| 1 chicken breast, boiled and flaked, OR | 2 cups bean sprouts, washed and drained OR | |
| 1 lb ground pork OR | 1 pkg Rice Sticks (thin rice noodles) | |
| 1lb ground beef | 10 lettuce leaves OR | |
| 1/2 pound shrimps, deveined and cut into small pieces (optional) | 2-4 cups thinly shredded cabbage | |
| 2 cloves garlic, crushed | 1 small onion, diced | |
| 1 teaspoon salt | 1 teaspoon ground pepper |
| 1 cup sweet potatoes, cut in thin strips | 1 can water chestnuts, drained, and chopped | |
| 1 can bamboo shoots, drained and chopped | 1 carrot, shredded | |
| shitake or straw mushrooms, diced (as many as desired) |
Fresh lumpia wrappers
Construction:
You can make lumpias so many different ways and with so many different ingredients that it is just fun to experiment with tastes and textures. Of course, you can also try and add ALL the ingredients that I suggest. If you do, you may want to up the amount of ground meat used by a 1/2 lb or so (just don't let the mixture get TOO meaty as lumpias are primarily a veggie treat with a little bit of protein sprinkled in there).
In a medium size pot or wok, saute garlic, diced onion, shrimps and flaked chicken for about 10 minutes. (if using ground beef or pork): In a medium size pot or wok, saute garlic, diced onion and ground meat until browned.
Add bean sprouts, sweet potatoes, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, shredded carrot, mushrooms, and salt and pepper to taste, and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain well.
If using lettuce leaves: On a big plate, lay wrapper flat and place a lettuce leaf on wrapper with about a third part of the leaf showing. Put two tablespoons of filling on top of lettuce leaf.
If using shredded cabbage: add shredded cabbage to stir-fry mixture. Cook for a few more minutes (until cabbage is slightly tender).
If using rice noodles instead of bean sprouts: soak rice noodles in warm water for 10-15 minutes to soften them. In large bowl, combine stir fry mixture with rice noodles until evenly mixed.
Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of filling into wrapper. Fold and roll wrapper.
Seal with a little water and place edge down.
Heat pan with enough oil to cover lumpias when placed in pan. Fry lumpias until wrapper is a golden brown color. Place lumpias on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb excess oil. Serve with lumpia sauce and crushed garlic and/or sweet and sour sauce.
If you choose not to make the lumpia wrappers, Simex brand lumpia wrappers are the best. You can purchase these at most grocery stores or at any asian foods store. (they're in a white box with red labelling) I have never made the wrappers by hand so I don't know how these wrappers cook when fried. Some suggest that with the recipe below, you can serve the lumpias, unfried, with the lumpia sauce over them. I would probably buy the boxed ones and fry a few, just in case these don't work out :) Some people also use eggroll wrappers but I don't reccomend using them for this recipe because they just don't work out very well.
Ingredients
| 1 cup flour | 1 egg | 1 cup water |
Combine all 3 ingredients and stir until smooth. Lightly grease a non-stick skillet and heat. Pour in a thin coating of the mixture. When the sides start to come away from the pan, lift wrapper out carefully. This recipe makes 10 wrappers.
Ingredients:
| 4 tablespoon cornstarch | 1/3 cup brown sugar | |
| 1/3 cup soy sauce | 1 cup water | |
| 5 cloves garlic, crushed |
Directions:
Mix cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce and water. Cook until thick over low heat, stirring constantly. Transfer to a sauce container with the crushed garlic.
and if you like the old stand-by......
SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE
Ingredients
| 1 cup (to start) Heinz Ketchup | 1 jar Peach Jelly (no fruit pieces) | |
| 1 tablespoon (to start) white vinegar | 1/2 cup brown sugar |
Directions:
This recipe is pretty much a mix it to taste recipe. Heat peach jelly in small sauce pan over med to medium high heat, stirring constantly to prevent it from burning. When jelly is "melted" gradually stir in each of the other ingredients. Add additional ketchup and/or vinegar as necessary to taste. Serve with lumpias as a dipping sauce.
As always, if you have a recipe you want to share, Email me!