By: Helena Stallings, Culinary Arts Student

For me, I believe one of the best aspects of cooking is being able to tell a story with your dish. Every component of your dish, right down to the last spice, tells a story of where that dish came from and how it is prepared tells the story of the cook. Leah Eveleigh has been making lumpia, the Philippine version of an eggroll, for most of her life and has dedicated so much time to this simple dish that she has been nicknamed the ‘Lumpia Lady’. It was incredible to watch her effortlessly roll eggroll after eggroll, while giving instructions and reliving memories of rolling thousands of lumpia for festival goers. It truly is second nature for her and after filming this video I began cooking my own lumpia at home and get perfect results every time. This is an easy dish, that is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

When cooking lumpia at home the first few steps are to heat your frying oil on the stove, then separate your eggroll wrappers and create a watery paste out of flour and water to seal the eggrolls with. The filling ingredients are 1 pound ground beef, 1 pound ground pork, 1 whole head of celery, 1 pound of carrots, 2 large onions,1 bunch of green onions, 1 whole head of garlic and 4 eggs. Process all of the vegetables in a food processor, then mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl with roughly 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper. Using a butter knife, spread 1 tablespoon of filling on to your wrapper. While holding up the bottom corner closest to you, evenly spread out the filling and roll the corner over. Bring in each side one at a time, then finish rolling. Spread a little of your paste on the last corner of the wrapper to create a strong steal. Once all of your eggrolls are finished, your oil should be heated and when the lumpia are a beautiful golden brown, they are ready to go. Allow them to cool for a few minutes and serve with a sweet chili sauce or any of your favorite sauces.

Leah’s Lumpia Recipe
1 pound ground beef and pork
1 pound of carrots
1 head of celery
1 bunch of green onions
2 large onions
4 eggs
1 head of garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 pkg of any eggroll wrappers (square ones work wonderfully)
1/2 pot full of frying oil, measurement is based on the size of the pot.
Paste
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup AP flour