Sep 13: Lumpia and Pancit (Part 2)

This is a continuation from yesterday’s post (Lumpia and Pancit)

As I mentioned, my close friends growing up were all Filipino. Eventually, as we grew up, a few friends moved away (as I did too), married and became civilized, but one dude I kept in touch with – Prestone (his nickname) stayed local. We would hangout when I was in town.

I asked him (he deferred to his wife) how pancit was made. The following is what I was shown. His wife didn’t have a written recipe and ingredients weren’t measured out. She made pancit, as anyone who’s made a recipe many times over, based upon a little of this and that.

I was familiar with many of the ingredients from my family’s cooking.

My version of pancit uses the ingredients as shown to me. The quantities are based upon my preference – more veg, less meat.

The noodles – Mung Bean Vermicelli noodles. (Recipe found on the internet uses rice noodles).

Soak in cool water until soft and pliable.


My Version of Pancit
The Fixins’
1.5 C Cabbage, sliced thin
1.5 C Nappa Cabbage, sliced thin
1 Rib Celery, coarse chop
1 Carrot, shredded
½ Chicken Breast, sliced thin
1 Green Onion, coarse chop
2 Cloves Garlic, pressed
1 C Chicken Broth
1 T Soy Sauce (actually to your own taste)

The vegetables


The chicken was mixed with the green onions, garlic and about 1 t (teaspoon) of soy sauce and allowed to marinade for a few minutes.


Saute the chicken. You’re not really trying to brown the meat.


When the chicken is nearly done, I added the vegetables, noodles and broth. (This is where I goofed on the recipe. I should have added the veg and some broth first to precook the veg with the lid on. The noodles are added and cooked with the lid off)


The completed pancit served with lemon wedges.


The pancit was very flavorful. The garlic, green onions and celery were reminiscent to a stir-fry. I really didn’t have to add soy sauce since the broth added sodium and flavor.

However, the noodles did absorb a lot more liquid and softened more than I wanted. I should have allowed the veg to cook first.

Overall, the lumpia and pancit were very flavorful. A few missteps on my part, but that’s straight forward to fix.




Recipes found on the Internet:
Lumpia Eight (8) recipes found on Allrecipes.com
Pancit Five (5) recipes found on Allrecipes.com

Sep 12: Lumpia and Pancit

Dinner tonight is homemade lumpia and pancit. Both are pretty standard Filipino dishes and these are my attempts to make my version of those classics.


I grew up in a diverse neighborhood, but my friends through grade school to community college were all Filipino. My neighbors were Filipino too. A couple dishes seem to come to mind when I think about potlucks and parties are lumpia and pancit.

Today, I’ll detail my recipe for lumpia.
Tomorrow, Pancit (Lumpia and Pancit Part 2)

A lumpia is essentially a Filipino egg roll or spring roll. The main difference is a lumpia was rolled into a tighter package with sizes ranging from AA batteries to small cigars. I’m sure people do made lumpias larger, but small is what I remember.

A couple other characteristics I remember was the fried lumpia was smooth, while Egg rolls tend to have a coarse bubbly exterior. The filling was mainly ground meat (pork?) and maybe bean sprouts. I just seem to remember it was pretty much an all meat filling.

For my attempt, I made more of an egg roll filing - ground pork and veggies. I added garlic chives and water chestnut which I needed to use up before they went bad.

In other words, the filling is just what you have available.

Fried Lumpia

The Fixins'
1 lb Ground Pork
1 C Cabbage, Shredded
1 C Bean Sprouts
½ C Carrot, coarse chop
½ C Water Chestnut, coarse chop
1 Green Onions, coarse chop
1 ½ C Garlic Chive, coarse chop (Optional)
2 T Soy Sauce
2 T Oyster Sauce

Some chopped veg…


Sauté the ground pork until almost cooked and add the rest of the ingredients.
Drain mixture in a colander and allow to cool.

The completed filling


These wrappes are round. I thought they would be square. Also, the wrappers are similar to a thin crepe.


Filling and Rolling
2 T of filling in a line about ¼ away from edge. Fold over and pull the top fold towards you to compact the filling.


Fold over edges


Roll…


For some reason, egg or water couldn't seal the end of the roll.


Heat oil to about 350F. One way to check if the oil is ready is to use a bamboo skewer. If the oil boils vigorously around the skewer, then the oil is ready. Personally, I'll stick with a thermometer.


Fry lumpia with the loose end down… The frying locks the end into place.


The completed lumpia… Note it has the smooth outer shell.


Overall, the flavor was good and the lumpias are crispy.
Not bad. Authentic? Maybe.
I still need to work on rolling the lumpias tighter and maintain consistent sizes.

Edit: Sep 13...
I just looked at YouTube. People actually posted videos on how they make lumpia.
One thing I noticed. The filling is raw! Ingredients appeared to be chopped finely and mixed with the raw pork.

Using raw ground meat seems to be the key to rolling a tight lumpia. The raw filling conforms to the roll so you don't end up with air pockets. I'll have to try that the next time around.