Lumpia Shanghai

Everyone's favourite party food - lumpia shanghai. I didn't take pictures of the filling, so you'll have to use your imagination. This is the same filling I use for wontons, so you can freeze any excess and use it for different recipes. 

500 g ground pork

150 g raw shrimp

Half a can of water chestnuts

Small bunch of green onions

1 - 2 Tbsp oyster sauce 

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch. 

Lumpia wrappers (I use ones labeled TYJ Spring Roll Pastry)

Defrost, peel, and chop up the shrimp into small pieces, but not so small that it's paste. You want to bite into the occasional shrimp chunk. Ditto for the water chestnuts. Slice the green onions. Add it all together with the pork and season. 

I can tell how salty the filling is by smelling it, but if you're not confident with seasoning, start with about 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and fry or microwave a teeny bit and have a taste. 

After the filling is seasoned, mix in the cornstarch as a binder. If you forget this step it will taste fine, it will just be a bit crumblier. 

Now get ready to wrap. Make a small bowl of water plus a bit of cornstarch. This is your wrapper glue. Lay out your filling like this, about the thickness of your finger:

And fold over, smoothing the filling out into a tight roll.

Use your fingers dipped in the cornstarch water and apply some to the centre here.

Then fold in the sides:

Now add more glue to the top of the point here and roll up, keeping the filling and wrapper layers tight as you roll. Put on a baking sheet seam side down.

Put plastic wrap or waxed paper in between layers so they don't stick together. At this point you can freeze them uncooked. Freeze on the baking sheet, and once solid you can bag them into freezer bags and take out as many as you need at a time.

Heat up oil on medium-high. You want enough oil that it almost covers the lumpia, but not so much that they float, which makes frying them harder. I don't use a thermometer, but I'm guessing the temp is around 350, because it's right on the border of not hot enough to deep fry. They will bubble and hiss, but you don't want them to burn before cooking through.

They are done when crisp, browned, and cooked through. Cut open the first one to check, and you'll have some idea of how brown they have to get to be cooked. Drain on paper towels, preferably upright in a wire basket, so they don't steam and get soggy.