Lumpia are similar to your basic egg roll or spring roll in the Pacific Island culture. They are great to eat as an appetizer, as a side dish, or a main dish. Traditional lumpia are filled with meat, however, you can spice them up by adding different dessert combinations as well.
Throughout the years, I have had numerous requests to place our family’s recipes for lumpia on the blog. For some reason or another, the idea always fell by the wayside…until now. I’m teaching my first ever cooking class on the base this upcoming weekend, where the topic will be…how to make homemade lumpia and sweet and sour sauce.
With that in mind, I figured I would post a picture tutorial on the blog as well, just incase any of you would like to learn too.
Making lumpia is an event that takes a good couple of hours. It also takes lots and lots of practice if you aren’t used to making them. The key is to keep practicing until you get it right.
Today, I will be sharing my family’s recipe for ground meat lumpia, as well as our recipes for banana cinnamon and pumpkin pie lumpia.
Serves: 30 rolls
Calories Per Serving: 86
Ingredients
Ingredients for the ground beef filling:
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 16 oz. bag of Old Fashioned Coleslaw
- 13 oz. package of Lumpia or Spring Roll wrappers)
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. onion salt
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
Ingredients for the banana cinnamon filling:
- 8 ripe bananas
- 1 and 1/2 cups of already made cinnamon sugar
- 13 oz. package of Lumpia or Spring Roll wrappers
Ingredients for the pumpkin pie filling:
- 2 cups canned packed pumpkin (not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling)
- 8 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
Instructions
Directions for the ground beef rolls:
- In a medium sized skillet, ground beef until brown, adding the salt, garlic powder, onion salt, and black pepper as it browns. Drain beef if needed and place back in skillet.
- Add this 16 oz. bag of Old Fashioned Coleslaw.
- Cook on medium heat until cabbage is wilted and carrots are tender. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days. Follow directions below on how to roll.
Directions for the Banana Cinnamon Filling:
- Cut bananas in half length wise, then cut again down the middle. This will give you 4 pieces per banana.
- Roll each piece of banana in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Use the banana as a filling for lumpia.
- Roll lumpia as directed below and fry.
Directions for the pumpkin pie filling:
- Mix all of the above ingredients together in a bowl.
- Use as filling for lumpia. Roll lumpia as directed below and fry.
Libby's Notes
Fry both banana and pumpkin lumpia after frying the beef, due to the possibility of the banana mixture seeping out. For the pumpkin rolls, one spoonful of pumpkin filling is all that will be needed.
Nutrition
Calories: 86kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @cooknwithlibby or tag #cookwlib!
How to Roll Your Lumpia:
Our family typically uses this brand of lumpia wrappers, however, if you can’t find these, then any brand will suffice:
Before you start rolling, you need to prepare your work station. Place your meat mixture (or any other filling mixture) in a medium sized bowl, your wrappers should be taken out of the box and placed on a plate, and you should have a small bowl of lukewarm water by your side:
1. Carefully take one wrapper and place it on a big plate. Take
one heaping spoonful of the meat
mixture and spread it on the end that is closest to you, making
sure to leave a few empty inches behind it.
2. Start rolling the lumpia by taking the empty edge and placing it over the meat to cover it. Tightly tuck the edge of the wrapper (where the arrow is pointing) underneath the meat.
3. Roll the wrapper once as if you were rolling burrito.4. Take one side of the wrapper and tightly fold it over.
5. Take the other side of the wrapper and tightly fold it over as well.6. After folding both sides over, roll the lumpia like a burrito again, making
sure to tuck the sides (where the arrow is pointing) underneath as you roll.
7. Keep rolling the lumpia and stop when there is
about an inch or two of space left.
8. Take your finger and dip it into the bowl of lukewarm water.
9. Spread the water over the exposed few inches on the wrapper.
10. Continue rolling the lumpia.
11. Seal the edges with more water.
12. Congratulations! You are finished rolling your first egg roll!
You can store them in a gallon sized zip lock bag and place them in the freezer. They should keep for up to a few months.
Or you can fry em’ up…fill a skillet about 1/4 of the way up with vegetable oil.
You don’t want to fill it completely full with oil or else your rolls will twist and turn as they cook.
Heat oil on medium heat until ready to fry. It usually takes 15-20 minutes for it to warm up.
Fry lumpia 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.
Place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain the grease.
Try our family’s recipe for
Pancit, a saute’d noodle dish that works well.
Another great side dish to go with this would be
Round out the meal with latija, which is
a popular custard based dessert from the islands.
Great job with the instructions! You make it seem so easy. These all sound so good…will be trying these very soon. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome for sharing Mimi 😉 They are pretty easy once you get the hang of rolling them 😉
Can these be baked rather than fried?
I have heard that you can bake them, however, I have never tried to do it. If you do decide to bake them, please post back and let us know how it turned out 😉
I am wondering why these are called egg rolls when there isn't any egg included as an ingredient? I never thought about this before BUT your recipe looks so good, I was intrigued and would like to try these….and am curious too! 😉
Good question 😉 Let us know how they turn out for you 🙂
This recipe has been passed down from generation to generation in our household. It definitely receives 10 stars in our house!
I do love a simple recipe
I will try all 3
Thanks for sharing
You are very welcome Michele. Let us know how they turn out! 😉
How do you think ground chicken would taste with the old fashioned cole slaw as a substitute??
We have never tried it with ground chicken. It may work. If you aren’t opposed to it, I would try it with ground turkey instead. That may come out better. If you do try it with the chicken, please let us know how it turns out 🙂