Lumpia (Filipino Spring Rolls)

Lumpia or Lumpiang Shanghai is a popular Filipino dish loved by many. It's the perfect appetizer for any gathering and will make everyone go for more.

Lumpia is a thin and crispy Filipino spring roll with a filling with ground meat, shrimp, and vegetables and is a common finger food that's made for a lot of gatherings. Each Filipino household has its own family recipe. This recipe here is influenced by the one my grandma used to make.

Prep Time30

Cook Time15

Total Time44

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Filipino

Servings: people

Equipment

1 Food processor (if you don't have one you can use your knife to finely chop)
1 piping bag (or ziplock)
1 frying pan or cast iron
1 Mixing Bowl
1 tongs

Ingredients

Instructions

Prepare the Filling:

In a food processor, add the roughly chopped onions, scallions, garlic, water chestnuts and pulse until finely chopped. Place in a large bowl.
1 small onion (or half of a large onion), 3 stalks scallions, 1 can water chestnuts (8 oz), 3 garlic cloves
Add the shrimp in the empty food processor and pulse until it's finely chopped but still has texture. (The reason we chop the shrimp separately is so that we can control how finely the shrimp is chopped).
½ lb shrimp
Add in the shrimp, pork, salt, pepper, fish sauce, soy sauce, egg in the mixing bowl with the chopped vegetables and mix with hands or a spatula. To check if you're satisfied with the flavor of the filling, do a taste test by adding some oil in a pan and pan frying about half a tablespoon of filling. Then adjust filling as needed by adding more salt, soy sauce, or fish sauce.
½ lb shrimp, 1 lb ground pork, 1 ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 teasppons fish sauce, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, 2 eggs
Once filling is ready, fill a piping bag with the filling if you have one. An alternative would be to use a ziplock bag and cut one of the bottom corners to create your own piping bag. You can also use a spoon to scoop the filling and place it directly on the wrapper (about 1 - 1 ½ tablespoons).
1 pack spring roll wrapper (~25 pieces 8 inches)

Assembling the lumpia:

Remove the wrappers from the packaging and separate each one. With a knife, cut the wrapper diagonally so that you have 2 triangles. Cover wrappers with aluminum foil or a damp paper towel to avoid them from drying up.
To assemble, take one triangle wrapper and pipe filling on the longer end, leaving about 1.5 inches on each side. Then fold in the 2 corners in and roll tightly. Seal the tip with egg wash. Continue until the filling runs out.
2 eggs

Cooking steps:

Heat your oil to 325-350°F (163-175°C) in a deep pan or pot. Once the oil is hot, gently add the lumpia making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Fry for about 2 minutes and flip and fry for another 2 minutes making sure it's golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
¼ cup avocado oil
When ready to serve, cut each lumpia in half on a cutting board then transfer them on a serving plate accompanied with your desired dipping sauce.
Place any uncooked lumpia in a ziplock bag and in the freezer for up to 3 months.

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Notes

Isabelle's Tips:

Don't overfill the wrapper. Add about 1 tablespoon of filling per roll is the sweet spot.
Keep rolled lumpia covered with a damp paper towel while you work so the wrappers don't dry out.
Fry in small batches so the oil temperature stays consistent. If the oil isn't hot enough, the wrappers absorb oil instead of crisping up . We want to fry at 325-350°F oil!
If a wrapper tears, just wrap a second one around it. No one will know!
Do a taste test before rolling. Fry a small piece of filling first and adjust seasoning. It also makes for a good snack :)

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