one filipino dish a week

Vegetable lumpia is one of my childhood favorites. I remember my nanay would be making these and while they were wrapping the veggies, I would go into the kitchen and eat the veggies before they go in the wrapper. They would yell at me and tell me to go away because there won’t be enough to finish making the lumpia. That’s how much I enjoy vegetable lumpia. The wrapping is a very tedious part of making lumpia and it certainly becomes a gathering of a bunch of people to finish the job quicker.

I made mine with taugi (mung bean sprouts), carrots, green beans, onions and tofu. The mother goose told me that singkamas (jicama) would make it so much better but I did not find any at the store so I had to settle. Cut the veggies julienned and dice the tofu fairly small. Sautee the onions until translucent then add the carrots, green beans, jicama, and tofu. After it becomes slightly tender, lower the heat and add in the mung bean sprouts. Add the soy sauce and season to taste. Let it cool.

Once the veggies cool, wrap them in the lumpia wrapper and deep fry. A good deep fry temp is around 365-370 degress F. What I found cooking this for the first time is that the wrapper has to be sealed tight or else your veggies are going to swim away. Also, I found that the kind of wrapper is really key because of how it fries. I’m not sure how easy it is to make your own lumpia wrapper but I’d be willing to give it a try. It seems like this store bought wrapper didn’t really hold up well. I was imagining the spring rolls at Vong, Jean Georges Asian themed restaurant in NY, which has an amazing wrapper (but that’s what you expect from a Jean Georges restaurant).

The final product came out pretty much in the middle. It’s tougher to make this several step dish on a weeknight when there isn’t a lot of time. Vegetable lumpia goes well with a suka (vinegar) and garlic sawsawan (sauce). Another testament to a good lumpia wrapper is that when you dip it into the suka you’ll hear it crinkle a little bit (this particular wrapper didn’t). I’ll have to try to make this again.