I am back with another collaboration with some of my favorite black food bloggers, this time celebrating Juneteenth once again. I have given the dets on the significance of Juneteenth in a previous blog post (check that out here!). In the year since then, the push for Juneteenth to become a national holiday continues to grow with many of the efforts centered right in Galveston, Texas where the holiday began! Check out the Juneteenth Legacy Project for more of those details. As for me, I continue to use Juneteenth as another opportunity to highlight the greatness that is African American food and culture. This year, I combined some of my favorite soul food items to make Soul Rolls. Get in to the recipe below!

Join me in celebrating Juneteenth by checking out the list of contributors to the 2021 Juneteenth Virtual Cookout down below. 40+ black creators contributed to this collaborative menu as a Freedom Day tribute. Juneteenth marks our country’s second independence day, the final emancipation of those enslaved in the US back in announced in 1865. Join in, share, and help us continue the legacy of celebrating progress. Additionally, you can easily follow each participant by using the hashtag #JuneteenthCookout2021 on Instagram.

5 from 1 vote

Soul Rolls

Soul Rolls, a combination of your favorite soul food items in to an eggroll!

Course Appetizer

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 10

Ingredients

1 Medium sized sweet potato Skinned and chopped in small pieces
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
10-15 Tsp Mac and Cheese Use leftovers or prepare before
10-15 Tsp Collard Greens and Smoked Turkey Drained, use leftovers or prepare before
1 Small red pepper Decided
10 Egg Roll Wrappers

Instructions

Start by preparing your sweet potatoes, skinning and chopping them in to small pieces. Place them in a bowl and add in your brown sugar and olive oil stirring to ensure that each piece is coated. Prep them for your airfryer using your machine's instructions. Larger air fryers take less cook time for example. For my 7qt, I cooked the sweet potatoes for about 10-12 on 350 or until soft.
Place your egg roll wrapper on a plate with a corner facing you. Place 1-2 teaspoons of each filling onto the egg roll sheet (mac and cheese, greens with smoked turkey, sweet potatoes and a red pepper). If you prefer to have a little bit of everything in each bite, stack the fillings on top of each other, otherwise lay the fillings next to each other in a line close to the corner of the egg roll wrapper facing you. Be careful not to overstuff the egg rolls so that rolling them is easier.
Fold over the sides and roll up the egg roll like a burrito. Next take a bit of water to ensure the egg roll flap sticks to the egg roll and remains closed. A little collard green juice helps too..
Place your soul rolls in your air fryer and spray or sprinkle olive oil over your egg rolls for best results. Cook your soul rolls in the air fryer at 400 degrees for about 5-6 minutes.
Serve warm!

Additional Notes

If you are planning on hosting a Juneteenth gathering, these soul rolls are the perfect appetizer for your guests. Here are a few more recipe notes!

One of the traditions for Juneteenth is the color red. With this in mind, I picked red sweet potatoes from my grocery store. As you see they have a richer orange color but are not quite red. So to make sure my red was represented I added in a red pepper which also gave some additional flavor.
For this recipe, I made all of the fillings the day of but ideally, make soul rolls with leftovers! No surprise that I used my own Mac and Cheese Recipe and Smoked Turkey Collard Greens Recipe. You can definitely use your own favorites, but I do recommend keeping the turkey in the collard greens or adding in some meat to your soul rolls if you omit the turkey.

Enjoy the recipe and your Juneteenth!