Sunday, November 4, 2012

Homemade take away holy grail - Chiko Rolls

What the, is a Chiko Roll I hear you non-Aussies ask. At it's simplest explanation it's an Australian version of an egg roll. Here's the wiki about it and it's history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiko_Roll 

Chiko rolls are one of the hardest things to find a recipe for so hard in fact, that I pieced this together from a couple of different recipes and the ingredients listed on the manufacturers website. Some recipes call for curry powder or Chinese 5 spice powder which shows you how "authentic" they are. Some even call for rice, which is not even remotely associated with them. And none of them call for barley, which is an ingredient. The hardest part of making these would be the pastry...it is an egg and flour pastry that I have not and honestly could not replicate. From what I can find out, the machine they use to make the pastry into the tubes is proprietary, so you just can't buy them. Most recipes call for spring roll pastry, which is way too thin. I used egg roll pastry which is thicker and works so much better, in fact, next time, I'm going to experiment with layering 2 sheets on top of each other, but for this version, I just used one.

Here is a picture of an original Chiko roll and the insides, courtesy of a mate in South Australia  named Tanya. So, thank you Tanya for ducking down the road, getting a Chiko roll and dissecting it for me!






So on to the recipe. I honestly believe that this is as close as you can get to the real thing.   


Chiko Rolls

2 tsp butter
1.5 cups green cabbage, finely shredded
1 celery stick, finely sliced
1 cup cooked barley
green beans
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, cut in half and finely sliced
200g ground beef or cooked ground lamb
1 chicken stock cube
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp sugar
Salt
8 sheets egg roll pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten
Vegetable oil for frying

Remove the egg roll pastry from the fridge to defrost.

Cook the beef or lamb until browned and crumbly. I used lamb because I had it in the freezer and the original recipe used lamb or mutton, but now they are made with beef.



Melt the butter on a medium heat in a frying pan. Add the onion, cabbage, celery, green beans and carrot to the frying pan and cook until soft.




Add the beef and the chicken stock cube and cook until heated through. Add the flour, mix in and cook for a further 5 minutes.




Lay out 1 pastry sheet at a time, keeping the rest under a moist clean tea towel.

Lay 3 tablespoons of mixture at the bottom centre of the sheet and fold the sides in to the middle and roll.




Brush the end with egg to adhere to the pastry. Cover rolls with a moist tea towel. Repeat until all the mixture is used.

Blanch in 300F oil for 5 minutes, drain and allow to cool.



Fry in 350F oil until golden.




And here is the end result...awesomeness! 





This was really one of the hardest recipes I have done so far...not in the making, but just in getting the recipe. Now that I've done it, it won't be years before I have another Chiko Roll.

Enjoy.

Matt

33 comments:

  1. Matt, great work! I love this post. Keep it up!
    Leah

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  2. australia day around the corner - but we are living in the UK - so lets hope your recipe works!!! It looks promising!

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    Replies
    1. Likewise, I'm only in NZ but haven't enjoyed a chiko in 10 years! ↘﹏↙

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    2. good work. looking at making some but with my own pastry, and no barley

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  3. I'm curious to find out how they turned out and did you like them?

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  4. I am attending an "Ausie" pot luck dinner and thought I would try this recipe - it looks great. Should the rolls be served with any sauce or dip?

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  5. Thank you. No sauce required...they not like egg rolls.

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    Replies
    1. .........and the cup of cooked barley?

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  6. Thanks for this! I'm an Aussie living in LA and am DYING for a chikko roll! Will give this a go :)

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  7. Hi Matt!

    This looks delicious!! Can you clarify what type of pastry sheets you used? I can only really see spring roll pastry sheets at my woolies, is that the same as you used? If not, where did you get your egg roll pastry sheets?

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  8. You have sugar in the ingredients but not in the recipe so when does that go in?

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  9. Sorry I took so long to reply.

    I appologise for the sugar. Add it when you add the stock cube.

    As for the egg roll sheets...good question. You might need to go to an Asian store and see what they have. Egg rolls are an American chinese food as far as I know. You could use wonton rolls because they are thicker than the spring roll wrappers. Failing that, try to find a wrapper that is thicker than the spring roll ones or you'll just end up with spring rolls.

