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Lumpia Shanghai
Lumpia Shanghai
Lumpia Shanghai are popular Filipino style spring rolls filled with ground meat and vegetables, then deep fried. What it different about these is the wrappers are more like a thin crepe as opposed to a rice or wonton wrapper. When fried, the wrapper is light and crispy. These can be made in large batches, frozen down on a baking sheet, then stored in a freezer bag until ready to fry.
Equipment
- large pot for frying
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/2 cup green onions
- 8 oz water chestnuts chopped
- 1 medium carrot grated
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 24 lumpia spring roll wrappers
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients together.
- Make sure all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Add a heaping tbsp of the filling to the bottom of a wrapper. Make a sort of doll rod out of it.
- Roll it up tightly. Seal the edge with a little water.
- If you are making these bigger like I am, you should be able the yield 12. You can make them a little smaller and get 20 out of the recipe, but that’s up to you.
- Cut them in half with a sharp knife.
- In a large pot, heat up cooking oil to 350 degrees. If deep frying, fry the lumpia for 6 minutes. If shallow frying, fry for 4 minutes a side.
- Fry these until they are golden brown. Drain them on a rack instead of a paper towel so they stay crispy and not soggy sitting in grease.
- Serve these with your favorite dipping sauce. I mixed 1/4 cup banana ketchup with 1/4 cup calamansi juice. Sweet/sour/tangy with a little heat.
Pibil Style Chicken (stove top version)
Pibil style Chicken (stove top version)
Pibil style chicken originates from the Yucatan Peninsula. The main ingredients in the sauce are achiote paste and citrus, usually a combination of orange and grapefruit juices. The chicken is placed on a banana leaf covered with the sauce, topped with a slice of tomato, onion, and epazote leaf. It is then wrapped up in the banana leaf and steamed. This is a stove top version of the traditional recipe, stewing the chicken the sauce instead of steamed in a banana leaf.
Equipment
- Large sauce pan or Dutch oven
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 6 garlic cloves
- 100 grams achiote paste
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup grapefruit juice
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp mexican oregano
- 3 lbs chicken pieces
- 2 roma tomatoes sliced
- 1/2 large white onion sliced
- 6 epazote leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, place the achiote paste, orange juice, grapefruit juice, oregano, garlic, and cumin.
- Purée until smooth.
- In a large sauce pan or Dutch oven, layer tomato and onion slices. Place the chicken pieces on top of them.
- Cover with the sauce and epazote leaves.
- Cover the chicken and simmer over medium low heat for 50 minutes. You may need to add a little more liquid to the sauce. I recommend using more orange juice or chicken stock.
- Serve with steamed rice and avocado.
Curry Puffs
Curry Puffs
This is one of my favorite Thai appetizers. This is the Thai version of a samosa. You can make these with ground chicken, turkey, or pork. I made these using 10” spring roll wrappers cut in half. If you want your curry puffs to be a little smaller, use 8” wrapperscut in half. These can be made in large batches and frozen down in a single layer on a baking sheet, then stored in a freezer bag.
Equipment
- large pot for frying
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken thigh
- 1/2 cup yellow sweet potato diced into small cubes
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 8 cilantro stems finely chopped
- spring roll wrappers
- 1 large egg beaten
- cooking oil for frying
Instructions
- Steam the sweet potatoes. Set aside.
- In a sauté pan over medium high heat, add cooking oil. Sauté the onions until the start to slightly brown.
- Add in the ground chicken. Cook until the chicken is browned and there are no clumps remaining.
- Stir in the sweet potatoes, sugar, soy sauce, white pepper, and fish sauce.
- Stir in the curry powder. Cook down until the mixture is slightly creamy and there is no remaining liquid. Stir in the cilantro roots. Turn off the heat and let cool.
- Take 10” spring roll wrappers and cut in half.
- Add 2 heaping tbsp of the filling to the bottom of the wrapper.
- Take the bottom right corner of the wrapper and fold it up like so.
- Fold up that triangle like so.
- Take the triangle and put in on the other half of the wrapper. Fold it up the same way like in the previous steps. Give the last fold an egg wash to hold the curry puff together.
- This recipe yields about 16 curry puffs.
- Heat up cooking oil in a pot to 350 degrees. Deep fry the curry puffs for 6-8 minutes. If shallow frying, fry the curry puffs for 3-4 minutes a side. The filling is already cooked, so we really just need to fry the outside until it is golden brown.
- Drain in paper towels.
