Halifax Meat Paste Egg Rolls

Time for another East Coast Canadian Recipe!

SO far, Newfoundland has been the most represented east coast province here on this blog, and in my Canadian cookbook, "More Than Poutine: Favourite Foods from my Home and Native Land".

I'd lived there for a time, honeymooned there, and generally see the province as being my favourite place on the planet, so... there may be some bias at play there!

Here on the blog, you can find Newfoundland recipes like my Partridgeberry Pie, Partridgeberry Wine, Sweet Mustard Pickles, and Gluten Free Cod au Gratin.

If I had any access to moose meat at ALL here in Ontario, I'd finally do up a recipe for my absolute favourite: Moose Stew. Augh. I used to make the *best* moose stew. I'd use both the aforementioned partridgeberry wine, as well as some wild Blueberry Wine, which really accented the gaminess of the moose in a fantastic way. Oh, I miss it.

Newfoundland is the only province to have an entire chapter in More Than Poutine. Ooops. Yeah, bias!

Nova Scotia Recipes

When it comes to Nova Scotia, it has some great representation in More Than Poutine - there's all kinds of excellent food from that province: Blueberry Grunt, Cape Breton Pork Pies (Spoiler: Not pork!), Chicken Fricot, Chow Chow, Hodge Podge, Lobster Rolls, and more.

A few of the recipes have made it to the blog - Moon Mist Ice Cream, and Beep - A sugary juice drink I grew up on - for instance.

I even created a Vegan Donair Meat recipe, so my husband could enjoy the deliciousness. That one was wild - if I hadn't made it myself, I would never have pegged that as being a fake meat!

If you're interested in learning more about Nova Scotia food, be sure to check out Eat This Town, a food blog out of Nova Scotia. Their Iconic Foods of Canada - Nova Scotia post is a great start!

Today, I'm sharing my recipe for Halifax style "Meat Paste" egg rolls. Excuse the colour, I'd actually had to use ground chicken when photographing the recipe, as neither my husband or I could eat pork at the time!

First, a bit of information ...

Halifax Egg Rolls

Egg rolls are a funny thing in Canada - they vary wildly based on region.

In most places, they’re wrapped the way described here - and in my Reuben Poppers - rather than the burrito-style wrapping that is common in the USA. (Well, at least in Minnesota!)

In Ottawa, they’re cylindrical and mostly meat. One end is left open, and the meat spilling out gets very brown - those “burnt end” eggrolls are hugely popular!

In Halifax, it’s all about the meat paste egg rolls.

Sure, there’s a small amount of vegetable matter in there... but it’s dwarfed and enveloped by the star of the show - meat!

How to Assemble Halifax Style Egg Rolls

- Lay out an egg roll wrapper on your workspace. I like to cover my counter with parchment paper (for easier cleanup!), then lay out all 10 wrappers. Efficiency!

- Using a pastry brush (or just your fingers!), brush a bit of water around the entire edge of the wrapper – about a 1" border.

- Measure about ¼ cup of filling in the center of the wrapper.

- Fold one side of the wrapper across the filling, to about ⅔ of the way across the wrapper.

- Fold the other side of the wrapper across the first side, effectively folding the sheet into thirds, while enclosing the filing.

- Gently squeezing air out as you work, press firmly down on all edges, to seal. Repeat for remaining filling / wrappers.

- Optionally, brush a bit of water across the ends of the egg rolls, and fold about ¾" of the end back on itself, as pictured below.

I'd done this for a few of the egg rolls, before remembering that I was thinking more Winnipeg (??) style - Halifax style doesn't tend to flip them.

Whoops. Old habits fie hard, I guess.

Including it here as a bit of an explanation for the differences in photos!

Baked Egg Rolls

While these are traditionally deep fried - and that’s what the recipe calls for - you can also make these as baked egg rolls.

To do so:

- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, spray with nonstick cooking spray, Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C)

- Arrange egg rolls - seam side down - on baking sheet, brush with oil.

- Bake for 10 minutes.

- Flip egg rolls over, bake for another 10 minutes, or until crispy and golden.

How to Make Plum Sauce

It was always amazing to me, just how different “the basics” were, when living in the US.

In Minneapolis, the egg rolls were always served with “Duck Sauce”, which was similar to plum sauce, but.. Not quite.

In Canada, a lot of the plum sauce is produced by the same company who puts out the Honey Garlic Sauce - and others.

It actually involves a base of pumpkin puree, where many commercially available plum sauces outside of Canada don’t contain any pumpkin at all.

While all-plum plum sauce is going to be higher quality, in general... sometimes you just want what you’re used to. “Canadian style plum sauce” was a frequent request when it came to polling about what belonged in More Than Poutine!

My recipe diverges slightly from source material in that I skipped the trace amounts of tomato and molasses - they just weren’t necessary, and over-complicated things.

This is a nice, clean tasting sauce. Very close to the source material, but fresher tasting. It’s great as a dip for egg rolls, chicken fingers, spring rolls, etc..

Plum Sauce Recipe

Makes about 1 cup

2 Plums
⅓ cup White vinegar
⅓ cup Granulated sugar
¼ cup Pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon Corn starch
2 teaspoon Lemon juice
¼ teaspoon Crushed chilies / red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon Garlic powder
¼ teaspoon Ginger powder
Salt and pepper, to taste

Peel and chop plums, discard pits. Add plums to a food processor or blender along with remaining ingredients - except salt and pepper - process until very smooth.

Strain mixture through a wire strainer, stirring until only dry solids remain. Discard solids.

Transfer plum mixture to a medium saucepan, Bring to a boil, turn heat down to low, and gently simmer for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat, cool to room temperature. Season with salt and pepper to taste, cover, and chill until use.

This recipe is one of many fantastic Canadian recipes in my cookbook, "More Than Poutine: Favourite Foods from my Home and Native Land”.

"More than Poutine" is a Canadian cookbook like no other - written by a Canadian living away, it includes both traditional home cooking recipes, as well as accurate homemade versions of many of the snacks, sauces, convenience foods, and other food items that are hard to come by outside of Canada!

Order your copy here on this site, through Amazon, or through any major bookseller!

More Canadian Comfort Food!

Whether you’re a Canadian in the US or not, we could all use some comfort food these days. Here are some Canadian Favourites!

Back Bacon / Canadian Bacon
Beep
Canadian Popcorn Seasoning Recipes
Clodhoppers
Confetti Bars
Dill Pickle Dip
French Canadian Pea Soup
Homemade Deep N Delicious Cake
Homemade Wunderbars
How to Make Peameal Bacon and Back Bacon
Maple Butter Tarts
Montreal Bagels
Persians Recipe
Poutine, My Way!
Puffed Wheat Squares
Replica Swiss Chalet Sauce
Tiger Tail Ice Cream

Looking for even more Canadian recipes? Check out our full Canadian Recipes list!

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