Sri Lankan Egg Rolls

These crispy, spicy Sri Lankan egg rolls are the best treat you'd ever find. Filled with a vegetable and tuna filling and half of a boiled egg. Perfect for a savory breakfast on the go or as an evening snack. Egg rolls are my all-time favorite snack food or as Sri Lankans call "Short eat".  One of those foods that makes me miss living outside of Sri Lanka. In fact, whenever I visit SL egg rolls are the first thing I want to eat. I remember the first time I visited Sri Lanka after three years of living in the US. I couldn't wait until I go home, we stopped on the way in a food stand and bought egg rolls for me. That's how much I love these snacks. I mean how could you not love egg rolls. They are crunchy on the outside, spicy and savory inside and you also get a half of an egg to round up all the flavors and textures. The recipe I'm sharing is my very own that I came up with after trying out numerous recipes. There are so many ways this could go wrong. So it's really important to read and follow the tips I'm giving you below. Helpful Tips (Must Read)

• The most crucial part of the Sri Lankan egg rolls recipe is to get the pancake right. If the batter is too thick, it's hard to swirl the batter around the pan to get a nice thin pancake. and if the pancake it thick, it's not flexible and it would definitely break when you fold. If you see that your pancake breaks, then add water to the batter, a tablespoon at a time, and whisk. There is no fixed water ratio for pancakes since the absorbency level of flour is very different from brand to brand. even batch to batch. Use the following amount as a guideline and troubleshoot as you make the pancakes. What you're looking for here is a very thin and flexible pancake.
• Use a small nonstick skillet or a nonstick hopper pan (that's what I use) to make the pancakes. And it's okay if the pancake gets some brown spots when you make them. Just don't take the pancake out when it's raw. because it's going to be very sticky that way. So wait until it's cooked all the way through.
• When you wrap the egg roll, don't leave any large air pockets in. What happens here is, when you fry them the air trapped inside expands and it can break open the pancake. So try not to leave air in when you wrap them.
• If your breadcrumbs are super fine and powdery, definitely do another coating of breadcrumbs. If your breadcrumbs are somewhat thick, then you don't have to do this process.
• Be generous with oil when you fry the egg rolls. And do not dump all the rolls at once to the oil. It can reduce the oil temp significantly which makes the egg rolls absorb more oil and become soggy.
• Visit my Sri Lankan fish rolls recipe for more tips.

Here's how your timeline/steps for egg rolls look like.

1. First, you got to boil the potatoes for the filling. Meanwhile, boil your eggs and peel them, peel and chop garlic, onions, and get other veggies ready. Also, open up your tuna cans.
2. Peel and mash your potatoes into somewhat small chunks. Then you make the filling. and let it cool. You can even make this filling the day before.
3. While the mixture is cooling down, make your pancake, and get it ready.
4. Then make the pancake one by one, put the filling in, and wrap and arrange them on a  tray which is dusted with flour. You can do this like a production like. make one pancake then transfer that to a plate and pour batter to another pancake. While the second pancake is cooking, wrap the first one and put it on the tray.
5. After that make another batter for coating or you can simply add some more flour and water to the leftover pancake batter, which is what I do. Get the breadcrumbs ready.
6. Next step, coat the egg rolls with the batter and then breadcrumbs, and arrange them on a tray, as one layer.
7. Then refrigerate for an hour or until you want to fry them.
8. Finally, fry on medium heat until golden brown.

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