pound of ground sausage meat for me to try to make tornadoes, so I figured I would start with that. If you're not familiar with what a tornado is, it's kind of like an egg roll with sausage, egg, and cheese in it. Our school cafeteria serves them for breakfast, and I swear there's also crack in them. They are just way too good. So, I decided I would try to make them myself. For now, my version will not replace what they serve at school. But I did come up with a good start.

Next time, I might be brave enough to try chicken. I need to cook chicken breasts in an Instant Pot for about 20 minutes to get shreddable chicken. Then mix that with the coleslaw mix and scallions sitting neglected in the refrigerator, a splash of soy sauce, and... well, it sounds easy anyway. I will need more egg roll wrappers, but now I know where to find them. (I just ask Paula, and she picks them up.)