Harumaki Recipe (Japanese Spring Rolls)

Hey everyone, it's Yuto from SachiRecipes.com and today I'm going to show you how to make a crispy and delicious Japanese version of spring rolls, we call Harumaki. This recipe makes enough for 10 spring rolls and there's quite a lot of preparation involved so let's get straight to it. I've put ingredients list in the description so let's start with the cabbage. This is about 150 grams and I'm going to cut it into thin strips like this. White or green cabbage is best for this recipe, don't use one with frilly leaves. We cut all the vegetables quite thin so that they're easier to roll up in the Harumaki later. It also helps them cook quicker. Next, I have 3 peamon. These are about 30 grams altogether and again, I'm just going to finely slice them. I've already cut off the tops and taken out the seeds to speed up the process. If you can't find peamon in your country, it's perfectly fine to use bell pepper. You wouldn't need a whole bell pepper though, somewhere between a quarter and a half is plenty. Then, I've got carrot. I'm using 30 grams, that's about half of a medium-sized carrot. I've already peeled this so now we just cut it into thin slices. Once they're sliced, you can then stack the slices on top of each other and cut them into thin strips. I also use 50 grams of bamboo shoots in this recipe but I can't show you the cutting technique in this video because I bought them already cut. The bamboo shoot should be about the same length and thickness as carrot so refer to the carrot cutting if you're cutting bamboo. I recommend using canned bamboo shoot slices. Next, we have 3 shiitake mushrooms. I've already cut off the stems and now I just thinly slice them like this. Shiitake mushrooms are used a lot in Japanese cooking because they add umami to the dish when they're cooked. They have a rich, earthy, almost meaty taste to them. The next ingredient is 30 grams of spring onion. In Japanese, we call it negi. And for harumaki, we are only using the white part which has a stronger flavour. My technique for cutting this is to hold it at one end and then slice it lengthwise until I reach the middle. I repeat this all the way around until it looks like a tassel like this. Then we can cut it into tiny pieces and the flavour is going to spread evenly throughout the spring roll. I also want my fresh ginger to be cut like this so take 10 grams of peeled ginger and cut slices. Just like the carrot from earlier, stack the slices and cut thin strips. Then we can cut the strips into smaller pieces like this. My final ingredient for the filling is pork. I'm using thinly sliced shoulder and I'm just going to cut it up into small rough pieces. I like using thinly sliced pork like this because it has a nice amount of fat without making the spring rolls too greasy. Some people use ground pork but this roughly cut pork has a better texture in my opinion. Once it's cut, place it in a bowl, sprinkle it with a pinch of salt and pepper and add a drizzle of sesame oil. We'll mix that around and then set it aside for later. Okay, next we're going to cook the filling. Take a pan that has a lid and heat it on medium. Once it starts to get hot, add a drizzle of sesame oil and your cabbage. We just want to stir fry this a bit until the cabbage is slightly softened. It doesn't take long because it's thinly sliced. Once it looks like this, add 300ml of chicken stock and 2 tablespoons of sake. Place the lid on and allow it to cook for 3 minutes. It looks like a lot of liquid now but later we'll be cooking noodles in here. It's also going to add amazing flavour to the filling so don't worry about it for now. After 3 minutes, we can take the pan off the heat and set it aside for later. Next, take a large wok or pan, heat it on medium and fry the pork until it's seared on the outside. Basically, just stir fry it until it's lightly browned. We're cooking the filling first so that we don't have to worry about it being undercooked in the wrapper. It's a great dish for parties because you can do all the time-consuming bits in advance and then the final fry only takes a few minutes on each side. Once your pork is browned, add the spring onion and ginger. We'll just fry them a bit until they're fragrant. Next, add your vegetables. I'm going in with the bamboo shoots first and then the rest of the vegetables. You can see that everything is similar size so it's going to cook quickly and be easy to roll later. Flavour the mixture by adding half a tablespoon of soy sauce, half a tablespoon of oyster sauce and half a tablespoon of sugar. Stir fry everything together for a minute or two and then pour in the content from the other pan. Next, we're going to add about 30 grams of vermicelli rice noodles. In