Tuesday 31 August 2010

Chinese Spring Rolls (lumpia)


My mother in law used to freeze these spring rolls and send it down through various people when we were in Chennai. She is such an expert at making these and I had to ask her for the recipe. Its been over a year since I got the recipe, but it was just a couple of weeks back that I finally got down to making them. 
Since I decided to buy the wrapper, it wasn't that difficult at all and came in handy on those rainy evenings when you wanted to have something hot with your tea.
Thanks mama for the wonderful recipe, it definitely is a keeper.

On another note: How is my new header??? A cousin told me he didn't feel like it was a food blog and to incorporate something on to my header so I spent a whole day figuring out a photo shop like software called GIMP on my comp and this is the best I could come up with. I seriously lost it after a while and just didn't care. There are still so many options I have and it seriously requires patience to go through those numerous tutorial pages and figure out how the darn thing works. So don't be surprised if I keep playing around with the fonts and colours and header once in a while...You haven't navigated to another page or anything...just another of my antics, that's all :)

For the wrapper:
Cornflour- 1 tbsp
All purpose flour/ maida- 2 tbsp
Eggs- 4
Water- 1/4 cup
Salt- to taste

Filling:
Chicken- 1/2 cup, boiled and shredded. I used chicken breasts
Cabbage- 1 cup minced
Carrot- 1 cup grated
Celery- 1 cup minced
Onion- 1 cup
Soy sauce- 1 tbsp
Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp
Oil- 2 tbsp  + enough to fry
Getting the wrapper ready:
Beat the eggs and mix all the other ingredients into that. (Keep a wee bit aside for the egg wash)
Smear a saucepan with oil and make medium size pancakes.

For the filling:
Fry the onions in oil till translucent and then add all the vegetables, soy sauce and cover and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.
Add salt and pepper, mix well and remove from fire. Keep aside to cool.

Assembling:
Smear the edges with some egg, put the filling in the centre, fold the sides , roll and deep fry in hot oil.
Drain on paper towels and serve with some chilli sauce.
I used store bought spring roll wrapper which was huge and square, rather than circular which the recipe would yield. I had to cut them a bit, but it still was much easier and tasted just the same. This is a pictorial representation of my hard labour. (Please ignore the shabby kitchen).

Notes: The same an be done in a veg version by avoiding the chicken. Use paneer instead.
You can freeze them in zip lock bags for as long as you want.
Baking them is a good idea, but I would have to explore that option another time
I also didn't deep fry it, but shallow fried it, and it was good enough.
Pardon the picture, I had no patience to fancy it after that laborious effort.

33 comments:

Cool Lassi(e) said...

Umm very nice. I am hungry for some evening snacks and I want those right now.

Hayley said...

who would blame you?:) you put a lots of efforts..looks so tasty and mouthwatering....

GB said...

Those look delish!...I love spring rolls, I also liked that you shallow fried instead of dunking them into a pool of oil! ( I just had some yummy manchurian pakoras---they swam in that oil for a loooong time. guess who isn't going to fit into her jeans anymore?)

:)

the blogger formerly known as sansmerci said...

luv ur new header..very attractive!

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Wow they looks gorgeous...looks super good with the pictures and its tempting.

Umm Mymoonah said...

Wow! you made your own wrappers looks very thin and crispy.
Your new header looks very fresh and good.

aipi said...

They look really nice n crispy exactly the way I like them:)
Like the pictures in your new header..

Unknown said...

HI nisha the header looks very attractive and much better than the last one....suits perfect with the blog...

Coming to the recipe...the rolls look awesome...but didn't get the role of the pancakes.....what to do next??? hope you didn't mind asking....

Tanvi said...

Wow what a nice recipe with all steps clicked!
Spring rolls look tempting!

Priyanka@thehealthydiary said...

These spring rolls are so good! I think the header looks great!!

Sunitha said...

I loved the header! Those pictures are really cool and I'll say, pat on your back for a job well done. Secondly I see you are going all out and doing a step by step! Tell you what, that's double cool :) I never have the patience to do it but its is always helpful and you have done well.

Sulagna said...

Thanks for the photos..they make the dish so much easier to make...Your spring rolls are just perfect !!

Satya said...

wow those spring rolls looks very perfect ...very well explained

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

Satrupa said...

Gurl this looks so damn good.... I can hear the crunch of the crust with every bite.
Kuddos to ur MIL :)

Cheers n Happy Cooking,
Satrupa

http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com

Monet said...

I am a big fan of your header...and of these spring rolls! I love ordering spring rolls when I'm dining out, and now I have a great recipe to try at home. Thank you so much for sharing. Beautiful photographs as always!

Pointblank said...

heyyy.. am I the first one to comment? I like ur new header.. maybe more pix to cover up the entire length. But it looks bright and food-y. And btw, how do u manage to take pix while u cook di? isn't it a task???

Pavithra Srihari said...

It looks so perfect ...Thought as much that u r trying to play with your header :) ..

Unknown said...

Lady, you have beautiful long fingers, spring rolls are my fav, never had any patience to make them, now motivated :) oh ya ur header pic's are great sp carrots...well i know how it is with GIMP....its in my office desktop which i often play around with, it takes a while, but its the best :D Good luck with the tutorials I usually get lost with that ...

Fathima said...

They look perfect and professional! By the way, the header looks great!

Shabs.. said...

I loved the pictorial pics...they are simply fabulous...messy kitchen?...r u kidding me..?come to mine, if you wanna see a real messy one!my hubby says, after I am done with cooking, my kitchen occurs for him like a bomb struck spot!.i cant disagree with that..appo ariyalo gambheeram!

Suji said...

Love the spring rolls Nisha dear...Love all the pics.
Header super anytund, o love the carrots pic a lotttt.....

Priya Suresh said...

Definitely worth to try...crispy spring rolls looks prefect and yummy..

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

thats a wonderful recipe Nisha. love the stuffing and this way of making pancakes for spring rolls. will try this soon.
the header is very bright and colourful. suits your blog.

Unknown said...

Dear thanks a lot for the reply....Now I got it.....Forgot to tell in the last comment that the step by step snaps are grt and very helpful....

Radhika said...

Love the illustrations. I usually don't cut the ends. I will try doing that next time. Btw, love your new header. GIMP is really cool and I use it all the time. You can do pretty much everything that you can do on a photoshop .

Namitha said...

That's a cool header :-)Lovely spring rolls

Aparna S Mallya said...

Beautiful step by step pictures and a much loved dish!

Sandhya Hariharan said...

Love spring rolls for the chilli evenings..
I m loving ur new header... I have always used GIMP.. never had photoshop for pic editing . they are quite goood.

Rachel said...

Belive it or not.. the first time I ever came across the word "lumpia" was at Trivandrum.... dind't have a clu that they were just spring rolls :D

Sanjeeta kk said...

Crispy and tempting rolls.

Sarah Naveen said...

awesome clicks..a great job with the step by step pics...
spring rolls looks so delicious..

Vrinda said...

Nice header n lovely rolls...Though it takes lots of oil,its my all time fav...

Padhu Sankar said...

Lovely pictures and lovely recipe Header look very good ,I like the carrot pictures