Week 6: Making Lumpia

Lita’s delicate nimble hands make quick work of the task laid before us - rolling lumpia.

Lita is my mom, otherwise known to my kids and their friends as Nana Lita. I consider her the lumpia queen, and she is teaching me how to make lumpia, the Philippines’ egg roll. I have never learned to make lumpia, or any other traditional Filipino food dish for that matter. Well, it’s about time don’t you think? I mean, I am almost 50.

Making lumpia around the table is much like making tamales, baking biscotti, filling empanadas -- it’s best to share the preparations with others. The practice is both a traditional and social gathering. (And I would love to learn any of those mentioned dishes, if anyone would like to teach me.)

Whenever people ask for lumpia at office gatherings, or potluck parties, I have always asked my mom to make them. And she loves to do so. It is the Filipino way to always, and I mean always, have lots of food for guests. She is constantly making sure everyone is fed, and no one is to go hungry in our home. So requests for her lumpia is a sense of pride for her I believe.

Now, making lumpia really isn’t that hard, and you can vary the ingredients as much as you would like. It’s the prep time. There’s lots of ingredients, and for the most part, everything has to be finely chopped up into teeny, tiny cubes with about ⅛ inch sides. (I like exact measurements.)

First, you should know where to get the wrappers, everything else can be bought at your local grocery store. Find an Asian market and look for lumpia or spring roll wrappers found in the freezer section. In San Diego, we will either go to 99 Ranch Market or Seafood City Supermarket. (Both places are excellent sources in finding exotic Asian foods, and they will fry fish for you so you don’t stink up your house!)

Now, getting started. I’ve prepared a recipe below, that you can follow, or adjust to your tastes. You will need to bring the wrappers to room temperature. Then take the time to finely chop all the veggies - onions, carrots, bell peppers, celery, green onions, and water chestnuts. My mom did it the old-fashioned way, by hand with a sharp knife. Me, I preferred using my handy dandy chopper. Her veggies did look neater. We mix them together after each veggie, in order to make sure all is well-mixed and everyone gets the full lumpia taste experience.

Then get into the mixing. I started to use a spoon, and I was quickly told, you need to use your hands. So I use my hands. Especially when mixing it all with the meat - ground pork, ground beef, chopped ham, and tiny shrimp (The ham and shrimp are my mom’s added ingredients, which makes her recipe tastier.). Season with salt, pepper, and option of MSG (Another of mom’s secret ingredients - it just makes it tastes better she says, and she was very hesitate to share this addition.) Add the raw scrambled eggs for binding. You feel the mushiness of the meat in your hands and squeeze it all together, making sure all the veggies get evenly mixed in. Gotta love the feel of raw meat.

Then the fun part starts. Rolling.