Spring it to me

To spring something on someone is to tell that person something that he doesn’t expect. My play with words has to do with food. For today, we’re going back to making lumpia or spring rolls.

Spring rolls can be eaten as an appetizer or companion to boiled rice. It’s very easy to pack and take with you for your office lunch. What more, you can hardly make errors when making spring rolls.

I have eaten very good spring rolls, fresh or fried, and have tasted commercialized bits with just stir-fried mung bean sprouts as filling. Call this my Idiots Guide To Making Spring Rolls because it’s honestly easy to make this finger food.

Since spring rolls are very forgiving, and as far as I know there are no rules on what to fill them with. Use anything you like, such as fried bacon bits, cheese sticks, roughly grated carrot and singkamas (Mexican turnips). Or carrot strips, singkamas and ham sliced into sticks. Or why not fill it with adobo or even sisig? Be inventive.

Basic Rolls. Make stir-fry sauce: 2 tbsp soy sauce; 1-1/2 tbsp fish sauce; sugar to taste and 1/4 tsp ground white pepper.

For the filling: 1 chicken breast (or pork), sliced into thin strips; 1 tbsp soy sauce; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 3 green onions, minced; 1 carrot, sliced into thin matchsticks; 4 to 6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced into sticks; 1/2 cup cabbage, finely shredded; 2 c mung bean sprouts; and 1 package spring roll wrapper.

To do it: Mix the stir-fry sauce ingredients and set aside till needed. Marinate chicken in one tablespoon soy sauce.

Heat large frying pan, add oil, then saute garlic and onion. Add chicken and stir-fry till cooked. Add carrots, mushrooms and cabbage strips, then add the sauce. Stir-fry until vegetables have softened but still crispy. Add bean sprouts, and cook for one minute. Set taste with salt or fish sauce, and white pepper. Drain the filling.

To make the rolls, place one heaping tablespoon of filling on the wrapper. Fold the left and right ends over filling, then the top and bottom; seal edges with water. Fry rolls until golden brown. Serve with choice of dip.