An egg roll is an appetizer and dinner

Dinner

Dinner is usually the name of the main meal of the day. Depending upon culture, dinner may be the second, third or fourth meal of the day. Originally, though, it referred to the first meal of the day, eaten around noon, and is still occasionally used for a noontime meal, if it is a large or main...

, a variant of spring roll

Spring roll

Spring rolls is an umbrella term used in some Western cultures to describe disparate varieties of filled, rolled appetizers similar to the Chinese chūn juǎn , from which the term was derived...

 that has spread throughout the world as a staple of Asian cuisine. Egg rolls with fillings are commonly served in Vietnamese cuisine.
An egg roll is made by wrapping a combination of chopped vegetables (often mostly cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

), meat

Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

, and sometimes noodles, in a sheet of dough, dipping the dough in egg

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

 or an egg wash

Egg wash

An egg wash is usually beaten eggs sometimes mixed with another liquid, usually water or milk, which is brushed onto the surface of a pastry before baking. An egg wash is often used to make pastries shiny and golden or brown in color, and it also is used to help toppings or coatings stick to the...

, then deep frying

Deep frying

Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot oil or fat. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan; industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used....

 it. It can be closed or open ended.

When compared with its cousin, the spring roll

Spring roll

Spring rolls is an umbrella term used in some Western cultures to describe disparate varieties of filled, rolled appetizers similar to the Chinese chūn juǎn , from which the term was derived...

, the egg roll is generally larger, has a thicker, puffier skin, is crunchier, and has more filling.