Pork and Mushroom Golden Bags Are the Deliciously Easy Appetizer to Have at Your Next Holiday Party
It’s the season of family dinners and festive holiday parties. As much as we may focus on seasonal cocktails, it’s always a good idea to have some hearty appetizers to offer guests as they arrive and mingle. And Kristina Cho’s Pork and Mushroom Golden Bags are just the filling and festive holiday appetizer we have in mind.
The golden bags are fried dumplings, filled with pork and mushrooms, but what makes them extra perfect for the holidays is that they are wrapped in a perfect bow … of green onion, that is. While she had us at savory fried appetizer, these golden bags are also adorable, and seem quite simple to make. The base for the golden bags are spring roll wrappers, which are easily accessible at many grocery stores. Cho opts for 6-inch square versions, but she says in her blog post that any size you can find is fine as long as you trim them down to size.
As for the filling, dried shiitake mushrooms are soaked in boiling water until hydrated, and then diced. You’ll then want to mix that with pork, garlic chives, oyster sauce, white pepper, salt, and sesame oil. Afterwards, place a spoonful of the filling in your spring roll wrapper, and gather up the sides as if you were wrapping a gift. Your last step is to secure the “gift” with the green onion before dropping the bundle into a pot of oil to fry in batches until golden brown — which should take about 2 to 3 minutes.
The holiday season can be a lot of work — especially if you are entertaining — but these golden bags will be a joy because they can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. Just drop the bags in the fryer when you are ready to serve. They are also very versatile in that you can easily switch out the filling for any meat or vegetable your guests prefer. If you’d rather keep them vegetarian, that can be delicious, or the pork can be switched out for chicken, beef, or any other protein. This opens up tons of tasty possibilities.
An added bonus of these tasty savory bundles? Everyone will have something special to unwrap, even before it’s time to open presents!