Money bags are a traditional food used to celebrate Chinese New Year. These little fried parcels of pork and prawn are great finger food for a party at any time of year, served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce that you can make ahead and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.
16 stalks of spring onion/scallions (green part only)
300g (10.6 oz) pork mince
150g (5 oz) prawn meat, roughly chopped
100g (3.5 oz) diced water chestnuts
¼ tsp ground white pepper
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sea salt
20 spring roll wrappers (11 x 11cm/4 x 4 inches)
vegetable oil for deep frying
Dipping sauce:
1/3 cup white vinegar
½ cup white sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 long red chilli, finely sliced
For the dipping sauce, combine vinegar, sugar and fish sauce in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until sugar dissolves. Allow to cool and stir through chillies.
Prepare spring onions by pouring boiling water over them and soaking for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the pork mince, prawns, water chestnuts, white pepper, soy sauce and sea salt. Mix vigorously until a smooth paste forms.
Spoon a heaped teaspoon of mixture into the centre of a spring roll wrapper. Pull edges together to form a purse. Use a spring onion stem to tie and secure the purse. Trim excess spring onion ends.
Heat enough oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat to deep fry (about a depth of 10cm). When the oil is hot enough (it’s hot enough when a wooden spoon dipped into the oil causes little bubbles to form), cook money bags for 3-4 minutes or until golden and just cooked through. Drain on kitchen paper.
Serve warm with dipping sauce.
