Saturday, May 21, 2011

Lumpi-what?

When it comes to Filipino dishes, Lumpia is my favorite. Lumpia is basically the Philippines version of an egg roll, but is thinner in size and usually has pork and veggies. It's also the most time consuming prep wise, but is it oh so delicious. Much like Lay's potato chips, you can't eat just one. 
So if you want to be the hit of your next party or office potluck try this recipe out. Your taste-buds yearning for some international fare will thank you.

Ingredients


2 lbs of ground pork (thawed)
1 bunch of green onions
1 cup of frozen peas
3-4 carrots 
1 8 oz can of water chestnuts
1 package of Mama Sita's Lumpiang Shanghai Mix 
1-2 packages of spring roll wrappers 
Salt and pepper for taste

Directions

  • Wash and peel carrots. Finely grate the carrots into a large mixing bowl. Finely chop green onions. Remove cilantro leaves from the stem, finely chop them. Add the green onions and cilantro to the bowl.
  • Open the can of water chestnuts, drain and roughly chop them. Add to the bowl along with 1 cup of frozen peas.
  • Add the pork, lumpia seasoning, salt and pepper to the bowl. 
  • Separate one egg, adding the yolk to the bowl. Set aside the egg white which will be used later.
  • Mix all the ingredients thoroughly with your hands.   
  • Open the spring roll wrappers and separate them. They usually come frozen from your local Asian market, so let them thaw out for a couple of hours. You want them to be thawed out just enough so you can easily peel them off. It also helps to have a slightly damp paper towel covering the wrappers once they are out of the package. It will prevent the wrappers from drying out. 
  • Get a large freeze proof Ziploc bag and cut one of the corners about 1/4 from the end. Add the filling and squeeze about 3 inches of the filling into the middle of the wrapper. In the picture I'm using an old icing gun. It was only a couple of years ago that my mom discovered from a friend that using a device like this speeds up the lumpia making process. Before we would form the filling by hand which was not only time consuming, but also really messy. You can also use a pastry bag for this step. 

  • Then you are going to wrap the lumpia mix. Fold the bottom corner over the mix. Then take the right and left corners and fold them in. Keep rolling the lumpia wrapper, making sure it's wrapped tightly. Seal the corner with the egg white (that has been whisked).







  • Get a medium size pot and fill it with about 3 cups of vegetable oil or enough to cover the lumpia and put on high heat. Once the oil is heated up, (I use the scientific method of putting a small drop of water to the oil to hear the crackling sound) fry the lumpia. Fry 4-5 at a time so they fry evenly. 

  •  Fry them for about 10-15 minutes or until they are golden brown. You want to keep an eye on it because they will burn easily. Place on a paper towel to drain the oil. 

  • Serve with the sweet and sour sauce of your choice and enjoy! Each wrapper package usually yields about 40-50 pieces but you can easily double that if you cut them in half after frying.  If you happen to tear any of the wrappers while separating them, don't throw it away. Fry them up and they make great wrapper chips.

5 comments:

Megan said...

These look soo delicious! I know what I'll be attempting to make soon! 

Emily said...

 I mean...I know they are similar but to compare Lumpia to an eggroll is like...I don't know what it's like but I know it doesn't do Lumpia justice. 

Samantha Marie said...

 That looks amazing!! :)

Stephanie said...

 So true but that's usually my stock answer when Lumpia newbies ask me what the heck it is. I should just tell them it's a wrapped meat goodness or meat crack. :P

Stephanie said...

Awesome! Let me know how it goes. :)