KITCHEN TRICKS: This Is How You Can Make Better Lumpia

We all love lumpia. These fried spring rolls, or egg rolls, are pretty common. It can be savory when stuffed with a seasoned ground meat mixture or sweet when you caramelize brown sugar and bananas in its crispy rolls. 

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Whichever way you like your lumpia, one common frustration we know happens often is the lumpia not staying closed. You probably use just water to help the lumpia wrapper "stick" onto itself by becoming wet and soggy enough to stay in place. 

What we find problematic with this traditional technique is that the lumpia wrapper has a tendency to be *surprise* wet. Wet ingredients don't fry efficiently and can hinder your lumpia from cooking or evenly browning. Soggy lumpia wrappers also mean you have to be more careful in handling these so those soggy parts don't just tear. 

We have a solution to this. All you need is an egg. 

Simply beat an egg and use it as an egg wash for baking and cooking.

Photo by Riell Santos

More precisely, you need to beat an egg and use that instead of plain water to seal the edges of your lumpia wrapper closed.

Use your finger, a pastry brush, or even a clean painting brush on the egg wash.

Photo by Riell Santos

Here's what you do: 

Make your lumpia recipe as directed but swap out the water for the egg. Break and beat the egg in a small bowl. When ready to seal the lumpia filling in the lumpia wrapper, dip either your fingertip or a pastry brush in the egg and brush the egg onto the edges of the lumpia wrapper. Roll the lumpia as directed.

Brush on more egg wash if needed to make that seal stick.

Photo by Riell Santos

Should the egg wash dry out before you've sealed it, simply brush more beaten egg onto the sealed edge and roll closed again. 

What's so great about this tip is that this can be used for either savory lumpia or sweet caramelized turon, too. Just like water, it's a neutral flavor that when fried, just ensures that your rolls stay closed and won't interfere with the flavor at all. 

It's the simple yet genius cooking tip that will save your filling from coming out of your formed lumpia while you're cooking it. Go make any of these lumpia recipes and remember to have an egg handy. 

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