Back to Filipino
Lumpia Shanghai
Serves 30 Prep 40 min Cook 15 min Total 55 min Type Meal Origin Filipino

Lumpia Shanghai

Filipino crisp pork-and-vegetable spring rolls: thin, finger-sized, deep-fried golden. Served with a sweet-sour dipping sauce or banana ketchup. Birthday-party staple, snack-time staple, every-occasion staple.

Serves 30 Prep 40 minutes Cook 15 minutes Units Rate

Overview

A pork-mince filling with carrot, onion, garlic, soy and pepper rolls tightly into thin spring-roll wrappers, finger-sized. Deep-fries golden in 4 minutes. The wrappers are key, Filipino lumpia wrappers are thinner than Chinese spring-roll skins and crisp differently.

Ingredients

Filling

  • 500 g pork mince
  • 1 onion (small, very finely chopped)
  • 1 carrot (very finely grated)
  • 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 2 spring onions (very finely chopped)
  • 1 egg (large)
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

To wrap and fry

  • 30 lumpia wrappers (Filipino-style; thawed from frozen if needed)
  • 1 small bowl of water (for sealing edges)
  • Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Dipping sauce

  • 4 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce (or banana ketchup)
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce

Method

Stage 1 - Filling

  1. Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Knead with your hands for 2-3 minutes until cohesive and slightly tacky.

Stage 2 - Wrap

  1. Place a wrapper on the work surface in a diamond orientation.
  2. Spoon a finger-shaped mound of filling (about 1 tablespoon) along the lower edge.
  3. Fold the bottom corner up over the filling.
  4. Fold the left and right corners inward.
  5. Roll up tightly toward the top corner; seal the seam with a dab of water.
  6. Set on a tray seam-side down; repeat. Cover with a damp cloth as you go.

Stage 3 - Fry

  1. Heat oil to 175°C in a deep pan.
  2. Fry lumpia in batches of 6-8 for 3-4 minutes, turning, until deep golden.
  3. Drain on a wire rack.

Stage 4 - Sauce

  1. Whisk all dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Stage 5 - Serve

  1. Pile the lumpia on a plate or platter.
  2. Place the dipping sauce alongside.
  3. Eat hot.

Notes

  • Filipino lumpia wrappers: Thinner and crisper than Chinese spring-roll wrappers. If you can't find them, Chinese ones work but the texture is slightly different.
  • Tight roll: Loose rolls trap air and burst in the oil.
  • Make in batches; freeze raw: Open-freeze rolled lumpia on a tray, then bag. Cook from frozen, adding 1-2 minutes.

Storage

  • Eat fresh from the fryer.
  • Raw rolled lumpia freeze 3 months.
  • Cooked keep 1 day; reheat at 180°C for 5 minutes (won't be quite as crisp).

Recipes mentioned here

1 / 1

More like this

1 / 4
Kanom Jeeb

Kanom Jeeb

A filling of minced pork and chopped prawn binds with coriander root (pounded with garlic and white pepper into the traditional Thai "rak pak chee" paste), oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and a beaten egg. The mixture chills for 20 minutes to firm. Square wonton wrappers go around the filling cupcake-style: filling in the centre, edges pulled up and pleated open around the meat, top brushed with a tiny smear of beaten egg and topped with a thin slice of carrot. Steamed in a bamboo basket over boiling water for 8 minutes. Dip is black soy sauce with sliced chilli and rice vinegar.

Snacks 40 minutes Serves4