Lumpia are pastries of Chinese origin similar to fresh popiah or fried spring rolls popular in Indonesia and the Philippines. The term lumpia derives from Hokkien lunpia (traditional Chinese: 潤餅; pinyin: rùnbǐng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: jūn-piáⁿ, lūn-piáⁿ), which is an alternate term for popiah. The recipe, both fried and fresh versions, was brought by the Chinese immigrants from the Fujian province of China to Southeast Asia and became popular where they settled in Indonesia and the Philippines.

In the Netherlands and Flanders, it is spelled loempia which is the old Indonesian spelling for lumpia and has also become the generic name for “spring roll” in Dutch. A variant is the Vietnamese lumpia, wrapped in a thinner piece of pastry, in a size close to a spring roll though, the wrapping closes the ends off completely, which is typical for lumpia.  Taken directly from Wikipedia.

There are many ways to make lumpia.  You can get creative and use other meats, even fruits!  This is one of the easiest way I make mine.  Enjoy!

Makes 60 lumpias

Ingredients:  5 cloves garlic (crush).  1 whole yellow onion (dice).  1 pound ground pork.  3 tbsp. olive oil.  3 tbsp Magi seasoning.  1/2 cup oyster sauce.  2 cups Mung Bean Sprouts.  6 cups peas and carrots (About 32 oz).  1 tsp. black pepper. 2 packs Lumpia wrapper (I use Menlo 8X8 wrapper – see picture below).

How to cook the filling:  On high heat, use a frying pan and add oil.  Brown crushed garlic and diced onions.  Once browned, add pork and sauté until cooked.  Add Magi seasoning while sautéing.  On medium heat, add peas and carrots.  Mix every now and then while adding the oyster sauce, then cover for 5 minutes.  On low heat, add bean sprouts and black pepper.  Cover for 10 minutes.

Once the filling is cooked, either let it cool down completely before wrapping or  refrigerate for one day – which is what I do because the wrapper does not tear as easily.  If you wrap it the same day, drain the liquids from the filling first, then refrigerate for about an hour.

To wrap, follow the instructions on the back of Menlo’s packaging.  To cook, fry in 2 inches of oil at 375 degrees until golden brown.  For dipping sauce, the most popular in the United states is the Thai sweet chili sauce.  A true Filipino lumpia sauce (Called sawsawan) is made with vinegar, soy sauce, crushed black pepper and crushed garlic.  I use 1/4 cup soy sauce, 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 tsp crushed black pepper.  Eat over steamed rice with adobo (CLICK HERE to check out my pork adobo recipe!)

Enjoy your meal… don’t forget to say grace.