For the days when you need an egg roll, but you’re too tired to go out and get some, your favorite place is closed for quarantine, you thought there were more frozen egg rolls in the box in the freezer but IT’S JUST AN EMPTY CARDBOARD BOX. My love for egg rolls runs deep. My family is Japanese American, and when we make egg rolls, they look like this. Drool.

But so much work. Not really a Tuesday kind of thing. When the craving strikes, have an egg roll bowl. Make sure to use all of the Sloth Shortcuts to make this a quick, stress-free meal.

First let’s discuss the concept of the food “bowl.” Cultures have been putting food in bowls or bowl like items, like flat rocks (is this true? I don’t know) for centuries. Today millennials and gen Z or whoever is calling everything a ____ bowl. Smoothie bowl. Wellness bowl. Greens bowl. Rose bowl. Wait, that last one is football.

Why all the bowls?

For me, it simplifies it in my brain. Instead of feeling like I have to make a main dish, a side dish, a vegetable dish…. it’s too much for a Tuesday night. Dumping a few things in a bowl feels like a catch-all, more like one dish instead of 85 things I need to do. It’s flexible. It’s forgiving. It’s your friend.

Egg Roll Bowls

The basic components are…

Rice – You could use any kind, but I used nice, creamy, wonderful white rice. If you’re feeling really healthy, you could do broccoli or something. I don’t know. Go with God.

Protein – I like ground beef. My Japanese Grandma always uses ground beef in her adapted eggroll recipe and I love it, so this is what I use. I also usually have it in my freezer. You could also use ground turkey or ground pork. Cook in in a bunch of spices like garlic, ginger, and soy sauce.

Veggies/Toppings – sauté the meat with some sliced onion and a carrot and cabbage mixture. Don’t wilt it into oblivion, leave it some crunch. This is important because your tastebuds and your mouthbuds and all of the other buds need some TEXTURE. This is what keeps the bowl from becoming a gelatinous blob.

Other toppings that are great are green onions and wonton chips. Or… top with frozen dumplings like I did here.

Sauce – Sriracha that I BOUGHT and a Trader Joe’s sweet and sour sauce that I BOUGHT with my cash money. You could make one, but this is a Tuesday night dinner you guys. Don’t stress yourself out. You don’t have to make the sauce with your bare hands. If you want to get fancy, mix TWO of these bought sauces together and crown yourself a sauce queen or king.

Even better? Drizzle both sauces on your bowl and now it looks like a beautiful sauce montage, like you meant it to be that way, and not that you just didn’t want to get another bowl dirty.

Bowls! Assemble! Layer into the bowls in that order – a scoop of rice, a scoop of meat and cabbage mixture, and do a nice drizzle generously with both sauces over that beautiful bowl.

Sloth Shortcuts

Too many steps for a Tuesday? I agree. Here are some sloth shortcuts:

• Sloth Shortcut #1: Use a bag of frozen chopped cabbage and carrots or a cole slaw mix from the bagged salad section of the grocery store.

• Sloth Shortcut #2: Use a bag of frozen, cooked rice (I always cook big batches of rice and freeze them)

• Sloth Shortcut #3: Use a bag of cooked ground beef, if previous sloth you had the foresight to freeze one.

• Sloth Shortcut #4: Get Thee to Trader Joe’s or your grocery store and stock up on a few of their yummy sauces.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Egg Roll Bowls

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey or ground pork
• ½ onion sliced thin
• 3 cups fresh shredded cabbage and carrots
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 t ground ginger or fresh grated ginger if you have it
• 1 t garlic powder
• ½ t black pepper
• Toppings optional: green onions, wonton chips
• Sauces: sweet and sour sauce sriracha sauce

Instructions

• Sauté beef until browned and add spices and soy sauce.
• Add onion, shredded cabbage and carrots, and cook until slightly softened but still crunchy, 1-2 minutes.
• Put ½ cup rice in each bowl, and top with meat and cabbage mixture. Add toppings and sauces, and enjoy!