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  10. 1/2 to 1 cup...whatever you feel is best. I used 1 cup.

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  11. HI,Matt..where can i buy the egg rolls pastry?or did you have the recipe of the pastry?thank you..

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  12. Malou,

    The pastry can be gotten at almost any Asian supermarket or grocery store. If you can't find Egg Roll wrappers, you can use big wonton wrappers. Failing that, you could us spring roll wrappers, but you'd need to layer quite a few on each other to get the thickness you want.

    The pastry for Chiko rolls is proprietry and I couldn't find any recipes for them. I did find out that they use a special machine to make the rolls and the pastry is quite wet when it's formed, making it pretty much impossible to make at home.

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  13. Deffenatly gonna try this recipe good recipe to have incase we eventually loose the chiko roll :(

    Great work :)

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  14. I've been a bit slack popping by to see your works of art Matty, these little beauties look wonderful! I'll give them a go soon. Thanks!
    Teresa :)

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  15. Did anyone try this out?

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    Replies
    1. I believe some people have tried then and they said that they were really good.

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  16. That's exactly how I make them but I add some corn kernels and creamed corn to suit consistency...the bought ones are nice but homemade you cant beat for flavour.. thanks

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  17. Thanks, Matt. Greetings from Panabo City, just outside Davao City, Philippines. I'm a retired Aussie expat. While I enjoy Filipino food, I also crave for good quality Aussie food at times. One of my biggest problems is securing the exact ingredients. Short of flying them in, that's often impossible, so I'm forever forced to improvise. The required barley is a case in point. I expect to have to substitute mung beans.
    Regards...George

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    Replies
    1. Thanks George. You may be able to get away with out using it. You could substitute with aborio rice or brown rice.

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    2. Yes, brown rice rice may suffice, and that is plentiful here. I have never seen "Aborio rice", but it may carry a different label. Quite often native names are used for rice.

      Regards...George

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  18. Hi Matt. Matt what type of Barley did you use? Pearl, Hulled, etc

    Chris

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  19. Hi Chris,

    Sorry about the late reply. I used pearl.

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  20. Chiko Roll Batter

    This is how they make the batter I got it from master chef hope it helps :) make sure you read the recipe through carefully its a bit confusing but you can make it out. main part is for the crepe base mixture and then the last bit for the Chiko Roll Batter.

    Chiko Roll Batter
    MasterChef Ep- 48 - Marion's Chiko Roll

    Chicko Batter
    1 cup flour
    2 eggs, water
    1.5L peanut oil, for frying

    For the crepes, mix flour and water with a pinch of salt until smooth. ip a piece of paper towel in melted butter and use to brush base of a 16cm non-stick crepe pan or frypan over medium heat. When hot, pour in just enough batter to cover the base. Tilt pan so batter covers base in a thin film and pour any excess back into the jug. Cook crepe for about 1 minute until underside is golden, then use a metal spatula to flip. Cook other side for just under a minute until golden. Heat a crepe pan until hot, then smear with a thin layer of the crepe batter, using your fingers to spread it out evenly being careful not to burn yourself. Let the crepe cook for about 20-30 seconds then gently peel the crepe back from the edge and pull away from the pan. Place on paper towels on a small baking tray and cover with more paper towels until ready to use.

    For the Chicko batter, make a well in the flour and add eggs. Mix well and add water a little at a time to make a smooth thick batter.

    6. To form the rolls, place 1 tablespoon chiko filling along the centre of one crepe and roll up, tucking ends in as you go. Seal flap with a little of the crepe batter.

    7. To cook the chiko rolls, heat peanut oil in a wok until the end of a wooden spoon makes the oil sizzle. Dip rolls into Chicko batter and place immediately in hot oil. Fry, turning a few times until golden. Drain on paper towels.

    good luck from Eileen Melbourne,vic

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  21. i have loved chiko's since the 1970's....goin to try this recipe and will give a feed back,am thinkin that a egg roll pastry can be swapped with a very thin,an i do mean thin,maybe 2 mls of a shortcrust pastry

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