A crowd pleaser dish, crispy, meaty and full of umami flavour. It is not a party without lumpiang shanghai, from dinner parties to even bigger gatherings such as fiestas and birthday parties. This is a filipino version of Chinese egg roll, with basic ingredients but satisfyingly delicious.
In filipino communities if you are living abroad, potluck parties is a thing, where one person host a party and everyone brings their pride and joy dishes and we share it to the community. Lumpiang shanghai probably is one of those dishes that there is one or two people only that has the guts to bring it, wether they been doing it ever since they can remember in that particular community or you just have the guts to be judged! It is very simple dish, thou time consuming if first time making it, but the mum's and auntie's knows what they are looking for a spring rolls. It has to be golden brown, crispy, meaty, just right seasoning and definitely not oily. See tips below to avoid oily result.
For this recipe, I am using pork but feel free to choose your own preferred protein. It works well with chicken. or just vegetables, even works with firm tofu. Will definitely share different versions of this dish in later blogs.
Ingredients are readily available in your local supermarkets for sure. If not of course you can buy them in asian supermarkets. I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do! Happy Cooking!
What you need to get
Spring roll wrapper - If you are living in the UK, you can find spring roll wrapper in some butcher shops in frozen areas, or asian supermarkets. It comes in different sizes. and also different sheet counts. See photo below for reference.
Water chestnut- I believe this one is available in local supermarkets in world food section or asian supermarkets of course. Online shops is also good option to buy asian goods.
Soy sauce- regular soy sauce, widely available local or asian supermarkets if not online is also good option.
Oyster sauce- available in asian supermarkets, if allergy can be omitted just double the amount of soy sauce.
Lumpiang Shanghai
Full Ingredients: 4-6
3 cups oil for frying
20 sheets spring roll wrapper
1 egg, lightly beaten use to paste spring roll
Sweet chilli sauce for serving or dipping sauce of your choice
Filling:
500g mince pork
1 large carrots, minced
1 can water chestnut or 140g drained weight, finely chopped
1/2 cup spring onions, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large egg
Seasoning:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
Method :
Wash and chop vegetables. Set aside. Note: I used grater for carrots for better texture but you can minced it if you prefer.
In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients including seasoning. Mix well. Cover and Set aside. Let it marinade for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Separate sheets before assembling the spring roll. Cover with clean damp tea towel to avoid drying out the sheets while assembling.
Separate wrapper place it in a clean and dry plate. Then, cover with damp clean tea towel. Take one at a time when assembling. To prevent drying out the wrapper.
To assemble : Spread a wrapper in a clean surface or plate, place a spoonful of lumpia mixture in one end closer to you, then roll once and fold both sides then roll until towards the end. Brush some egg mixture at the tip end so wrapper will hold well. Then repeat. See photo above for step by step assembly.
In a frying pan or a wok, heat oil over hight to medium heat. Make sure oil is hot. You can check using a wooden spoon when starts bubbling then oil is ready ( this might be a very asian thing to do) but it works. Otherwise, check it with heat proof kitchen thermometer. about 170°C.
Fry spring rolls until golden brown. Tip: do not over crowd the pan/ wok and stir constantly until golden brown for evenly cook and crisp. I learnt that from a professional chef when frying anything and oil has to be hot to avoid very oily result.
Serve with sweet chilli sauce or any of your favourite dipping sauce. Enjoy!