Leticia's Lumpia

We discovered a new and cheaper way of bonding at home. Every weekend, we invite friends to come over instead of us going out and spending money to drink and dine elsewhere. The exciting part is, we usually have a thematic weekend. We started off with the Mexican dinner where I cooked paella, while our neighbor prepared tacos and the rest brought other Mexican food. From then on, we’ve had Japanese, Italian, Filipino, American, etc.

The joy of being able to cook and enhance my skills is priceless as we discover more and more recipes that we can do at home. It eventually became a habit. And although we didn’t gave up going on a night out once in a while; we still, more often than not, just rather spend weekends at home.

On that note, I’d like to share a recipe of my late Lola Leticia. She was a good cook during her time. I remember people used to invite her during fiestas to cook for a household because they loved her dishes so much.

There is one signature dish though, that she always have in her menu, the “Lumpiang Hubad”.

And out of all our entire clan, only one person seemed to inherit her talents of cooking, and that is my cousin Yolly. So I messaged her in Facebook and got the menu. It was nostalgia for me as my first attempt became a success; favored by friends who were able to taste it.

Ingredients for the Veggies:

• ½ Kg. Cabbage sliced into bite sized pieces
• ¼ Kg. Baguio Beans sliced diagonally
• ¼ Kg. Carrots sliced diagonally
• ½ Kg. Sweet potato slice diagonally
• ¼ Kg. Potato sliced diagonally
• 3 big cubes of tofu mashed
• ½ Kg. Liempo cut into bite size pieces
• ½ Kg. Shrimp (Swahe) peeled
• 1 head of garlic chopped
• 1 medium sized onion chopped
• 2 table spoons of Achuete mixed in warm water
• 3 table spoons of fish sauce

Cooking Procedure:

1. Fry the carrots, sweet potato and potato in a pan until crispy, the set aside
2. Sauté garlic and onion
3. Add liempo until tender then add the mashed tofu until golden brown
4. Add the shrimp
5. Add the rest of the vegetable ingredients until a bit tender
6. Season with fish sauce and achuete coloring

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Sauce:

• 2 table spoons of peanut butter
• 3 cups of water
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup red sugar or muscovado sugar
• ¼ cup corn starch
• ¼ cup crashed roasted peanuts

Cooking Procedure:

1. Mix the cornstarch in 1 cup of water
2. Boil 2 cups of water in a pan
3. Add the rest of the ingredients until mixed well
4. Keep stirring the mixture until the right consistency is achieved
5. Add crashed peanuts at the end
6. Only mix the sauce when serving to prevent spoilage