MY misadventure with Fresh Lumpiang Ubod

This is another dish you can make this coming Holy Week!

Fresh Lumpiang Ubod or most commonly known as Lumpiang Sariwa is the Filipinos version of Chinese Lumpia. It is made by filling a thin egg wrapper with sautéed ubod (heart of palm) and other choice of vegetables and meat.

Okay, first things first. I have to clarify to everyone that this was the first time I made Lumpiang Sariwa. I usually buy it from Goldilocks food shop when I crave for one; I really like their version, but you see, here in Narnia, there is still no Goldilocks Food shop; so again, I ended up making it myself. – With a little misadventure while doing so. 

Read on to know where I exactly made a crucial mistake.

I first made the thin egg wrapper. This ratio made about 5 wrappers.

In a bowl, I whisked 1 large egg with a dash of salt. Gradually added 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of milk ALTERNATELY. Lastly, added 2 tbsp of vegetable oil.  Stored the batter in the fridge until ready to use.

While my batter was in the fridge, I made the vegetable filling. The heart of palm/Ubod should be the main ingredient, I used about ½ kg of that; and then I just used my favorite vegetables for the other fillings: 1 carrot, 1 camote (sweet potato), 1 sayote (chayote), 1 small cabbage, 1 red onion, 2 cloves of garlic, about 240g of garbanzos and a bunch of cilantro. The cilantro is not a usual ingredient for lumpiang ubod but I must say that it really contributes a great flavor to any dish plus it is my favorite herb. If you don’t like it, don’t add it. Just use your favorite veggies. There is no exact rule to this except to use ubod as the main ingredient.  For the source of protein, I used about 4 pcs of raw shrimps (that's the only protein I found in our freezer) and some cooked left over shrimps from the last last night’s dinner and that summed to about 1/2 cup. I added too, 2 blocks of tofu.

Here’s how I exactly did it:

I sliced all the vegetables into matchsticks. Peeled the shrimps and minced it.

tip: When peeling the Sayote, use some protection for your hand as Sayote's skin have minute thorns that can hurt you. 

In a wok, I heated about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and sauteed the garlic and onion just until fragrant. I added the minced raw shrimps and cooked it until orange; followed with the minced leftover shrimps.

 OK, so this was were I made a crucial mistake. Yes, I made it early. I was lazy, so I added the sliced tofu.

It is only after cooking the filling that I realized that I SHOULD HAVE FRIED THE TOFU FIRST AND JUST ADD IT DURING "LUMPIA ASSEMBLY". Adding the tofu early on made the filling somewhat soggy. Something I DO NOT WANT my lumpia filling to be.

 After that mistake, I stir fried the carrots, camote and garbanzos for about 3 minutes until soft. 

4) I followed it with the ubod, sayote, and shredded cabbage; and stir fried it for another 3 minutes.

5) I added the bunch of cilantro last; and seasoned the vegetables with some patis (fish sauce) and pepper. Then, I set this aside. The vegetable filling can  make about 10 pieces of lumpia.

After making the filling, I got back on the thin egg wrapper. I heated a non-stick pan and brushed it lightly with some vegetable oil. I put a ladle of the batter, and swirled the pan to evenly spread it. Cooked it at very low heat. This process took about just a minute on each side.

tip: If the batter is too thick, add some water to it. Remember this should be a thin wrapper, thinner than crepe.

After making the thin egg wrappers, I made the last important element for this dish- the sauce. In a stockpot, I combined 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of minced garlic, 1/2 of pork bouillon, and 2 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 4 tbsp of water.  Brought that to a boil and simmered it until sauce was lightly thick. 

I then prepared Romaine lettuce leaves, crushed peanuts and all the other components for LUMPIA ASSEMBLY. 

I wrapped the veggies in the thin egg wrapper burrito-style. I started by putting the romaine lettuce leaf, topped with vegetable filling, some sauce and crushed nuts. 

Transferred it to a serving platter and and topped it with more sauce and nuts.

After trying one, my husband found it delicious, although it was still soggy for my standard. 

I decided to gave some to my in-laws so I made some more and transferred it to a lock&lock.

Okay, although the lumpias turned out well (taste wise), I would have to keep in mind not to add the tofu early on. Lesson learned. 

At least, we still enjoyed the "soggy" version. =) 

Hope you won't make the same mistake that I did. ;-)

Happy Eating! =)