Lumpia is a dish that was brought by Chinese immigrants to the Philippines. It can either be fried or fresh. It is popularly known as egg roll or spring roll. The Philippines has several lumpia dishes, the most popular is lumpiang shanghai which I blogged about here and lumpiang Gulay or Prito. There is also what you call lumpiang hubad literally translated as naked spring roll. The reason being it is served without a wrapping. It is a mix of different kinds of vegetables stir fried and served with a sweetish sauce.
Lumpiang hubad can either be served as is or cradled within a lettuce leaf. My mom and grandmother always served it in a lettuce leaf or letsugas in Tagalog. In my opinion you can choose whatever combination of vegetables you want. For this recipe I used the following, carrots, jicama, asian sweet potato, green beans, green onion and baby portobello mushrooms. You may also use bean sprouts, napa cabbage and ubod (heart of palm).
To make, add 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a heated pan. Saute a medium sized onion sliced thinly, 2-3 cloves of minced garlic and 3 stalks spring onion cut into 2 inch length. Cook until fragrant. Then add 3 medium sized carrots cut into matchsticks, a small jicama and a medium sized asian sweet potato also cut into matchstick pieces. Stir and cover for a few minutes. Then add a handful of green beans cut at a bias and a small container of baby portobello mushrooms (around 8 pcs.) sliced. Season with salt and pepper or a knorr chicken bouillon cube. Cook until the vegetables are crisp tender.
To make the sauce, into a saucepan add 1 cup water, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp. soy sauce. Cook until sugar has dissolved and let simmer. Then add 2 tsp cornstarch dispersed in 2 tbsp water. Cook until sauce has thickened.
To serve, place your vegetables on a plate and top with some fried onions or garlic and drizzle sauce around. You can also serve it on a lettuce leaf drizzled or served with sauce on the side.
