Lumpia with Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Inspired by two tastes from two well-known national chains - Roy's Hawaiian Fusion and The Cheesecake Factory - beget these vegetarian Filipino spring rolls and tangy dipping sauce, respectively.

Many years ago, I caught Chef Roy Yamaguchi guest-cooking on a PBS cooking show, in which he demonstrated several samples of what he pioneered into the mainstream consciousness as Hawaiian fusion, mixing many of the island state's different Asian  immigrant groups' cuisines into a wholly distinct character unto itself. (Spam sushi anyone?) One of the dishes Chef Yamaguchi made was Filipino lumpia which gave me my first exposure to the Filipino version of spring rolls. I recall that his rendition was surprisingly different enough from the very familiar Vietnamese spring rolls I grew up with that I sat up and took close notice. In subsequent years I  haven't made lumpia as much as I would like, but most assuredly had an impressive fill of them to make up for it.

A few commonly used ingredients in lumpia are carrots, string beans, and ground meat, but frankly they can be whatever your taste buds' desire - from fancy lobster chunks to humble bean sprouts.  Lumpia fillings usually get a nice, fragrant sauteing first before getting wrapped and fried, which makes them more hygienic to handle - something I highly approve of!

Lumpia is great on its own, about as excellent as finger foods can be, but I personally adore sauces and would be remiss to let the opportunity of using such a perfect scooper and soaker go by without pairing it with a dip.

Enter the tamarind dip I whipped up inspired by the fantastic complexity that is the Cheesecake Factory's companion dip to its Avocado Rolls appetizer (a must try!) I seasoned the lumpia sparingly in anticipation for the sauce.

Makes about 1 dozen rolls

INGREDIENTS::

• 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
• 12 large spring roll wrappers

Tamarind Dipping Sauce: Makes approx. 2 cups

• 1.5-inch chunk off a block of tamarind pulp
• 3 tbsp raw or organic sugar
• 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped to small pieces
• 1 clove garlic, minced (*Tip: use a grater!)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp soy sauce (for non-vegan version, can use fish sauce)
• 1/4 cup unsalted roasted peanuts (or fancier cashews), finely crushed --optional if allergic to nuts

Filling:  Makes approx. 6 cups of fillings after sauteing

• 3-inch (approx. 1-inch diameter) long piece of carrot, julienned
• 2.5 cups string beans, sliced into approx. 3/4-inch pieces
• 2-inch piece of leek (or 1 stalk of scallion), roughly sliced
• 4 fresh Shitake mushrooms, yields about 2 cups, thinly sliced
• 3 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 long green chili, seeds and veins removed, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Sauce:

1.  Rinse the chunk of tamarind, then boil it in 3 cups of water with the sugar until the pulp breaks up and liquid reduces to half (see photos)

2.  Strain the tamarind pulps out of the pot into medium-sized bowl. Get as much of the flesh and liquid as possible then discard the seeds and fibers.

\

 Break off a chunk, rinse and boil

3.  Add the rest of the sauce ingredients to bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Filling, Wrap, & Fry:

1.  Heat saute pan over medium flames. Add 1 tbsp oil and minced garlic. Spread garlic around to evenly cook.

2.  When garlic turns light golden, add the leeks and chili. Stir well.

3.  Turn fire up to high. Proceed to add the mushrooms, string beans, carrots, and cabbage, mixing in each vegetable with the pan's content before adding the next vegetable.

Green long chili

4.  Add soy sauce and black pepper. 

5.  Give a few more good stir 1 minute more then turn off heat - do not want the vegetables completely cooked through and limp.

6.  With a big colander/strainer placed in a big bowl, pour the contents into the strainer. This will let the extra juice from all the strain out and make wrapping the filling easier.

7.  Wrapping time!  Have a bowl of water on hand to seal the wrappers.

8.  On a clean flat surface, place a wrapper with a corner pointing at you; the wrapper should look diamond-shaped from your perspective.

9.  Wet the edges of the wrapper's corner farthest (pointing away) from you.

10.  Spread about half cup of filling horizontally on the wrapper near the corner pointing at you.

11.  Pull that corner of wrapper over the filling and tuck it under and proceed to roll as if you're rolling a tube, but...

12.  Once the corner is snugly rolled almost one round in, fold the two side corners over then finish rolling the lumpia.  Set aside with sealed end part faced down.

13.  Repeat steps 8-12 until all fillings are used up.

14.  Frying time!  Place pan over high heat.  Add enough vegetable oil to a clean, dry frying pan so there's about 1/4" high of it in the pan; after they are placed in, the rolls should be at least halfway submerged in the oil.

15.  When you hear a slight sizzle and tiny bubbles appear at the bottom of the pan - in about 40 seconds - gently slide the rolls into the hot oil. Don't overcrowd the pan. If you have an oil splatter lid, by all means use it now.

16. After a minute, check on the rolls. If and when they're golden brown, flip them over to brown the other side.

17.  When the rolls are all golden brown, remove them onto a paper towel lined strainer or cookie rack to drip out the extra oil.

18.  Finish frying the rest of the rolls.

Enjoy as an appetizer or main dish, wrapped in lettuce with vermicelli, alfalfa sprouts, or pickled radishes dipped in the tamarind sauce!

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

If you found the contents of this post or any other on this site informative, helpful or entertaining and would like to donate any small amount in its upkeep via PayPal, it is greatly appreciated^^

---