Crunchy and buttery phoenix egg roll is filled with pork floss and adorned with a strip of seaweed is a popular Macau specialty you can easily make at home.
What is Phoenix Egg Roll?
Macau phoenix egg roll is a variation from the traditional crunchy, buttery, and sweet egg rolls (biscuit rolls). The rolls are made with simple ingredients like butter, eggs, flour, sugar, salt. The rolls are usually filled with seaweed and pork floss, peanuts, coconut, pork jerky. So you have these sweet crunchy rolls filled with savory fillings.
If you have been to Macau, most likely you have visited the Koi Kei Bakery. This bakery shop is famous for its Asian pastries, biscuits, cookies, jerky, and other goodies, usually packaged in attractive packaging suitable for gifting. Phoenix egg roll is one of their specialties.
Recipe rundown
Taste: The egg rolls have the right amount of sweetness. The seaweed and meat floss lend their savory umami tones. What a perfect combination
Texture: Crunchy
Difficulty: Medium
Pros: It’s hard to stop eating just one! (is that a pro or cons? LOL)
Cons: You need a gadget to cook this. You will need either a waffle cone maker, some sort of griddle, krumkake maker, etc to make this
How to make Macau phoenix egg roll with seaweed and pork floss
1. I use a waffle cone maker to cook the batter. You can use a krumkake maker or a pizzelle maker. Preheat it on the lowest heat
2. Place the softened butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat them until creamy and pale. Scrape the side of the bowl to make sure you get all the butter
3. Very gradually add the beaten eggs while beating the butter and sugar. I added them in 4 additions, making sure they are combined each time before adding the next
4. Sift in the flour mixture and use the hand mixer at the lowest speed to combine
5. There may be still some flour on the side of the bowl
6. Use a rubber spatula to scrape and fold over into the batter
7. I use the largest burner on my stove. There are 9 levels of heat control for the stove. I use level 2 out of 9.
Put one piece of seaweed strip horizontally on the waffle cone maker
8. Put about 1 tablespoon of the batter in the middle
and very gently close the cone maker to prevent the batter from oozing out. I wasn’t gentle as you can see LOL!
9. I cook for 10 seconds on one side and then flip over and cook another 10 seconds. I do this again 2 more times for each side. So each side is cooked for 3 times, 10 seconds each to get lightly golden brown. Don’t try to get it too brown because as you fold the egg roll, it may get too dark already by then
10. Uncover the cone maker (or whatever you use). The seaweed side should be facing down
11. Place about 3-5 grams of meat floss in the middle of the egg roll
12. Then use a spatula to help you fold the two sides over and then fold the bottom up and the top down. Usually, they fold the two sides over and then fold the bottom up and then roll over until you reach the other end (that’s how the people at koi kei bakery folded it). I folded mine more like an envelope style. Either way works
12. Place the phoenix egg roll on a cooling rack to let them cool down completely. They crisp up pretty quickly. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
As you can see in my photos here, the first two of mine were too dark because I was still trying to figure out the time and the level of heat to cook them properly. It will get better as you get to the 3rd one (hopefully!)
Troubleshooting
If the phoenix rolls won’t crisp up even after cooling down, most likely it can be one of these or combinations of these reasons:
1. You may not measure the ingredients correctly
2. You may have substituted some ingredients
3. The batter needs to be cooked longer than what I suggested because we all have different stoves and the gadget you use most likely isn’t the same as mine
4. You may have put more batter and it just needs extra time to cook a bit longer
How to store phoenix egg rolls
Once they have cooled down completely, store them in air-tight containers. They stay crispy for days or even weeks if it’s not too humid where you are. The humidity level is around 25% during this time of the year where I am (dry like a desert thanks to the awful winter!) and so these phoenix egg rolls stay crispy for more than one week.
Did you make this Macau phoenix egg roll recipe?
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Macau Phoenix Egg Roll (with Seaweed and Pork Floss)
Ingredients
It is important to weigh your ingredients by weight and not volume for precision
Batter:
- 60 gr butter softened
- 40 gr sugar
- 75 gr eggs room temperature
- 40 gr all-purpose flour
- 10 gr cornstarch
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 sheet nori seaweed
Filling:
- 50 gr meat floss
Instructions
- Please make sure the butter is soft but not melty. The eggs need to be at room temperature as well
- Whisk all-purpose flour, cornstarch, and salt to combine
- Crack 2 eggs in a bowl and whisk them to combine. You will not need 2 eggs. You want to measure out 75 grams to use in the recipe and keep the rest for other use. Please don't add more than the amount called for in the recipe
- I use a waffle cone maker to cook the batter. You can use a krumkake maker or a pizzelle maker. Preheat it on the lowest heat
- Cut the seaweed sheet into 10 strips, about 2-3 cm in width
- I use one offset spatula and one rubber spatula to help me fold the egg rolls later. Use whatever you have and easier for you to work with
Prepare the batter:
- Place the softened butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat them until creamy and pale. Scrape the side of the bowl to make sure you get all the butter
- Very gradually add the beaten eggs while beating the butter and sugar. I added them in 4 additions, making sure they are combined each time before adding the next. Sift in the flour mixture and use the hand mixer at the lowest speed to combine. There may be still some flour on the side of the bowl. Use a rubber spatula to scrape and fold over into the batter
Cook the batter:
- I use the largest burner on my stove. There are 9 levels of heat control for the stove. I use level 2 out of 9.
- Put one piece of seaweed strip horizontally on the waffle cone maker. Put about 1 tablespoon of the batter in the middle and very gently close the cone maker to prevent the batter from oozing out
- I cook for 10 seconds on one side and then flip over and cook another 10 seconds. I do this again 2 more times for each side. So each side is cooked for 3 times, 10 seconds each to get lightly golden brown. Don't try to get it too brown because as you fold the egg roll, it may get too dark already by then
- You will have to experiment with the heat and time on your stove. This also depends on how much batter you use and the gadget you use to cook the egg roll. As you can see in my photos above, the first two of mine were too dark because I was still trying to figure out the time and the level of heat to cook them properly. It will get better as you get to the 3rd one (hopefully!)
Fold the egg roll:
- Uncover the cone maker (or whatever you use). The seaweed side should be facing down. Place about 3-5 grams of meat floss in the middle of the egg roll. Then use a spatula to help you fold the two sides over and then fold the bottom up and the top down. Usually, they fold the two sides over and then fold the bottom up and then roll over until you reach the other end (that's how the people at koi kei bakery folded it). I folded mine more like an envelope style. Either way works
- Place the phoenix egg roll on a cooling rack to let them cool down completely. They crisp up pretty quickly. If phoenix egg roll isn't crisping up, you may need to cook it a bit longer. Repeat with the rest of the batter
Storing:
- Let the phoenix egg roll cools down completely and then store in an air-tight container and they stay crispy for days or weeks. If it's humid where you are, they may not stay crisp that long
