Lumpia

Lumpia are Filipino egg rolls. There's a healthy version with diced fresh vegetables similar to Vietnamese spring rolls and there's a fried version with ground pork. Naturally, this is the fried version. Most people I know love lumpia, whether they're Filipino or not. Some people (cough) have been known to eat them like french fries. They're just as delicious and just as bad for you, lol.

My mom gives out packs of these every Christmas to our friends at church, pre-made and all they have to do is fry it. My mom is one of those cooks who can cook well but never measures anything and doesn't really follow a recipe, she "just cooks". I had to pull teeth asking her questions of how she makes her lumpia. This is what I was able to cobble together from my interrogation. Not that I'd ever make it myself (too much work!) but I wanted to document it for posterity for my nieces. This is part of what we had for Thanksgiving.

1 pound lean ground pork
1 carrot, diced fine
1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, diced fine
3 green onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
1 package Menlo (lumpia) wrappers (available at Asian grocery stores)

1. Mix above ingredients (except the wrappers) well.

2. Separate the lumpia wrappers. Fold each one and cut into 4 equal squares.

3. In the center of each square, put 1 heaping tablespoon of pork mixture. Bring 2 opposite corners of wrapper together in center. Roll remaining corners to make a small “log”. Seal seam with beaten egg or a small dab of water.

4. Fry in hot but not smoking vegetable oil until golden brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.