Keep Rollin': Filipino Fresh Spring Roll (Lumpiang Sariwa)

Fresh Spring Roll or Lumpiang Sariwa is quite similar to a Vietnamese Spring Roll. The thing with Lumpiang Sariwa, vegetables are cooked and wrapped in crepe-like wrapper while Vietnamese Spring rolls use  fresh vegetables like lettuce, carrots, scallions with herbs like mint or cilantro and wrapped in rice paper wrapper.

We also have our sauce along with lumpia, we often called it as "maalat" because it usually has that salty-sweet taste with finely chopped garlic and peanuts. Just like any other dishes, everyone has their own version of their lumpia. I remember my grandmother using coconut shoots (ubod ng buko) when making fresh spring rolls. It has a nutty and crunchy texture but I always prefer the usual vegetables. With meat,some use pork, shrimp or chicken. Actually, when I have some leftover pork skin, I boil it until tender then cook it on a cold pan until it turned out crispy. This is also a great tip when cooking your  bacon because it will render out its own fat and turn out crispy.

The wrapper which can be found in most palengke or market has no eggs (also known as egg roll wrapper)and it's just made of water and flour. Likewise, we also use it to wrap different food like for turon (plantains wrapped in egg roll wrapper) or lumpiang toge (bean sprouts with vegetables wrapped in egg roll wrapper) but I really don't like the texture of this wrapper. I like the crepe-like wrapper that is soft and eggy.  Making this wrapper is not hard it's just like making your crepe batter minus the sugar.Also, the usual  sauce with Lumpiang Sariwa is sweet and salty but I tasted a different sauce for lumpia before  and instead of the usual, they made a peanut sauce with lots of peanuts and from them on, I always make my own peanut sauce for my lumpia every single time.

I don't have specific vegetables for my lumpia. I just use whatever I have in my fridge and use whatever is in season. My brothers don't like sweet potato so I don't add them in. They don't like snow peas either so I use a different vegetable. Use whatever you prefer or even your favorite vegetables that you think goes well with each other. Just keep in mind that some vegetables cook differently. Make sure you chop them thinly or almost same in size for it to cook evenly.

FRESH SPRING ROLLS (LUMPIANG SARIWA)

Filling:

1 medium cabbage, thinly sliced 

8-10 pcs. thinly sliced baguio beans or string beans
1 medium size vegetable pear (sayote), thinly sliced
1 medium size onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
3 tbsps.oyster sauce
lettuce
fish sauce to taste
boiled leftover chicken ( you can substitute with shrimp or pork)

Wrapper:
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup whole milk(not evaporated milk)
1/2 cup flour
2  large eggs


Peanut Sauce:
3tbsps. brown sugar
2tbsps. creamy peanut butter or preferably pure peanut butter
2tbsps. plain soy sauce
1/2 cup water
slurry (1tbsp cornstarch +1tbsp water)
peanuts or cashews, sligthly roasted
pepper to taste

1. Make the batter by pouring all wet ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add sifted flour then mix until flour is incorporated. There will be lumps at this point so you want to let sit for 30mins.

2. In a wolk or skillet on medium-high heat, cook onion until slightly translucent then add chopped garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add string beans, sayote and carrots. Season with salt,pepper and fish sauce. Cook the vegetables then add oyster sauce. When it's cooked, add cabbage and cook until it turned bright green. Add chicken then season everything to taste. Transfer in a bowl and let it cool completely.

3. To make the wrapper, grease a pan preferably a non-stick pan with a little bit of oil then wipe off excess using a kitchen towel. Over low-heat, using a measuring cup, pour the batter then quickly swirl it until it's evenly spread out on the surface of the pan. It's done when it starts to bubble up . If you prefer a bigger wrapper, use 1/3 cup and you can make 5 wrappers but if your prefer smaller wrapper, just use 1/4 cup. When it's all cooked, cover them with plastic wrap, set aside until it's cool to handle or until ready to use.

4. To make the peanut sauce, just pour everything except the slurry into a pot and cook over medium low heat until the peanut butter is melted. When it starts to boil, add the slurry and chopped nuts. Season with pepper to taste.

5. To make the spring rolls, add lettuce on the side of the wrapper. If the lettuce is too big, tear in half. Add vegetables then fold the other side then roll it along with the lettuce.



*Serve the peanut sauce a long the side instead of pouring it on spring rolls

*You can make the wrapper and peanut sauce a day ahead to save more time.



It takes a little of your time to make this but I am telling you it's all worth it!