Since I can remember, any time there was a party or celebration, it was time for the feasting to begin! Now when I say feast, it's food dialed up 100x to feed the masses and guarantee everyone brings some home for leftovers! The main dishes were pancit, lechon, rice, diniguan, leche flan, and last but not least, the simply delicious lumpia!
Lumpia (pronounced loom-peeyah) is typically made with ground pork and beef and sometimes all vegetable. Lumpia has been called many things, but in the US, it's likened as a Filipino egg roll. But it's a far cry for any egg roll I've ever eaten...the outer wrapper is thinner and more crisp and the flavors of the meat mixture has you coming back for more and more. You really can't just have one bite!
Lumpia is tradition -- ask any Filipino family, they've all made lumpia as well as adobo (LOL!). I grew up rolling hundreds and hundreds of lumpia -- it's an insane amount of lumpia you make, freeze, and have available for your parties. You had to make sure your rolls were not too big or skinny and that they were wrapped very tightly and sealed properly so they do not fall apart during the frying process.
Fast forward to today -- I wanted to share the recipe, but a new folding technique that I use. I've found this new folding technique to be nicer when serving at parties, but it also uses less wrapper and filling (so you don't feel so bad having more than one bite!).
And can I take a moment to highlight the beautiful serving bowls for the rice and lumpia bites? They are handmade by Geoff Evans of Little Mesa Pottery located in Bolinas, CA (if you haven't been to Bolinas, it's a very quaint, gem of a small town with a number of talents artists. You can explore and discover this wonderful community Thanksgiving 2019 weekend when there will be Open Studios to tour in Bolinas. Be sure to support your local artists and talent -- we definitely do here a EpicCuriousLife!
Now, let's make some Lumpia!
What you will need:
For the Lumpia:
1 package Lumpia wrapper (non-stick), package has approximately 30 large (10") wrappers
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb ground lean beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery, finely chopped
1 egg
3 Tbl Soysauce
1 Tbl Ground black pepper
Small bowl with water (for sealing the lumpia)
Large air tight plastic container (for storing lumpia)
Wax paper (to place in-between the layers of lumpia)
A bit of flour to dust in-between the layers of wax paper and lumpia
For the Dipping Sauce:
2 Tbl Soy Sauce
2 Tbl Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbl chopped green onion or chives into 1/8" pieces
Let's get mixing:
To make the filling for the lumpia, place the ground pork, ground beef, onion, carrot, celery, egg, soy sauce, and ground pepper in a mediuml bowl.
Using, your hands, mix all the ingredients to fully combine, making sure all ingredients are evenly distributed through the meat mixture.
Set aside to allow for all the flavors to marinate into the meat mixture at least 30 minutes.
While the meat mixture is marinating, you can mix up the dipping sauce. Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix to combine. Let sit for the flavors to incorporate, at least 30 minutes. If you are not cooking the lumpia immediately, you can make the sauce just before you cook your lumpia. This will make just shy of 1/4 cup of dipping sauce.
Now it's time to separate the lumpia wrapper sheets. Take one corner for the wrapper and peel away (this should work nicely since they are non-stick). Work in 10-15 sheet increments, stacking them on top of one another. Line up the wrappers with the hard seam edge and cut away with a knife. Then cut the square into 4 equal pieces and stack them on top of each other (cover with a slightly damp cloth to keep moist). Finish separating the rest of the wrappers and cover.
Let's get filling!
Take one small wrapper and place with one end facing you.
Dip the tip of your finger into the bowl of water and wet all of the out edges of the wrapper.
Place 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of meat mixture in the bottom 1/3 of the wrapper (as pictured).
Take the left upper corner and fold the wrapper in half, making a triangle.
Take the upper right corner and fold the wrapper downward making a smaller triangle.
Press all the edges down so that it forms a nice seal of the wrapper edges. If any of the edges are not sealing, take a little bit of water on your fingertip and apply to the area moisten and seal. You've got yourself a lumpia bite!
Take 1 Tbl of flour and sprinkle over the bottom of your container.
Place your lumpia bite on top of the floured bottom.
Continue wrapping the lumpia until you have finished the filling or wrapper -- and when placing into the container, be sure the edges are not overlaying on each other -- when you have one layer filled -- place a sheet of wax paper on top, sprinkle 1 Tbl of flour and repeat until you have filled your container.
Tightly cover your container and place in the freezer if you are not going to cook immediately. Do not thaw once frozen, fry them up right from the freezer.
If you are ready to eat them, let's fry up these tasty bites!
Heat a medium size saucepan with 1" of vegetable oil until hot over medium heat.
Taking a fresh (or frozen) lumpia and place gently into the oil lowering away from you so as not to create a splatter toward you. Fill bottom of saucepan with lumpia bites being sure not to overcrowd of even browning.
Let lumpia fry until golden on one side and turn to fry the other side until golden brown.
Remove with a slotted spoon and place lumpia on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
Place lumpia on a plater or bowl and serve with dipping sauce as an appetizer -- or with a side of rice for a meal.
If you are not frying up the whole container, tightly cover the container and place in the freezer until you are ready to cook more lumpia bites.
Tips:
Do not thaw our your lumpia bites before frying (they will be soggy and not cook up as well and fall apart). Lumpia bites should be fried as soon as you remove them from the freezer.
The beauty of lumpia bites is you can cook them up in small to big batches depending on what you desire -- the frozen lumpia bites store very well in the freezer for months! Take out only what you will fry up and keep the rest stored in the freezer.
You can also experiment with dipping sauces. I have used a bottled sweet chili sauce that you can find at most Asian markets or local grocery store -- a mango chutney also pairs well with these lumpia bites!
Let me know if you can stop at just one lumpia bite -- these are sure to be a bit hit (and treat) for your tastebuds!
Enjoy!