Recipes & Nutrition Bits

So if you've got a very dear friend who detests meat or protests against eating meat, animal sensitive, you name it. I mean very dear friend, then making Vegetarian Lumpia is a labor of love showing one's sensitivity to dear friend's lifestyle.

In the U.S. there is pre-packaged Tofu that is already doctored to look like ground beef. If you can find it, use it and save a lot of time.

+ 1 package firm Tofu
+ 1 clove garlic, puree or minced
+ 1 small spring onion, chopped
+ 1-2 Tbs soy sauce
+ 1/2 tsp black pepper
+ 1/4 cup chopped string beans
+ 1/4 cup chopped carrots
+ 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
+ 1/4 (16 oz.) package spring roll wrappers
+ bowl of water
+ 1 1/2 quarts oil for frying

1. Rinse the tofu, pat dry and crumble the mass.
2. Fry the tofu until browned. Add the garlic and onion. Add peper and soy sauce and saute. Then let cool.
3. Add all the other vegetables and mix well. Drain any liquid that remains in mixture.
4. Remove spring roll wrappers from package and separate each sheet from one another, placing them on a plate with a moist cloth over them to keep them from drying out.
5. Then take about 1-2 tablespoons of filling and place it on a wrapper about 1.5 inches away from one of the edges. Shape the filling into a log/pencil shape, leaving about 2 inches of wrapper on either side.
6. Roll the 1.5 inch flap of wrapper over the filling, tucking the edge a bit under the filling, help to give the lumpia more shape and remove air between wrapper and filling. Be careful not to rip the wrapper.
7. Now fold the sides in. Make sure the sides aren't angled wide, rather a little angled inward.
8. Roll the wrapper until you reach the other edge and dab your finger in the water and pat around the wrapper open edge and seal the lumpia.
9. When all the lumpia are rolled. Heat the oil to medium high heat, peanut oil is the best. Fry one side until golden brown, flip over and do the same
10. Line a colander with paper towels, place fried lumpia ends facing up to drain oil. Then serve.

There are special Lumpia wrappers out there that work the best for lumpia standard. I can't find them in Germany so I use the fancier Chinese spring roll wrappers, which maybe easier to use for vegetarian lumpia because of its thickness. Experiment. And Happy Eating.