Lumpia - A Filipino Egg Roll and How to Make It Grease-Free

You will hear it when you go to a chinese restaurant.  People will order an egg roll but if you will notice the egg roll is wrapped in a thick wrapper and it is deep fried, for sure.  My husband is one of those who loves egg roll but sometimes he will complain that it is either greasy or not so much filling.  That's when I came out with the idea of making my Filipino style egg roll or Lumpia.  It is very easy to do.  Here is how;

Prepare:

20 sheets spring roll wrappers (or more)

1 large onion (thinly sliced)

1 clove garlic (optional)

2 sweet potato ( cut into small cubes )

1 white cabbage (optional/ thinly sliced)

1 cup green beans (diagonally/thinly sliced)

300 g beansprouts

salt, pepper

1/2 pound Ground beef or ground pork

FOR DIP:

soy sauce

white vinegar

1 red chili pepper (optional)

FOR BAKING:

If you are using ground beef, . Put it in a pan and set your stove in high, leave it there until the grease comes out. You can stir it to make sure that it is grease out evenly. Put the gound beef in a strainer to separate the grease from the meat.

Put a little oil in a large work, brown the garlic (you can remove it from the pan afterwards, that's what I do.), then onion. For some reason, sweet potato is the best option for extenders and it adds a little sweet taste, cook it for a minute. Then you can add the meat, stir a little bit then add the green beans, bean sprouts, let it cook for at least 2 minutes before you add the cabbage to not overcook it.

Place it in a strainer to separate the juice. You can put the filling in a refrigerator for a faster cooling. Then, you can start wrapping it to a spring roll wrapper while heating your oven at 375 degrees F. You can make as any as you want. Arrange it in a single layer when you are placing it in a baking sheet. Set your timer for 20 minutes, 10 minutes each sides or until it is crispy.

FOR FRYING:

You can use a deep small pan and put just a little oil (I use canola oil), and fry 5 to 6 egg rolls at a time; if you make a bigger sized egg rolls, 3 at a time is fine. That is for the egg rolls to have space and so it can absorb enough heat. Flip each roll over to cook it evenly and to make the wrapper crispier. It is ready when it turned golden brown in color.  Sit them in a strainer in a standing position for a few minutes to drip out the oil.

HOW TO MAKE THE DIP:

Mix a little soy sauce to a teaspoonful of vinegar. Crush red chili pepper, a little salt to taste. Adding crushed garlic also adds flavor to the dip.

TIP:

• To make it more tastier, I use shrimp bouillon. You can also use it as an alternative if you don't want meat on your egg rolls.
• Covering the pan when cooking makes the food cooks a little faster, must check it every minute to avoid burning.
• Don't use rice paper when making egg rolls, it  absorbs oil that leaves the roll very greasy and takes time to bake.