I love fresh lumpia ! Whenever I’d go to my favorite restaurant, my meal would be incomplete without ordering my favorite fresh lumpia.

Ingredients

WRAPPERS/ CREPE
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp cooking oil for frying wrappers

FILLING

1/2 cup onion (julienned)
1 tsp garlic (minced)
boneless skinless chicken breast (half thinly sliced) Note: You can also use 1 lb ground pork.
1/4 lb medium raw shrimp (shelled, deveined, and halved)
1 1/2 cup jicama (finely-julienned )
1/2 small carrot (finely julienned)
green onions (finely julienned)
2 tsp oyster-flavored sauce
1 tsp Filipino fish sauce (patis)
1/4 tsp black pepper (freshly-ground)

Procedure
A. Prepare the wrappers:
1. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, water, cornstarch, flour, and salt until smooth. Strain batter.
2. Place a nonstick 8-inch omelet pan over medium heat until hot; brush with 1/4 teaspoon oil. Pour 1/4 cup batter into pan; tilt pan so batter covers entire surface. Cook until edge of wrapper is lightly browned and surface looks dry, about 45 seconds. Loosen edge with a spatula, turn wrapper, and cook 10 seconds longer. Turn wrapper out of pan onto a plate. Repeat to use all batter.

Prepare filling:
1. Place a wok over high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon oil, swirling to coat sides. Add onion and garlic. Stir-fry for 30 seconds.
2. Add chicken and shrimp; stir-fry for 2 minutes. Remove from pan.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add jicama and carrot; stir-fry for 1 minute. Add green onions; cook until vegetables are tender crisp, about 2 minutes.
4. Return chicken mixture to pan; add oyster-flavored sauce, fish sauce, and pepper; cook for 1 minute. Cool.
5. Cut lettuce in half lengthwise. For each lumpia, place a piece of lettuce on wrapper. Spoon about 1/3 cup filling into center of wrapper. Fold bottom third of wrapper over filling, then fold in sides.
6. Serve with garlic dipping sauce or a mixture of hoisin sauce and soy sauce.
7. This recipe yields 10 servings.

Pinakbet is an Ilocano dish, but it’s popularity is countrywide. Many other regions have their own versions of the Pinakbet, but of course no one does pinakbet the best except the Ilokanos. This is a vegetarian dish perfect for some who are on diet!

Ingredients:
2 T bagoong
1/2 c water
1 med onions
6 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 inch stem ginger, slivered or pounded
6 small eggplants, cut lengthwise
2 young, bitter melon fruits (do not choose large fruits with obvious ripeness)
20 small okra, cut through ends
1 bn sitaw or long beans cut stem ends and pinch to desired lengths
1 c green lima beans. (may substitute cooked, 1/4 dry beans)

Procedure
1. In a small pot, boil the bagoong in the water until it has dissolved.
2. In the pot where the pinakbet will be cooked, put the following vegetables in a layering order: minced onions, tomatoes, ginger, eggplants, string beans, and okra.
3. Then strain the boiled bagoong before pouring the broth on the vegetable pot. Discard the rest of the bagoong.
4. Cover the pot well.
5. Put the fire on high and when it starts to boil, lower the heat to simmer. Be careful not to burn the vegetables. This will take not more than 25 minutes.
6. Do not mix the vegetables with a spoon while simmering the dish. Why not? It’s a cooking secret!!!
7. Remember that the pinakbet is done when the vegetables appears “wrinkled”.
8. Serve hot with rice.

Bicolanos are known for the vegetable dish “laing”. There’s “something” in the way they cook the dish that makes it all the more appetizing, aside from the chili pepper of course. It isn’t “itchy”. Here’s the secret to this delicious and nutritious vegetable dish without the itch…take it from a laing expert.

Ingredients
dried taro leaves or gabi
3 big mature coconuts
1 onion
2 tbs crushed garlic
crushed ginger just enough for the recipe (Note: Too much ginger will make the dish bitter.)
250gm pork, diced
2 cups hot water
shrimp paste (bagoong)
chilli peppers as desired (siling labuyo)
salt to taste

Procedure

1. Have the coconuts grated. Using 1/2 cup of hot water, squeezed until the milk is well extracted. Strain the pulp out of the milk and set aside as the “kakang gata ” or first squeezed cocomilk. In three 1/2 cups, use the remaining hot water and add it to the pulp. Repeat the process three times. Put all the squeezed milk in the pan or wok.
2. Arrange all the ingredients on the pan except laing and the chili. Put the laing on top. Cover and bring to a boil. Do not stir until the taro leaves are cooked. Stirring the mixture will cause itching sensation on your tongue. When almost dry, add the kakang gata ,chili and salt to taste. Cook over low heat until coconut milk turned almost into oil.
3. Serve hot or cold with rice.

Tip: Before placing the pan on fire, check if the cocomilk is enough for the taro leaves. Press the mixture (with laing on top) submerged on the cocomilk. The level of the cocomilk should be equal to the taro leaves and other ingredients.

I remember how my grandma would cook boiled sweet potato or kamote. The sight of steaming hot kamote on the serving plate was so inviting! But kids nowadays wouldn’t even bother to eat kamote boiled or mashed with some milk on it ( Mothers, I hope where on the same planet/sphere!)

Anyway, toss some sweet potato salad for a change…

Ingredients
1 can (850 g) Fruit Cocktail, drained (reserve syrup)
350 g kamote (sweet potato), cooked, peeled and cut into cubes
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk

Procedure
1. Soak kamote in reserved fruit cocktail syrup for 15 minutes. Drain. Combine with Fruit Cocktail. Set aside.
2. Combine mayonnaise and condensed milk. Mix thoroughly. Add the fruit-kamote mixture and blend well. Chill until ready to serve.

Easy, right? Tell me what you think about it. Here’s something for you to consider. I got this info from foodreference.com.

Sweet potato ranks number one in nutrition
According to nutritionists at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the most important dietary change for most people, including children, would be to replace fatty foods with foods rich in complex carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes.

CSPI has ranked the sweet potato number one in nutrition of all vegetables. With a score of 184, the sweet potato outscored the largest of vegetables more than 100 points. Points were given for the content of dietary fibers, naturally occurring sugars and complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. Points were deducted for fat (especially saturated fat), sodium, cholesterol, added refined sugars and caffeine. The higher the score, the higher the nutritional value of foods.

The reasons for the sweet potato took the first place? Dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. The sweet potato has received a score of 184 and vegetables ranked in second place was more than 100 points behind with a score of 83.

The figures for sweet potato nutritional speak for themselves: nearly twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 per cent of the recommendation of vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta-carotene, and when eaten with skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories!

Nutritional value of sweet potatoes (For a medium-sized sweet potato)
Calories 130
0.39 g fat
2.15 g protein
31.56 grams of net carbs
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Calcium 28.6 mg
16.9 mg sodium
265.2 mg potassium
18.2 mcg folic acid
29.51 mg vitamin C
IU vitamin A 26081.9
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Among root vegetables, sweet potatoes offer the lowest glycemic index. That’s because the sweet potato digests slowly, causing a gradual rise in blood sugar so you feel more satisfied. It is time for sweet potatoes to be on the “good” carb list.