Lumpiang Shanghai is not a Pilipino invention

 

Lumpiang Shanghai in the Philippines.

LUMPIANG SHANGHAI is not a Pilipino invention.

SHANGHAI STYLE SPRING ROLL indeed exists in Shanghai for a long time. 

We call it here in the Philippines "lumpiang Shanghai" and some wrote it hastily as a Philippine invention just because they could not find this delectable crisp fried spring roll in Shanghai during one or two or few restaurant visits in that one corner of Shanghai.

Judy left for the US when she was just 16. She grew up in Shanghai and recalled they have this spring roll only during Chinese New Year, which could mean the spring roll could only be made once a year or rarely done on other days. In her article, she wrote in part:  

"Before immigrating to the US when I was sixteen, this was the only spring roll recipe I knew. It’s not to say that other versions didn’t exist, it’s just that I didn’t come face to face with them.

"...I grew up in Shanghai and remember clearly that these little babies only appeared during Chinese New Year celebrations. And they’re really good.

 "...These spring rolls bring me back to Shanghai and some of the better memories of my childhood."

This explains why lumpiang shanghai is thought never existed in Shanghai if you go there at the wrong time of the year. It was a mistake when it was claimed by a newspaper food writer that Pilipino invented it. After all, the big truth is IT IS INDEED IN SHANGHAI. Thus, not a Pilipino original dish. I can't believe it too, but it is.

Looking at her photos in her blog, Judy appears to be in her early 40's. The fried roll was already in Shanghai when she was a very young girl. We cannot argue the fact that her elders were already making this spring roll a long time ago. It has pork, cut into tiny pieces, not ground (both mincing and grinding are of the same effect on the meat). 

The thinly sliced cabbage and mushroom used by Judy are all additives to this dish, just like what we are doing to our lumpiang Shanghai, we also added an assortment of additive ingredients, such as that you can mix and match any or some of the following (or even all of these at one setting): carrots, parsley or kinchay, celery, green or spring onions, singkamas, patatas (potato) or kamote (sweet potato), togue (bean sprouts), fresh or pickled cucumber, green peas, raisins, minced hotdogs, eggs, tufo or tokwa, bell pepper, garlic, cheese, and believe it or not, some of us Pinoys would also add tenga ng daga or any other kabute (mushroom) in lumpiang Shanghai. These additive ingredients are not necessarily indispensable ingredients or something that must always be present in the ingredients. They can be excluded or substituted, but not the pork and the lumpia wrapper (thin flour crepe) as these are the main and indispensable ingredients of the lumpia.

Courtesy of Works Of Life website

Judy's rendition of Shanghai-style fried spring roll.  

Courtesy of Works Of Life website

Basically, the process and likely the taste of Judy's fried spring roll are the same and it looks exactly the same to our lumpiang Shanghai here in the Philippines. Also eaten with vinegar, just like we do here in the Philippines. Though our version of lumpiang Shanghai now is of many variations depending on what other ingredients are added to minced or ground pork.

The origin of Philippine lumpiang Shanghai is indeed from Shanghai.

What's your take?

The website, The Works of Life, wrote a brief description of Judy Sarah  as follows:  

JUDY

Courtesy of Works Of Life website

Judy is the mom of The Woks of Life family. Born in Shanghai, she arrived in the U.S. at age 16. Fluent in both English and three separate Chinese dialects, she's our professional menu translator when we're eating our way through China. Dedicated to preserving disappearing recipes and traditions, her specialty is all things traditional, from mooncakes to home-style stir-fries.

• Read here the full story of Judy's article, Shanghai-Style Spring Roll.   

Bulaklak ng sasa (nipa palm flower)

BULAKLAK NG NIPA

Nipa palm flower (Nypa fruticans)

On one of my tours in Malolos, Bulacan, I was very lucky to find this blooming inflorescence of nipa palm.  Beautiful.

Captured here is the male phase of nipa antheses or the blooming of inflorescence. The bright yellow part of the flower is the stamen or the male pollinator. The female phase is beneath the orange sheaths where the ovule or female part of the flower is set to catch the falling pollens of stamen and when fertilized by pollens, the female phase would start to emerge as a ball of clustered nipa fruits. The male parts would start to dry and the growing clustered fruits turned into reddish brown and evolved into a bunch of closely clustered woody and fibrous nipa fruits. It is at this stage that the peduncle of the clustered fruits is bent down and beaten hard on regular intervals many times for a week or two before the bunch is cut off away from the peduncle to collect the sap (tuba) that would ooze and drip from the headless peduncle.  The tuba produced is very sweet and can be processed into syrup or sugar. If left to stand for days, the tuba would sour to become a vinegar called sukang sasa.

Meanwhile, if the bunch of fruits are allowed to mature and not cut off from the peduncle, the fruit would produce a nut inside that started as a tender mass similar to a buko ng niyog. This tender nut of nipa fruit is as good as kaong or buko in creamed fruit salad, or just eaten fresh as is. When fully matured, the nut would become very dense and hardened inside a tiny globular hard shell covered tightly with densely compressed husks, the outer layer is glossy and hardened almost like wood.