Recipe: Lumpiang Shanghai
🇵🇭 Filipino lumpia with guest contributor Chef Ria Barbosa
What’s the difference between lumpia, egg rolls, and spring rolls? They’re all variations of meat and vegetables wrapped in a thin wrapper. Today’s recipe is courtesy of Chef Ria Barbosa, a phenomenal Filipino American chef who’s culinary talents have left an indelible mark in the Los Angeles food scene.
A few months ago, Wendy, Chef Ria, and I went to visit James Beard Award-winning Chef Maynard at his restaurant Kuyalord. We got to talking about lumpia and invited Ria to cook with us at an upcoming Mogu Magu event – Pinay Par-TAY!
For the event, she made Lumpiang Shanghai, a thin, long, slender style of lumpia:
“Lumpia Shanghai distinguishes itself from other spring rolls and egg rolls found across Asia and Asian diasporas in several key ways. For instance, Vietnamese spring rolls are wrapped in soft, chewy rice paper. Chinese egg rolls often use thicker and rectangular or square-shaped wrappers. Lumpia Shanghai uses thinner, less doughy wrappers that are circular. This gives Lumpia Shanghai its signature slender and elongated form, setting it apart from the short, thick, and plump shrimp egg rolls often found in Cantonese dim sum restaurants.” — The History Behind the Filipino Egg Roll via Tasting Table
Masarap! These golden, fried, crunchy sticks are comforting and familiar. Every single crumb was gone by the end of the Pinay Party. Ria made these with only pork and omitted the mushrooms. But variations can be made with shrimp, chicken, or veggies.
Chef Wendy Zeng makes a plant-based version of lumpia with vegan OMNI Pork. Or for a more luxurious flair, add a piece of uni and generous dollop of caviar on top.
How to Infuse
This recipe is not infused but if you’d like an infused version, I recommend using a cannabis tincture to infuse the Sweet Chili dipping sauce. Whether you’re making your sweet chili sauce from scratch or buying a bottle from the store, an alcohol based tincture will incorporate best and most evenly in the spicy sugar, vinegar, chili sauce.
Please dose with caution, and err on the side of less… because you can always get more high. 5-10mg T*C for low dose.
Lumpiang Shanghai Recipe
Recipe by guest contributor Chef Ria Barbosa + photo tutorial on how to roll lumpia.
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