Deconstructed Egg Rolls...or Eastern Kentucky Style Chinese Food

On the menu for tonight was a spin-off of the Eastern Kentucky favorite fried cabbage. Before you get all up in arms about a fried food on a weight loss blog, let me clarify. It’s not really fried. It’s more steamed. We just call it fried because you cook it in a large, deep skillet. In my neck of the woods if you cook it in a skillet, that constitutes frying.  

(Please excuse the picture quality on this blog. I seriously do not have time to get out the good camera, take composed, pinterest worthy photos, edit them, and then upload them. You’ll just have to make do with my instagram photos with my not so good smart phone.)

We call it deconstructed egg rolls. (Or inside out egg rolls if you want a whimsical name.)

-1 pound of lean ground pork (dave grinds our own from a pork loin)
-1 small onion cut into slivers/strips
-1 green pepper cut into slivers/strips
-3-4 carrots peeled and grated
-one medium head of cabbage chopped/shredded
-1/8 cup soy sauce
-1/8 cup terryaki (sp?) sauce
-a couple dashes of worchestershire sauce
-1 cup of chicken, or beef, broth

-brown the ground pork in a large, deep skillet and remove from pan and drain (you  may need a few tablespoons of olive oil to brown in since it is very lean)
-saute onion in the pork drippings and a couple tablespoons of olive oil until soft.
-reduce heat to medium
-add everything else to the pan and stir it around to coat everything.
-cover and let it cook for about 20-25 minutes. stirring occasionally. basically until it's done. if you want your cabbage to have a bit more bite/texture, then cook less time. if you want it more tender, cook it longer.

You can bake some wonton wrappers and serve alongside if you want. We didn’t this time, but it really completes the ‘feel’ of the meal when you do. 

It averages about 300 calories for ¼ of the skillet (2.5 cups) once you are done. It depends on the size of your cabbage, the calories in the sauces, size of peppers and carrots, etc. 

(Also, please know that I KNOW this is probably not how egg rolls are prepared. We just do our own thing with flavors we like. It reminds us of the inside of an egg roll, so that's what we call it.)