Filipino lumpia are a spring roll type dish filled with vegetables and a tiny bit of ground beef. The black pepper, garlic and vinegar lumpia sauce puts them over the top!

If you’ve never tried Filipino lumpia before, you are soooo missing out! Especially when they are doused with a garlic, black pepper vinegar lumpia sauce while they are still piping hot! (Be careful as I’ve been called “Teflon Mouth” in the past. Lumpia are super hot when they come out of the pan–obviously!)

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How do I know about lumpia, you ask? Yes, I know, I grew up with Italian food in Scotland so how would I know anything about Filipino food? Well, we had Filipino neighbors living next door to us for a few years, here in LA.

The smells that wafted over our dividing wall were insanely enticing! I would always yell over the wall, “What are you cooking?” Which led to several cooking lessons for dishes like lumpia, pancit and adobo!

Lumpia are mostly vegetable filled, crispy rolls. (You could easily omit the beef and use vegetable stock to make them vegetarian and vegan.) Don’t ask me why they are so incredibly tasty as there’s really not much to them besides lots of veg, especially cabbage! I can eat about four, easily, doused with the vinegary lumpia sauce.

Singapore Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Are lumpia and spring roll wrappers the same?

Lumpia wrappers are not the same as spring roll wrappers. Lumpia wrappers are made especially for wrapping the filling for Filipino lumpia or shanghai (another Filipino roll). They are so different than any other spring roll wrapper I’ve used because they are so easy to work with! Filipino lumpia wrappers are very stretchy and don’t tear. However, they are extremely light and crispy, like spring rolls, after frying.

Try these delicious mung bean pancakes!

I found lumpia wrappers in the frozen food section of a Filipino grocery store, but if you don’t have one near you, just use spring roll wrappers.

Don’t use egg roll wrappers as the texture and flavor will be very different. This is the brand my neighbors used, however, I realized after I bought it that it has sorbitol as an ingredient. I’ll look for another brand next time.

This recipe makes enough for at least 30 medium sized Filipino lumpia, which is how many wrappers came in my package. Cut the ingredients in half if this is just too much for you to make in one go.

Filipino Lumpia

recipe slightly adapted from my Filipino neighbor (sadly, I don’t remember her name!) makes 30

FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground beef (omit for vegetarian or vegan)
2 medium onions, chopped
2 heads of minced garlic (yes, heads! It’s a lot of garlic)
freshly ground black pepper (I use about a teaspoon, but you can use less)
1/3 cup (2 to 3 oz) chicken or vegetarian stock (my neighbor used chicken, but beef would make more sense as the meat used is beef)
1 1/2 large cabbages, shredded
2 large potatoes, grated
2 small Japanese yams or white sweet potatoes, grated
2 or 3 carrots, grated or julienned
(optional: cilantro) I can’t stand it, but it’s in the original recipe if you love it (I used a little parsley)
Kosher or sea salt
lumpia roll wrappers (or spring roll wrappers) – make sure they are defrosted
oil for deep frying (I use olive oil and avocado oil mixed)

Garlic and Black Pepper Vinegar Sauce

2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup (4 oz) white vinegar (if you are near a Filipino store, the vinegar that my neighbor used is “sukang maasim” Datu Puti brand
black pepper

Make the Garlic Vinegar Sauce

Combine all three ingredients. Put as much black pepper as you like, but if you think it’s enough, it probably isn’t. My neighbor used a lot of black pepper in the lumpia sauce.

Make the Filling

In a very large sauté pan or wok over medium high heat, sauté the ground beef in a little oil. After a few minutes add the onions and the garlic.

Continue to cook for about 5 or 6 minutes, then add the ground black pepper and stock. Next, add all the grated vegetables, except for the cabbage, and stir well. Keep cooking for a few more minutes.

Next add the cabbage, and cook until it’s cooked through, but not soft. (Add the cilantro or parsley if you’re using it.)

Wrap them Up

Allow the filling to cool before filling the wrappers. Here is how to fold them so that the filling doesn’t escape. Have a little bowl or ramekin of water nearby to seal them in step 5.

place some filling below the middle part of the wrapper placed with a point towards you
fold the bottom up onto the filling
fold the left and right sides on top of the bottom fold
making sure the filling is tight against the bottom, start rolling away from you, tucking in any part of the wrapper that wants to go its own way
dampen the top edges of the wrapper
finish rolling the lumpia and press gently to seal the end

If you have a helper, it’s a big plus as someone can fry the lumpia while you wrap them. You don’t want to make all of them and then fry them as the dampness of the filling will seep into the wrapper and you’ll have a terrible mess in your pan (ask me how I know)!

Repeat as needed to use the rest of the filling.

Fry the Lumpia

Heat the oil and test it with the edge of one of the lumpia. It should start bubbling immediately. When the oil is hot enough, start frying a few at a time.

Fry them until they are golden brown, trying to only turn them once.

Remove from the oil (drain well) and place on a paper towel lined plate or platter.

For me, there’s no waiting to sit down to eat these beauties–I eat them while I fry more. They’re that tasty!

Eat the Lumpia!

You’ll have to forgive me as I didn’t get a photo of the inside of these to show you. I rushed when I was finished frying them. On the day that I made these, there was a fire on the mountain across the street from my house, so I brought most of the Filipino lumpia to the firefighters. I wanted them to have them while they were still warm.

To serve the lumpia with the sauce, first take a bite, then pour a spoonful of the vinegar lumpia sauce directly into the open end.

This way, you enjoy the garlic, black pepper and vinegar throughout the lumpia. If you dip them into the lumpia sauce, it doesn’t work as well.

Hopefully, you’ll try making this version of Filipino lumpia, as there are probably hundreds of thousands of variations of this recipe, if it’s anything like other ethnic home cooking. If you do, please come back to let me know what you think. I’d love to hear from you! Tell me if you love the lumpia sauce as much as I do, too!

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