We had a great crew this week for our after-school class featuring a roll from the Philippines called lumpia. You can put any vegetables of your choice inside; we used sugar snap peas, Japanese sweet potato, carrots, cabbage, and mung bean sprouts. First, the students prepped the filling ingredients, then we stir-fried the mixture over high heat in a wok, adding a simple sauce of soy sauce, cornstarch, and brown sugar.
Thus far our rolls have had round wrappers (i.e. tortillas, roti, rice paper) or a funky shape like a grape leaf. Lumpia wrappers are square. Our pro chefs made 25 rolls per table in no time, then we fried them in avocado oil and enjoyed them with a simple dipping sauce made from vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and sambal chili sauce for a little heat. It was a rewarding class because many of the kids were familiar with the Chinese spring roll (the precursor to the Filipino lumpia) as a food, but none of us had ever made them from scratch before. We were too busy enjoying the finished product to remember to document how beautiful the golden brown rolls were at the end of class, but you can use your imagination!
