Home > Lumpia Udang (Shrimp Spring Rolls or Egg Rolls)

Lumpia Udang (Shrimp Spring Rolls or Egg Rolls)

Posting Date: 11/17/15

Lumpia Udang (Shrimp Spring Rolls or Egg Rolls)

Lumpia (Spring Rolls or Egg Rolls) was originally from China. Anyone who has been in Chinese restaurants in US probably has tried egg rolls or spring rolls at least once in their lifetime. In US, the filling is normally pork with some vegetables or it could be vegetables only. In Indonesia, the filling could be either vegetables with shrimp, chicken, or no meat at all. The filling is then wrapped in a spring roll or egg roll wrapper. It is then fried which makes it have crunchy exterior. In Indonesia, it is normally eaten as snacks and served with Thai chili pepper. However, there was 1 place I knew that served it with peanut sauce and thinly slices of cucumber. To me, this was the better combination since the freshness and crunchiness of the cucumber compliment the peanut sauce. The peanut sauce also compliments the rolls.

A lot of people asked me what the differences between spring rolls and egg rolls are. The difference is the skin (wrapper) used to wrap the filling. Spring rolls has a very smooth skin while egg rolls has bumpy or textured skin. So, after you fry them, spring roll skin looks smooth while egg roll skin looks bumpy and textured. In Indonesia, the skin used is spring roll wrappers. In some Vietnamese restaurants, they call the summer rolls as spring rolls or fresh spring rolls. Don't get confused with this. The Vietnamese version of spring rolls is served without frying the wrappers. The vegetable filling in them is also fresh but of course, the meat is cooked. The skin (wrapper) is a lot different than the one used for fried spring rolls. They use rice paper wrapper and it must be dipped in warm water to make it soft so that you can fold it.

I am addicted to spring rolls and normally make them in big batches so that I can have them for days. The only problem is they will be soggy if you don't eat them right away. What's good about eating soggy spring rolls since the best thing about spring rolls is their crunchy skin? However, I have found a way to revive them by putting them in a toaster oven before eating them. To find out more details on how to revive leftover spring rolls or egg rolls, click here.

To make lumpia, I use the paper thin wrappers so that they will be crunchy after frying them since I like them crunchy. I have made a link in the ingredient to show the brand I normally use in case you would like to know which wrappers are better. You can also click here to see it.

This recipe makes about 17 lumpia (spring rolls or egg rolls). In the ingredients, I use salad shrimp. Salad shrimp is small and cooked and thus, I don't have to need to ground them. You can also use ground chicken. If you want to make it vegetarian, omit the meat. In addition, substitute the oyster sauce with vegetarian oyster sauce or omit it all together. Oyster sauce is made from oyster while vegetarian oyster sauce is made from mushrooms. For the glass noodles, make sure you don't overcook them since they will finish cooking when you cook the vegetables. One package of glass noodles contains several separate bundles of the noodles to make it easier to control the portion. For this recipe, we need 2 bundles only. To seal the wrappers, I use a mixture of flour and water instead of using egg. This is to save money since eggs are expensive. I normally serve the spring rolls with sweet chili sauce.



Ingredients:

  • 2 bundles of glass noodles
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 celery, diced
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage
  • 1 cup shredded lettuce
  • 2 carrots, julienned
  • 1.5 cup salad shrimp (omit this to make it vegetarian)
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce (substitute it with vegetarian oyster sauce to make it vegetarian or omit it all together)
  • pepper
  • vegetable oil
  • spring roll wrappers, choose paper thin ones. Click on the link to see the brand I use. Thaw the wrappers on the kitchen counter if they come from the freezer. It may take about an hour or so to thaw them. So, plan the cooking time accordingly.
  • 1 tablespoon of flour to seal spring roll wrappers
  • 4 teaspoons water to seal spring roll wrappers
  • sweet chili sauce

Methods:

  1. Cook 2 bundles of glass noodles according to the package instructions. Do not overcook them since they will finish cooking with the vegetables. Drain and rinse them in cold water as soon as they finish cooking.
  2. Heat up 1 vegetable oil and saute the garlic until it becomes fragrant.
  3. Add celery, carrots, cabbage, and lettuce and cook them until tender crisp.
  4. Add shrimp (if used), noodles, soy sauce, oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce), and pepper. Toss them around to coat them with the sauces and pepper. Add more pepper if needed.
  5. Put them in a plate and let them cool down.
  6. Heat up enough vegetable oil on medium high to fry the spring rolls.
  7. Mix well flour with water. The mixture should be sticky and consistent but not too thick. Add more water if it is too thick. If it is too thin, add a little bit of flour. This mixture will be used to seal the spring rolls.
  8. Put cooling rack on top of baking sheet. This will be used to cool down the rolls and make sure it will not be soggy after frying.
  9. Take 1 wrapper and orientate it so that you are facing 1 of the corner points. Take about 2-3 tablespoons of the filling (the amount of the filling depends on the size of the wrappers) and place it on the corner close to you. Fold the corner over the filling. Fold the left side toward the center. Fold the right side toward the center. Roll it up toward the far end of the corner. Dip your finger in the mixture of the flour and water and apply the mixture to the edges underneath the top side of the roll. Gently press the top side down to seal the roll with the mixture. Repeat this step with the other wrappers until the filling is completely gone. You don't need to finish folding all rolls before frying them. To save time, you can fold 3 to 4 rolls first and fry them. While waiting for them to be frying, you can continue folding the other rolls.
  10. Fry the roll in the oil until golden brown on all sides. You can fry about 3-4 spring rolls at a time depending on the size of your pan. Do not overcrowd them so that they will not become soggy. Once cooked, drain the roll on a plate lined with paper towel. Move it to the cooling rack to cool down. Do not leave the roll on the paper towel for a long time since it will make it soggy.
  11. Finish frying all the spring rolls.
  12. Serve with sweet chili sauce.

Note:

  • If you have left over spring or egg rolls, store them in the fridge. To revive them, put them directly on the rack of toaster oven and toast them for 6.5 min. The time may vary depending on your toaster oven. I found 6.5 min in my toaster oven makes them crispy. For more details, click here.

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