I've been playing around a lot with my lumpia recipe. Of course, since we are meat free this month, these are vegitarian, and every recipe I read had meat in it. I basically comed through 5 recipes, picking and choosing which veggies I wanted, playing with textures of the ingredients and made my own thing. I'm still playing with the seasoning of the veggies, I haven't quite gotten that where I want it, once I figure it out, I'll post the version I've found I like best. These are still flipping good, I just want to try to make them even better!! This version isn't exactly how I made them on NYE, just because I wasn't satisfied with the textures in that batch, these are better! I want to use bean sprouts, but my store doesn't carry them fresh, and canned ones always taste like a can even when I've rinsed them for 20 minutes and throughly drained, so I just don't use them. My husband and I have a difference of opinion over the water chestnuts, I love the crunch they give, he does not. I'm making another batch today (We've been going through them fast!), and this time I'll chop them finer than I did the first time. I made them without last time, and I really missed them being in there. Most recipes make 30 rolls, but mine only make 20, I think because I'm missing that pound of meat. I could add 50 percent more of each ingredient, but, honestly, I get sick of rolling them after doing 10, so I'm okay only making 20! I just put the remaining wrappers back in the bag, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and freeze. I always end up making more in 2-3 days, so I could get away with not freezing lol! To cut back on fat, I bake them instead of fry, I just spray my hands with a little cooking spray and roll them in my hands so that they will brown. This is really rather hard to do when they're fresh, so I line them all up on a baking sheet and freeze, transfer to little baggies, and then bake them from frozen. It just makes my life easier!
Here is my most recent lumpia recipe:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup minced carrots
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup thinly sliced green cabbage (Do it with a knife, don't be lazy and food processor shred it. Trust me, it will be mushy, it's not good.)
1/2 cup minced celery
1, 8 oz can water chestnuts, rinsed, drained, and minced
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
20 lumpia wrappers (You can find them in the freezer section of the grocery store or Asian market)
Set the wrappers on the counter to thaw at room temp for one hour.
In a small skillet sprayed with cooking spray over medium-high heat, cook garlic and onion until softened, about 2 minutes. In a large bowl, mix the garlic and onions with the remaining ingredients (Minus the wrappers, of course!).
Gently peel one wrapper from the rest (They are only slightly less fragile than fillo dough, take your time peeling them apart, if you go too fast, you'll tear them up. If you're in a bad or impatient mood, maybe make these another day!), and lay on your work surface with one point facing you, making a diamond (Which Sesame Street is now calling a rhombus, I was tought it was a diamond in elementary school!). About two inches in from the point, place 2 tablespoons of the filling, and form into a log. Fold up the bottom corner up and over the filling, then fold the sides in, pull back slightly to pack the filling in, so the wrapper isn't loose around it, and roll up. It's not easy to make pretty ones, and it took me rolling 15 the first time to figure out how to make them look nice, and still I screw up from time to time! A couple things that have helped me have pretty lumpia have been to, when you fold the sides over, first tuck in the corner where the fold from bringing the bottom up and the side meets on each side, or you'll have a corner for filling to fall out of. Another trick has been to align the middle of the filing with the top point, and make sure the sides form a straight line up when you fold them in, instead of forming a cone. This way, you won't have a skinny piece wrapping around three times (Happened to me), you'll have an even sheet until you get to the tip. I always get a little discouraged when I roll something and it looks like crap, so trust me, you'll get the hang of it, and crappy looking lumpia still tastes good! The point most likely won't be at a flat side, they're rude like that, so just manipulate the lumpia a little so that the side with the point is flat. The reason you want to do this is so that when you bake them, the point is on the bottom so that they're not tempted to unravel (Another bonus of baking them frozen, they don't have time for that), and the tips won't burn. If you're going the tradidional way and frying, I doubt it really matters, but I bake mine.
