½ cup (125 ml) vinegar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (optional)
Heavy pinch of salt
Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Serve as a dipping sauce for spring rolls, empanadas, or grilled meats.
SOY AND CITRUS DIPPING SAUCE TOYOMANSI
A mixture of soy sauce and citrus juice may sound simple enough, but these two ingredients enliven everything from grilled fish to noodles.
I like to use a 1 to 1 ratio of soy and citrus, but you can adjust the salty-sour balance to suit your own taste.
Makes ½ cup (125 ml)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
¼ cup (65 ml) soy sauce
¼ cup (65 ml) fresh calamansi juice, or fresh lemon juice
Whisk together the soy sauce and citrus juice in a small bowl. Serve with grilled fish, pancit noodles, or fried foods.
SPICY LIME AND FISH SAUCE DIP
Similar to Soy and Citrus Dipping Sauce (below left), this sauce strikes a balance between salty and sour, but with a bit more depth of flavor from the fish sauce and the sliced chilies. Try it with seafood dishes.
Makes ½ cup (125 ml)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
¼ cup (65 ml) fish sauce
¼ cup (65 ml) fresh calamansi juice, or fresh lime juice
2–3 Thai chili peppers, stemmed and thinly sliced
Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Serve with grilled or fried fish and shellfish.
CHAPTER 1
APPETIZERS
PAMPAGANA
The appetizers in Filipino cuisine are usually served "family-style" together with the rest of the meal, rather than as a separate course as is commonly done in the West. Either way, the small bites and finger foods in this section—from crisp lumpia spring rolls to raw Filipino ceviche—will get you and your dinner guests primed for the rest of the meal to come. This is fitting considering that the Filipino term for appetizers, pampagana, translates to "whet the appetite."
PORK AND VEGETABLE LUMPIA
When I was in college, two things—and two things alone—encouraged my two-hour drive back to my parents’ house at least once a month: laundry and lumpia.
The need for clean laundry goes without saying, but no trip home would be complete without a fresh supply of my mother’s spring rolls filled with seasoned pork and vegetables. My mother would often make dozens of lumpia in one sitting. But instead of frying her bounty right away, she would place her freshly made lumpia in freezer bags that I would eagerly take back to my cramped apartment. My mother’s lumpia could last forever in the freezer, but since they were so easy for me to prepare (I’d just take them out of the freezer, put them in hot oil, and fry until golden and crisp), my stash only seemed to last a few weeks. Oddly enough, my supply of lumpia almost always correlated with my supply of clean clothes. But after all, it’d be silly to go home just for laundry, wouldn’t it?
Today, I’ve got my own washer and dryer and I’ve since learned to make my mother’s lumpia. Strangely enough, though, I still find other reasons to visit my parents on the weekends.
Makes about 2 dozen spring rolls
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
For the filling:
2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil, plus more for frying
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb (500 g) ground pork
1 tablespoon fish sauce
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (70 g) grated carrot
1 cup (70 g) mung bean sprouts
½ cup (65 g) frozen peas
25 square spring roll wrappers (8 x 8 in/20 x 20 cm), thawed
Water, for sealing the spring rolls
Heat a large wok or sauté pan over high heat until a drop of water sizzles and evaporates on contact. Swirl the oil into the pan and then add the onion and stir-fry until the onion wilts and begins to lightly brown, 2–3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until the garlic just begins to brown, 1–2 minutes. Stir in the ground pork and cook for 1 minute, using a spatula or wooden spoon to break the meat into small pieces. Add the fish sauce, black pepper, carrot, bean sprouts and peas and stir to combine. Continue cooking until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 3–4 minutes.
Transfer the cooked filling to a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl and set aside. Draining the filling helps to prevent soggy spring rolls, allow the filling to drain and cool completely. After the filling has cooled, discard any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl and then transfer the filling into the same bowl.
Follow the illustrated instructions to the right for more information on how to fill and roll the lumpia.
To fry the lumpia, fill a large frying pan with at least a ½ in (1.25 cm) of vegetable oil. Heat over moderately high heat until the oil reaches 350°F (175°C) on a deep fry thermometer. Alternatively, you can drop a small piece of lumpia wrapper into the hot oil; if it sizzles and immediately begins to brown, the oil is hot enough and ready for frying.
When the oil is ready, fry the lumpia in batches, being careful to not overcrowd the pan. Fry the lumpia, turning occasionally, until golden and crisp, 3–4 minutes total. If frying frozen lumpia, add 1 minute of cook time to each side. Transfer the fried lumpia to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Serve with Garlic Vinegar Dipping Sauce (page 27) or Pineapple Sweet and Sour Sauce (page 22).
HOW TO ROLL THE LUMPIA
1. To roll the lumpia, place 1 spring roll wrapper on a clean, dry work surface so that one corner of the wrapper is pointing at you (positioned like a diamond, rather than a square). Place 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling just under the midpoint of the diamond, closest to the corner pointing at you.
2. Take the corner closest to you and roll it up and over the filling, until half of the wrapper remains.
3. Fold the left and right corners of the wrapper over the filling.
4. Using your fingers, or a pastry brush, dab the edges of the wrapper with water, and then continue to roll the lumpia toward the final corner at the top.
Place the finished lumpia aside, underneath a moist towel, and continue rolling until