Golden, crispy, crunchy, skinny egg rolls filled with garlic aroused ground pork and veggies. Masarap!
TOP TEN REASONS TO MAKE FILIPINO LUMPIA
10. It doesn't matter what season, or month, or time of year, Lumpia are always in vogue!
9. One bite sums up everything you've always loved about Asian food.
8. Just saying Lumpia (LOOM-pya) makes you smile.
7. When socializing you get to say, "Yeah, I whipped up fantastic Filipino appies again last week".
6. There's a great deal of satisfaction in doing the lay, plop, shape, tuck, roll, brush, stack.
5. Perfecting folding Lumpia gives you an unfair advantage when it comes to origami.
4. They're made using a tried and true, age-old, traditional, family recipe.
3. You too get to celebrate my enthusiastic love for my Filipino, Frizzle family heritage. Fo' shizzle.
2. Your friends and kinfolk will appreciate you, just a teensy weensy bit more.
1. When someone takes their first bite of Lumpia, they flash you the silliest most satisfied grin ever.
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Big, big warm thanks to Isabel and her delightful food blog Pretty Tasty Things
for sharing her parents special Lumpia recipe and inspiring me to hone my own version.
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FILIPINO LUMPIA ~ Makes 20-25 skinny rolls
1 1/2 lbs. ground pork
1 cup jicama or *cabbage, chopped very fine in a food processor
1 cup rutabaga or turnip, chopped very fine in a food processor
1/2 cup young carrots, chopped very fine in a food processor
1 small, sweet onion, chopped very fine in a food processor
5 plump garlic cloves, minced, or chopped very fine in a food processor
1 egg, beaten
5 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, white or brown
1 - 2 tablespoons sambal oelek or other Asian chile paste
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 generous teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 package **large (approx. 9 1/2" square) spring roll wraps
1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons of water
2 cups or more vegetable oil for frying
Process each vegetable separately in food processor.
In a large bowl, simply combine ground pork, chopped vegetables, beaten egg, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, sambal, salt and pepper. Mix very well to ensure seasonings and veggies are evenly distributed.
Once the meat-veggie mixture is well combined, it's time to make the rolls. Rolling a lumpia can be done in 8 simple steps. I just use a tablespoon, but an ice cream scoop works well to dish out an even amount of meat onto the wrapper. In step 7, when you're almost done, dip a pastry brush in egg-water mixture and brush on the triangle tip of the wrapper to create a seal.
Lay your completed rolls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
Now you can either cover and refrigerate, if frying same day, or these freeze beautifully. Just stick your finished rolls, just as they are on the baking sheet, in the freezer for a few hours. When completely frozen, carefully transfer to large freezer bags. This way you can always have a stash of homemade Lumpia in the freezer whenever you need them. No need to thaw before frying - they fry up perfectly, right from the freezer.
To fry, heat a large, deep skillet or wok at medium-high heat, with 2 cups (or more, if needed) vegetable oil. Make certain the oil is hot before frying the lumpia, in batches.
Each side takes about 3-5 minutes, but keep an eye on them. You don't want to fry them too fast. When the rolls turn golden brown on all sides, remove and drain on paper towels.
Let cool for 3-5 minutes so you don't burn your tongue. Serve with sweet hot chili sauce, and enjoy these delectable Filipino tasty treats. Napakasaráp nitó!
NOTES:
*Using jicama as opposed to cabbage does give a different flavouring to the lumpia. I didn't include both veggies as a substitute one for the other, more as an option. Both versions are delicious, so you cannot go wrong. I swing back and forth between using jicama and cabbage.
**Large spring roll wraps - the wraps I use to get these long, skinny rolls are Tyj Spring Roll Pastry and come in packages of 30. Our local Oriental market always has them in stock.
If you cannot find these large spring roll wraps, any size egg roll or spring roll wrap will work. Little squatty rolls are equally as addictive and delicious. Admittedly though, there's some kind of je ne sais quoi about the long, skinny Lumpia.