In Boracay Vows, lumpia is one of the dishes Marissa Lopez prepared for Krista and Blake when they went to Quezon to meet the family. It also happened to be a belated birthday celebration for Krista, so there were plenty of food.

There are many variations of lumpia – sariwa (fresh), Shanghai (thin pork spring rolls), hubad (unwrapped), vegetable, or with meat. The latest version I made has chicken in it, but can be done with ground pork or shrimp. Some people call it lumpiang togue, which translates to spring rolls with bean sprouts. Others use cabbage instead of bean sprouts, or sometimes both in their vegetable spring rolls. There’s not just one way of making these, all of them delicious.

Ingredients: 

• Vegetable oil
• extra firm tofu, drained and cut into small squares
• small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 cup of cooked chicken, shredded (optional, if vegetarian)
• 1 cup of shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped (optional, if vegetarian)
• 1 carrot, peeled and julienned
• 1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut thinly on a bias
• 8 oz. mung bean sprouts
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 package of lumpia wrapper

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a wok or pan. Add tofu and fry until brown. Remove and set aside.
2. Add garlic and onion to hot oil and cook until softened. Pour the fish sauce on the side of the wok. Cook until smell goes away (2-3 minutes).
3. Stir in shrimp (if using) and cook until pink. Add chicken, green beans, carrots, and bean sprouts. Cook until all ingredients are combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and drain. Mix in the tofu. Let cool.
4.  Lay the wrapper on a flat surface. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling two inches from the top. Fold the top end of the wrapper over the mixture. Fold the sides and roll tightly into a log. Brush the bottom end with water to seal completely. Repeat until there’s no more filling or wrapper. (At this point you can stop to freeze the wrapped lumpia until you’re ready to eat it.)
5. In a skillet, heat about two inches of oil. Add spring rolls with the seam side down. Fry, turning once or twice (about 2 minutes per side) until golden brown.
6. Serve hot and crispy with garlic-spiced vinegar dip. Enjoy!

Boracay Vows is available in eBook and paperback from major online retailers. Signed copy of the paperback can be purchased from this website.