Chef One Vegetable Egg Roll (Redux)

I've reviewed these Chef One Vegetable Egg Rolls before, and wasn't super impressed then. Ross saw them at H Mart and thought that we should give them a try. I wasn't sure if they were identical to the previous samples, since they were in a different package, so I fell for it. I toasted these in the toaster oven, one of the recommended cooking methods. The shell didn't cook fully after the suggested period of time, so I put them in for another 10 minutes. Still not great. The shell is brittle and tastes doughy, and the cabbage heavy-filling is just too plain to be good. There's tons of it in there, your mouth is just filled with bland cabbage shreds. Even slathering these with chili sauce was not enough to make me want to eat them. I will not fall for these again.

Score: 2/5 - I liked these even less than last time...

Companion Crispy Vegetable Rolls

These Companion Crispy Vegetable Rolls are another H Mart frozen purchase. The outside is a tofu skin, while the inside is a soft, chewy textured vegetable protein with small chunks of water chestnut. The flavor has a touch of five spice or perhaps just licorice. We put these in the toaster oven, our usual, and the little crispness it gave to the skin was nice. The quantity in the package is quite small, there were five of those rolls in there, so I can't say it was a good deal. I liked these rolls, and I think they'd be good sliced up and put in a stir fry.

Score: 3.5/5 - These were pretty good, but they seem more like an ingredient than a finished dish. I liked them, but they're pricey.

Companion Fried Veggie Shrimp Rolls

I feel like rolls is a bit of a misnomer for these Companion Fried Veggie Shrimp Rolls that I bought at H Mart. These are more like veggie shrimp fingers. We just did them in the toaster oven, and I think that's probably the best way to do them so the breading all around crisps up. Pan frying wouldn't end up even, and deep frying (the suggested method if I recall correctly) would work but it would be pretty greasy. The bread-crumb texture was a little too crispy and thick for my taste, but it does OK at sticking to the roll. (Some chunks fell off during dipping.) The filling part has a bit of a skin around it, and it isn't a solid filling but is still pretty dense textured protein. The overall impression is sort of a very mild fish stick. I thought these were alright, but they didn't wow.

Score: 2.5/5 - A little rubbery, mild flavor, the crispy breading is nice. Probably won't buy these again, not my cup of tea, though I can see how other folks might be into them.