Egg Rolls (Spring Rolls) [Pork(?)]

ARTICLE

PORK(?)
	Vegetable Egg Rolls at Chinese restaurants are often deep-fried in pork-contaminated oil. View our recipe for Halal Shrimp and Chicken Spring Rolls! An egg roll, as typically prepared in Chinese-American restaurants.

Spotlight Halal:
Egg Rolls (Spring Rolls)

Spotlight Halal is a collection of food and ingredient articles on IsItHaram.com.

WHAT IS IT?

The egg roll and its cousin the spring roll are deep-fried Chinese appetizers stuffed with shredded vegetables, shrimp and/or meat. They have become a staple of Asian cuisine the world over.

Though similar to the spring roll, the egg roll is generally larger; has a thicker, chewier, puffier skin; is crunchier; and has more filling, however, the terms "spring roll" and "egg roll" are often used somewhat interchangeably. The terms 'summer roll,' 'cold roll,' 'spring roll,' and 'garden roll' all refer to the non-fried versions of this food.

In Chinese-American Restuarants, egg rolls are typically stuffed with cabbage and usually bits of meat or seafood – most often pork or shrimp. They are a standard component of Chinese fast food combination plates.

Have a food question? Search foods and ingredients or ask the IsItHaram team.

HOW IS IT MADE?

Halal Recipe: Chicken & Shrimp Spring Rolls

Both Egg Rolls and Spring Rolls are made by wrapping a combination of chopped vegetables (often cabbage, carrot and bean sprouts), pork , chicken or seafood, and sometimes noodle, in a thin sheet of wheat or rice based dough, then deep-frying the package until crispy.

- - Try our recipe for Halal Chicken & Shrimp Spring Rolls . --

WARNING LEVEL: HIGH

For those among us who grew up eating Chinese restaurant favorites such as chicken fingers, egg rolls, fried rice and egg foo yung, these dishes can still tempt. Many Muslims take the approach of simply adapting their order, ordering “vegetable” or “shrimp” versions of their favorite Chinese foods: vegetable / shrimp fried rice, vegetable egg foo young, shrimp egg roll, etc.

This approach is flawed and dangerous. Pork is an inseparable, intregal ingredient of most Chinese cuisine. It forms the basis for the master soup broths used for hot and sour and wonton soups, for sauces such as ‘brown sauce’ ‘lobster sauce,’ and for egg foo yung gravy. In typical Chinese restaurants, the popular entrée ‘ sweet and sour pork ’ and the ubiquitous pork egg roll are both deep-fried in the same oil as the Muslim’s vegetable or shrimp egg roll.

Islamic Law says that when an otherwise halal food is contaminated with a haram substance, it too becomes haram . When an 'halal' egg roll is fried, the pork-contaminated frying oil saturates it inside and out, rendering the vegetable egg roll as haram as the pork-filled egg rolls are .

If you think you can avoid pork at Chinese restaurants, simply by substituting it for shrimp, chicken, veggies or beef in your favorite entree, know that you CANNOT.

AMNA RECOMMENDS

Try authentic Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine, seeking out those restaurants that specifically do not list pork on their menus. Fresh, non-fried, Vietnamese seafood or vegetarian garden rolls ( gỏi cuốn) are a good choice. In most major cities of Western countries where there is a significant Muslim population - places like New York, Toronto, Washington D.C., Detroit, Boston, Houston and London - halal Chinese restaurants have sprouted. Such restaurants are similar to other Chinese restaurants except there is no pork on the menu .

For egg rolls made at home, choose wrappers whose current ingredient list and certification meet your dietary requirements. Check the filling and cooking oil separately.

WHAT DOES PORK(?) MEAN?

PORK(?) is the rating that we give to any food that likely, but not always, contains pork or a pig-derived product. The "?" next to the pig on the icon, coupled with the information we provide in the detailed food description, prompt you to take a second look at foods that you otherwise may not have suspected. Ask informed questions of your waiter when dining out. Take a closer look at the Ingredients list on food packaging. Our goal at IsItHaram.com is to provide you with practical information that helps you make informed decisions about the foods you eat.

AMNA Muslim Food Advisor, a service of IsItHaram.com , rates Egg Rolls as PORK(?) because the method by which they are most commonly made causes them to be contaminated with pork , regardless of the filling contents. To search food ratings online, visit IsItHaram.com and enter a food in the AMNA Online search box on the right-hand side of the screen.

SPECIAL NOTE: ISLAM IN CHINA / CHINESE MUSLIM CUISINE (清真菜)

Islam has a long history in China, reaching that country even before Quraish adopted Islam - before the conquest of Mecca (عام الفتح). In the year 650, the maternal uncle of the prophet Mohammed (صلى الله عليه وسلم), Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas , was sent as an official envoy to Emperor Gaozong during Caliph Uthman's era. Today, the Muslim populations of China are concentrated in the northwest provinces, with significant numbers in the southwest and central Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Henan. Of China’s 55 officially recognized minority peoples, ten groups are predominately Muslim. These are the Hui, Uyghur, Kazakh, Dongxiang, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajik, Uzbeks, Bonan, and the Tatar.

The term 'halal' is translated into Mandarin Chinese as 'pure truth' or quingzhen (清真). Therefore, the cuisine of ethnically Chinese Muslims is known as qingzhen food.

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pdf Download a PDF of this Article and recipe here ( http://www.IsItHaram.com/features/eggrolls.pdf )

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