Japanese, we call them harusame. I'd say thinner noodles are better for harumaki so use the thinnest ones you can get. Once the noodles are softened, add a slurry. This is one tablespoon of cold water mixed with one teaspoon of cornstarch. Just pour it in, mix it and let it simmer. Adding the slurry makes the chicken stock thicken up and become more like a thick sauce which is going to make the harumaki filling juicy and delicious. From now, we just keep heating it until the liquid is basically gone. This step is important because if your filling is too wet, it's going to break the wrappers and be difficult to roll. You can tell if the filling is too wet by pushing the mixture aside and then tilting the pan. If liquid comes out like this, keep cooking. Once normal runny liquid comes out like this, then it's ready and we can take it off the heat. Now, I'm sure you want to get on with making the harumaki already but one of the most important steps is to let the filling cool down completely. If you don't, then it's another thing that could break the wrappers. Cooling takes time so I like to transfer it to a container and once it's cooled to the touch, I keep it in the fridge until I'm ready to assemble. Okay, it's been cooling for a few hours but we have a couple more things to do before we can roll the harumaki. First, the noodles are quite long so take some kitchen scissors and cut them up. This step makes it easier to divide the mixture evenly. Next, we can roughly divide the filling into 10 portions. This ensures that each harumaki is roughly the same size. It doesn't need to be perfect, just a general measure so that you don't run out or have too much mixture left at the end. Next, I'm going to take a spring roll wrapper. These are square shaped so turn it 45 degrees so that you have a diamond like this. We place a portion of the filling across the wrapper horizontally. It should be just below the centre. Make sure to leave enough space on the edge to prevent gaps. Now bring the bottom corner up to the middle. Fold each edge over at a right angle. It should be straight like this. Roll it up once more and then wet the top edges. I've made a paste using 1 tablespoon of plain flour mixed with 2 tablespoons of cold water. This acts like a glue and stops the harumaki from falling apart. Finally, I press it slightly so it's a little bit flattened. This stops it from rolling over when we cook it in the oil. Repeat these steps until you've got 10 harumaki. There are a few important things to consider when rolling harumaki. The first is rolling it tightly so that there aren't any holes or gaps. If there are holes, the oil is more likely to seep inside and make it greasy. It's also going to react to the liquid in the filling and splash which can be kind of dangerous and messy. Another thing to consider is that spring roll wrappers have a smooth side and a rough side. The smooth side should be on the outside so it should be facing down when you roll it. The rough side should be facing up and touching the filling. Okay, that's the last one. It's time to fry. I have heated my oil to 160 degrees Celsius which is about 320 degrees Fahrenheit. All we need to do now is wait for them to turn golden on the outside. This should only take a few minutes on each side. You might think 160 degrees sounds a bit low for frying but spring roll wrappers cook quite quickly. If you fry them at a higher temperature than this, you'll find they might get too dark or even burn. Because the filling is already cooked, we don't need to worry about it being undercooked in the middle. It only needs to be heated through and a few minutes at this temperature is plenty of time. Like I mentioned earlier, spring roll is a great party dish because you can make the filling and roll the spring roll in advance. You could even do it the night before. After that, each batch should only take about 5 minutes to fry. It's very quick. If you don't like deep frying, there's also the option of baking them in the oven. The problem with oven baking is that they don't brown evenly all over. But they do get crispy and I know lots of people do it, especially if they're making a large batch. If you do want to bake them, brush or spray them with a little oil and bake for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Ok, my spring rolls are cooked. Let's eat. Listen to the crunch. So crispy and perfect. We usually serve harumaki with soy sauce and Japanese mustard. So there you have it, crispy and delicious Japanese-style harumaki. Thanks so much for watching. If you like Japanese-style harumaki, I'm sure you'll enjoy my recipe for pan-fried gyoza dumplings too. Don't forget to support my channel by subscribing. Hope to see you next time. Have a great day. Bye.