Lumpia Shanghai

Lumpia Shanghai is a popular Filipino-style egg roll that’s traditionally filled with pork, onions, garlic and/or vegetables and shallow-fried in a skillet, giving it a light, crisp exterior.

And when I say popular, I mean POPULAR! Every single Filipino party I’ve ever attended had lumpia served. It’s the first thing the kids line up for, patiently waiting for the aunties to be done frying so they can cram a piping-hot lumpia into their mouths. I’m guilty of piling my plate up with lumpia only and eating as much as I can, not really caring about who doesn’t get any.

My life is filled with people asking my mom to make lumpia for parties. American family members would flood her with requests: turkey, chicken, or vegetarian for those who didn’t eat meat. She rarely obliged, citing the laborious effort needed to make them. After all, big parties usually had several aunties to help to roll them the day before, where they would sit around the table and gossip while getting the food ready for the party.

If you can gather some friends or family to help with the rolling, making lumpia is pretty easy, and so rewarding. Here, I’ll show you how to do it.

There are several styles of lumpia across the Philippines. Lumpia Sariwa, also known as “fresh lumpia,” features a freshly cooked crepe instead of a fried one, and the filling can be vegetables alone, or vegetables with pork or shrimp. Lumpia Gulay is a vegetarian form of lumpia that can have cabbage, tofu, bean sprouts, and more. Dinamita, or Dynamite Lumpia, is a long green pepper filled with pork and cheese filling, then wrapped in a wrapper and fried until crisp. Kind of like a jalapeño popper, but crispier and, in my opinion, tastier!

In an extremely delicious dessert version of lumpia called turon, a banana is sometimes combined with ube or other sweet fruit, wrapped, then fried until crisp. The turon is then covered in a caramel and served.

Growing up, as I moved around to a few places in the United States, I watched lumpia transform from the traditional filling to fillings that represented each of the places I was living. While in California, my mom would often get requests for lumpia filled with turkey and chicken. My Filipina sister-in-law who lives in the Pacific Northwest would sometimes fill her lumpia with salmon. While these are not traditional, know that you can easily swap out the ground pork or beef for the filling of your choice. 

While I love the savory filling, I am equally obsessed with the crispy exterior that only comes from lumpia wrappers. You can’t just buy any kind of egg roll wrapper from any Asian market to wrap lumpia. Traditional Chinese-style egg roll wrappers will fry up thicker, with small bumps or pock marks all over the surface. Filipino-style wrappers are made from a flour-based, paper-thin crepe. Once fried, the exteriors are smooth and, when you bite into it, the wrapper is shatteringly crisp, revealing the warm, savory filling. Spring roll wrappers also work well.

I recommend you head to your local Filipino market and ask them for lumpia wrappers (or look for them in the freezer section). However, if you only have access to Chinese-style egg roll wrappers, you can still use them and get close to lumpia. It would probably still be a tasty bite.

Start by mixing ground pork with aromatics like onion, lots of garlic, grated carrots, salt, and pepper. Separate an egg white from its yolk and add the yolk into the meat mixture and save the white for sealing the wrappers.

Separate the thawed lumpia wrappers from one another. Working with one at a time, lay the wrapper on the work surface with one corner pointed towards your body.  Add a bit of the meat filling to one side of the wrapper and form into a 5-inch thin log. Fold the corner closest to you tightly over the filling, then fold the sides over and crease the edges. Tightly roll the lumpia into a long, thin egg roll and use a dab of the egg white to seal the wrapper shut. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling until you have used everything up.

Cook the lumpia by shallow-frying in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat until the wrapper is deep golden-brown and crisp and the center is cooked through completely.  Serve with your favorite dipping sauce like soy and vinegar with garlic and chilies, or Thai sweet chili sauce or banana sauce. Sometimes I opt for just vinegar and black pepper. 

Yes! I’m not sure where I would be without a freezer lumpia stash. Sometimes I like to roll some just to keep in my freezer to pull out a few whenever the craving hits. No need to thaw — simply heat the oil to 330°F to 350°F and cook as you normally would, until the center is cooked through and the exterior is deep golden-brown and crispy.