If you want to bake them off fresh, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, lay the lumpia, pointy side down, spray again, and bake for 10 minutes, flipping halfway. They won't brown evenly, mainly just the edges and the parts that touched the baking pan, but they will still be very crunchy and yummy! I would only bake as many as you think will reasonably be eaten. For NYE, I baked 15 and froze 5, and still the ones that didn't get eaten got soft in the fridge. They did crisp up in the oven, but not as much as they were when they were first baked.
To freeze them, line on a baking sheet and freeze at least a couple of hours (I go with over night), then place into bags, squeezing as much air out as possible. The reason you want to freeze before bagging is to prevent them from getting covered in big ice crystals, "freezer burn", which make the lumpia not bake as crisply, it also keeps them from sticking together as they freeze. If you don't have the freezer space, what I've done is freeze a few on small plates where I can fit them, or shuffle stuff around to make room. When you're ready to bake, spray with cooking spray and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, flipping halfway (I don't do 7:30 each side, I go 8 on one and 7 on the other, it's easier with the timer!). Let cool for a couple of minutes, they will be hot inside! I like to dip mine in Asian sweet chili sauce, which you can find in the ethnic aisle. I love the fish dipping sauce that you get with Vietnamese fried spring rolls, so I'm looking for a recipe for that to try with the lumpia, I'll let you know how that goes!
This recipe makes 20!
To make the arepas, you need:
1 3/4 cups masa harina (It's a corn flour. Look in the Mexican area of the ehtnic food aisle)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups water
cooking spray
2 oz queso fresco or mozzarella cheese, diced small
Combine the masa and salt in a bowl and gradually stir in the water to make a soft dough. Let rest for 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into 16 balls and pat each into a circle about 1/2 inch thick with your fingers. Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and spray with cooking spray, in batches, cook arepas for 4 minutes on each side until slightly blistered on both. Let them cool slightly while you cook the rest.
With a serrated knife, cut the arepas about halfway and open up. Add the cheese and return to the pan to melt the cheese. Serve warm, they're better that way, when the cheese is gooey, yum!
This recipe makes 16!
This white bean dip was so good! To get it on your veggies, do this:
3/4 cup dried cannellini (Great Northern) beans, or 1 can, rinsed and drained
1/2 onion, left whole (If using dried beans)
1 clove garlic, smashed (If using dried beans
1 bay leaf (Again, for cooking the beans)
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces (Including the stem)
5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 tablespoon plus 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chicken stock (Or you could use white wine, or water if you have neither)
salt and pepper
1 tsp lemon zest plus 1 Tbsp juice
If using dried beans (Which I recommend to cut the sodium content, also because it's a lot cheaper than buying cans!), soak overnight or cover with water in a pot, bring to a boil, and boil for two minutes, then let sit, covered, for an hour to quick soak. Drain and rinse, cover with water, add onion, garlic, and bay leaf and boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until tender. For dips, I would go closer to an hour and a half so that they're good and soft. For other dishes, I usually leave mine a little firm, but you want these soft to puree completely. Drain again and rinse. I think the texture of freshly cooked beans works better in everything than canned, plus you can skip the sodium and the chemicals used to line the cans, and can add different flavorings to the cooking liquid if you like! You can do this a day or two ahead of time.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. On a baking sheet, toss together cauliflower and garlic with 1 tsp oil and season with salt and pepper (You don't need a lot of oil to coat as long as you toss them well). Roast until cauliflower is tender and starting to brown, about 25 minutes. When garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze the pointy end to pop it from the paper.
In a food processor, combine cauliflower, garlic, beans, 1/2 Tbsp oil, chicken stock, lemon zest, and juice. Process until smooth, then season to taste with salt and pepper. If desired, drizzle with 1/4 tsp olive oil after you dish it out.
This is also really awesome as a sandwich spread, or just spread on a piece of toast for a snack!
This recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups!
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If you try any of these recipes, let me know how you liked it(Or didn't, for that matter!), and any changes you made or think might improve this meal! I always appreciate input!!