dgkritch, I have a good egg roll recipe from a Chinese cooking class I took many years ago. Our teacher was wonderful and we had a great time and learned a lot. She gave us three recipes for sauces...Fruit Sauce, Plum Sauce and Mustard Sauce. I think it's kind of like wines...no rules, just have what you like. EGG ROLLS Ingredients: 10 oz chicken meat (*I usually use more) 1 T soy sauce 1/2 tsp salt 1 T wine (*I use pale dry sherry) 1 tsp chopped ginger root (or 1/2 t ground ginger) 1 large shredded onion 1 1/2 cups shredded bamboo shoots 1 1/2 cups shredded celery 1 cup shredded mushrooms 1 1/2 T oyster sauce 1 tsp salt 2 T cornstarch and water (makes everything stick together) 1 T flour and 1 T water ("glue" to seal the rolls) 5 cups vegetable oil Procedure: 1. Shred the chicken meat and marinate with soy sauce, salt, wine, ginger root and cornstarch for at least 20 minutes. 2. Heat 5 T oil in a frying pan, stir fry chicken until it turns white. Drain and set aside. Use the remaining oil to stir fry onion, bamboo shoots, celery and mushrooms. Add oyster sauce and salt. Add water if needed (I usually use less oil and I do add water to sort of steam the vegetables instead of frying them.) Cook until the vegetables become wilted but are still crisp. Add cornstarch paste. Stir until thickened. This is the filling. 3. Place 3 T filling in the egg roll wrapper an inch from the edge which is toward you. Fold the edge, then the right side and then the left side toward the center. Roll into a tight roll. Stick outer edge of skin to wrapper with flour paste "glue". 4. Heat the oil to 370 degrees. Deep fry the egg rolls until golden. Drain on paper towels. For the vegetables you may substitute: cabbage chinese cabbage (not bok choy) carrots broccoli bean sprouts This may be served over rice (omit cornstarch paste and add 1 cup chicken broth and 1 T cornstarch to make sauce.) FRUIT SAUCE 1 c. apricot preserves 1 c. applesauce 1/2 c apple cider vinegar 1/2 c brown sugar 2 cloves garlic 1/4 tsp red pepper powder (cayenne) 2 slices ginger root Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat. Stir until mixture boils. Reduce heat an dsimmer without lid for 15 minutes. Pick out giner root and garlic cloves and discard. PLUM SAUCE 1/4 c water 1/2 c plum jam 2 T brown sugar 2 T vinegar Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan. Brint to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. MUSTARD SAUCE 2 T mustard powder 3 T cold water 1/8 tsp salt Mix all ingredients together and serve. I also have recipes for Stir-Fry Beef with Barbecue Sauce, Egg Roll Skins, Mar Far (Chinese cookies), Stir-Fried Cabbage with Brown Peppercorns, Cold Noodle Salad with Sesame Paste Sauce, Stir Fried Chicken Cheng-Tu style, Peking Hot and Sour Soup, Double Cooked Pork and Stir Fried Chicken with Mushrooms (Moo Goo Gai Pan) if anyone's interested. Pam

Here is my recipe for Spanikopita. Delicious stuff and it freezes beautifully. I always try and have some in the freezer for unexpected company or a treat for the two of us. Just keep the sheets covered and you'll be fine. If it tears a bit don't worry. There are lots of folds to hide it. Sharon's Spanikopita recipe 16 Oz Phyllo Dough Thawed in the fridge For 24 Hours 10 Oz Frozen Spinach Thawed and of all liquid Drained 3/4 Lb Feta Cheese 1/2 Lb Cottage Cheese - About 1 Cup Pressed And Drained 1/4 lb Cream Cheese Softened 3 Eggs 1/4 Cup Fresh Dill Chopped Fine Salt Pepper Nutmeg 3/4 Cup Butter Melted In large bowl combine all ingredients except phylo and butter. Working with one sheet of phylo at a time, brush with melted butter and cut in 5 strips lengthwise. Place 1 spoonful of mixture at the bottom of each strip about 1 inch from the bottom,fold the bottom piece up over the filling and then fold up into~triangles. Fold like you fold a flag, to the left, up , to the right ,up etc. These can be made ahead and frozen for up to three months. When ready to cook: Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve warm I made these for a Chinese Cook Up last winter, they are very good . They Lose some of their crispiness but still taste great when reheated. Spring Rolls - Rachel Ray Via Woodie 1 Tbl vegetable oil or olive oil 1/2 red bell pepper chopped fine 2 stalks celery from the heart chopped fine 6 water chestnuts chopped fine 1/2 small onion chopped fine 1/4 Cup fresh bean sprouts a handful chopped 2 (6-ounce) cans lump crab meat drained flaked - or - 12 Oz Cooked chicken 2 Tbl dark soy such as Tamari 1/2 Tspdried thyme leaves eyeball it 4 (13 by 17-inch) sheets defrosted phyllo dough 3 Tbl melted butter Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Add oil to a preheated skillet over medium to medium high heat. Saute pepper, celery, water chestnuts, onion 2 to 3 minutes. Veggies should still have a little crunch. Transfer to a bowl.Add bean spouts, crab, soy and thyme. Combine well with a spoon. Paint half of a sheet of phyllo dough with melted butter and fold sheet in half. Pile a few spoonfuls of filling 2 inches from the bottom of sheet and leaving 2 inches at either side of sheet. Fold bottom flap up and side edges in, then roll up and over until you reach the top of the sheet. Your pastry will look like a spring roll. Touch the edges and sides of your roll with melted butter and place roll seam side down on a pastry sheet. Repeat with the remaining sheets of phyllo dough. Bake in the center of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden all over.

Kathleen, those bamboo steamers have became popular in these past years. You can get them just about anywhere, ie: Target, Amazon.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, Cooking.com, etc.. I prefer the bamboo steamers over to those of aluminum/stainless steel. The bamboo steamers leave the steamed food dry and not soaking wet as the aluminum/stainless do. At another time, I will post how to do Coconut Sweet Rice using this same type of bamboo steamers. Airlinek, the BBQ filling steam buns are of Chinese style. We, Vietnamese, do not make them. I do like them though =) I do have a recipe in one of my Chinese cooking book collection. Let me find it and scan it for you. Please do me a favor. Go to my homepage and send me an e-mail so I can e-mail the scanned document back to you. On the subject line, please put Gardenweb or Cooking Forum so I don't delete it by mistake. Thanks. Dixie, chinese sausage are both sweet and savory and not salty as Italian or other western sausages are. They're mainly made of pork. Almost any Asian supermarkets carry them. Occasionally, you may find made of half chicken and half pork. For this recipe, this is a "must" ingredient. Here are some photos that I took. They've been frozen so the colors do not appear as red as they should.

These pinwheels have a spinach/artichoke filling. Squeezing the spinach in a potato ricer is the best method I know to get the liquid out. Spinach and Artichoke Pinwheels 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed 1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 (17.3-ounce) package frozen puff pastry Drain spinach well and stir together with artichoke hearts, mayo, Parmesan, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper. Thaw puff pastry at room temperature 30 minutes, or thaw overnight in fridge . Unfold pastry, and place on a lightly floured surface. Spread one-half spinach mixture evenly over pastry sheet, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Roll up pastry, jellyroll fashion, pressing to seal seam; wrap in plastic wrap or foil. Repeat procedure with remaining pastry and spinach mixture. Freeze 30 minutes; cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. (Rolls may be frozen up to 3 months.) Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.