Lumpiang Shanghai Recipe

Origin of Lumpiang Shanghai

Lumpiang Shanghai is a famous Filipino deep-fried dish. It is the most popular variety of lumpia that evolved from Chinese spring rolls. Despite its name, this dish does not originate from Shanghai or China. It is a Filipino version of taquito or tacos, a Mexican food dish that consists of small rolled up tortilla with fillings such as beef, cheese or chicken. Lumpia is also popular in Indonesia and even migrated to the Netherlands where it grew larger and became a one dish meal. They are commonly prepared ahead of time and refrigerated then deep-fried on the day of an occasion so it can be served hot.

When is Lumpia Typically Served?

Lumpiang Shanghai is one of the most popular and commonly prepared Filipino dish. It is guaranteed, that you can never miss this dish in a Filipino during special occasions such as fiestas, birthdays, weddings, Christmas, New Year, and other occasions, you can name it. It is indeed the go-to dish by Filipinos in all occasions.

This dish is originally served as an appetizer, however as time went by, it is already eaten as a snack or as a side dish paired with rice or pancit.

Kitchen Utensils You Need

In preparing and cooking Lumpiang Shanghai, you will be needing the following kitchen utensils:

• Chopping board
• Chopping knife
• Frying pan
• Frying tongs
• Bowl
• Plate
• Serving platter
• Saucer
• Strainer or tissue to drain the oil from the food.

Lumpiang Shanghai’s Primary Ingredients –Lumpia Wrapper

Lumpiang Shanghai will not be complete without its wrapper – which has been its trademark. Lumpia wrapper which is generally known as spring roll wrappers are thin paper-like skins used to wrap the mixture of ground pork filling of a Lumpiang Shanghai. They are soft and very light that you need to be extra delicate in handling them or rolling them over on its filling. Lumpia wrap is a variety of crepes, which is a type of very thin pancakes but the lumpia wrapper is more elastic which makes it strong enough to hold different fillings, may it be vegetables, pork, chicken or more. Unlike crepes, lumpia wrapper are more durable and springy.

Lumpia wraps has truly gained its popularity in different parts of the world. Oftentimes, apart from being used to street foods it is also used to wrap dishes filled with minced vegetables, pork or chicken then deep-friend and served hot to guests.

Other Variation of Lumpiang Shanghai

Lumpiang Shanghai is very popular and has gained numerous variants. Other variations include using different vegetables like carrots, beans sprouts and potatoes. It can also include ground beef or shredded chicken. To make your Lumpiang Shanghai more delicious, you can add other ingredients like raisins, cheese, peppers, ham, bacon and more. However, as long as the variant still uses ground pork as the main stuffing, it can still be simply referred as “lumpia”.

Tips and Tricks

Commonly, beaten eggs are used to seal the edge of the lumpia wrapper to prevent it from rolling back. To save money and time, you can use plain water to seal the lumpia wrapper. The best way to cook Lumpiang Shanghai is to fry them. And wait until it floats and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.

Ensure that your oil is hot enough before you deep fry the lumpia so that it won't absorb too much oil.

Lumpiang Shanghai can become more delicious when paired with the best sweet and sour sauce. You can also use other dipping sauce such us banana ketchup, chili sauce, mayonnaise vinegar with salt and pepper. However, you just can’t rely the taste to the dipping sauce. You need to make sure that the stuffing inside is flavorful enough that it can be eaten with or without a sauce.

Because of its simplicity and meaty taste, this dish indeed has captured the appetite of every Filipino and even to people all over the world. Try this crispy dish on your special occasion and you will find your guests asking for more!