Ham and Cheese Sticks
Filipino cheese sticks are really savory spring rolls. The filling may be plain cheese or, if you prefer more nuance, throw in cured meat and spices too. These ham and cheese sticks make a lovely mid-afternoon snack. Imagine sitting in the garden, munching on these crispy-with-gooey-cheese snack, and washing the spring rolls down with cold fruit juice.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
Garlic-herb mayo dipping sauce
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 clove garlic - grated
- ½ teaspoon chopped herbs - whatever your favorite is; may also be a combination of herbs
Ham and cheese sticks
- ¾ cup cold ham - any kind, cubed
- ¾ cup cold mozzarella - cubed
- 1 finger chili - finely sliced
- 2 to 3 stalks scallions - finely sliced
- salt - to taste
- pepper - to taste
- 8 to 12 spring roll wrappers - (sizes vary)
- 1 egg - beaten
- 2 cups cooking oil
Instructions
- Place the mozzarella, ham, chili and scallions in a container. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss lightly a few times.
- Place a tablespoonful or more of the filling on a spring roll wrapper.
- Fold the corner (or edge if you’re using a round wrapper) of the wrapper nearest you over the filling.
- Take one corner (or edge) on the side and fold it inward. The fold should be where the filling ends. Do the same with the opposite side.
- Brush all the outer edges to really seal the spring rolls as you roll them.
- Start rolling the spring roll away from you, rolling as tightly as you can. Keep on rolling until you reach the edges brushed with egg wash.
- Repeat until all the wrappers are filled and rolled, or until you run out of filling, whichever comes first.
- Heat the cooking oil and fry the spring rolls in batches of four to five just until the wrappers turn golden (see notes after the recipe).
- Drain the spring rolls on paper towels.
- Serve with garlic-herb mayo for dipping.
Cook’s Notes
For best results, use cold ham and cold mozzarella and cut them into cubes small enough to easily stuff into the wrappers but large enough so that the cheese does not melt too fast but just enough to get stringy. I find one-fourth inch cubes to be the ideal size. I do not recommended grating the mozzarella to avoid the cheese from melting too fast and leaking out of the wrappers during frying.
Each batch should take no more than two minutes to fry. There is nothing raw in the filling — you’re just frying to make the wrapper crisp and to melt the cheese.
These ham and cheese sticks can be prepped a day ahead, frozen and fried a few minutes before they are needed (see how to store uncooked spring rolls).
Updated from a recipe originally published in 10/17/2012
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