Sunday, November 22, 2009

Tukang Lumpia Basah (Wet Spring Rolls)

When I was in Bandung, I can see there're so many street vendors selling "Lumpia Basah" (trans: Lumpia means spring rolls, Basah means wet). I think the reason why it's named "wet spring roll" because this spring roll is not deep fried :)


The main ingredients: thin crepes, egg, beansprouts, chicken, dried shrimp, jicama, garlic, soy sauce.


The process of cooking for the filing of Lumpia Basah:
* heat oil in a pan
* fry garlic
* add an egg (make like scrambled egg)

* add bean sprouts
* add the jicama which is already cooked with dried shrimp, chicken, sweet and salty soy sauce
* toss some salt and fresh chili sauce (the vendor added MSG)
* stir altogether
* prepare the thin crepes made from flour and water;
sauce made from tapioca/corn flour, tamarind water and brown sugar

* put the thin crepes on a banana leaf
*dab the thin crepes with the sauce
* put the "scrambled egg" on the thin crepes
The wrapping

It's ready to be eaten :)
Tasted quite savory!
1 Lumpia Basah costs Rp. 5.000 (about 50 cents US)

28 comments:

  1. Looks like a delicious treat, and what a healthy bonus, not deep fried.

    ReplyDelete
  2. jicama = turnip/bangkuang? i guess it's almost the same. sounds delicious. seems like indonesia food vendors are very innovative and they have full support from the customers. it's good to think many folks can survive, as long as they have the seed money to start a business.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's how I know about spring rolls.....no frying at all. That roll looks so cute!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love spring rolls especially the non-fried version. Healthy and delicious especially wrapped with banana leaves. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a delicious looking treat. That filling looks ver, very good.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This sounds delicious and I love how it's presented!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd love to try the non-fried version of spring rolls, sounds delish!

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOL what is it with us Asians that we like our food wrapped crepe style? Delicious never the less but if I can find the history to these items, it would make for a great write up. What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks everyone for the comments :)

    tuti: yes, jicama is bangkuang or mexican turnip (not the real turnip). Indonesian street vendors survive much better than the small restaurants :)

    houston wok: I think it's a great idea if you can write up about the history of wrapped crepe style in Asia, must be really interesting :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. we call it Popiah-looks a bit too soggy.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The end product looks really neat! I would love to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This looks delicious! I saw a man with a bicycle cart here in my town the other day and I thought of your blog! :D

    I love your new header, it's really pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  13. We call these popiah in Malaysia... and I really like it wet versus dry. The sauce makes all the difference! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wah..like LFB said, its popia here for us in Misa but this version rocks! cos its BIGGER!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've never seen a spring roll quite like this- it's quite hefty! And the versions here are lwrapped in rice wrappers or something similar not crepes, they're cold and you can kind of see through them.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I like so much the not -fried version of spring rolls! and I would love to read about the history of wrapped crepe style in Asia.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh my Selba, this looks super delicious! I need one right away. Please mail it over huh! hehe...

    ReplyDelete
  18. A little bit different than what we have here.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Selba, you get to enjoy some of the most wonderful looking foods. These look fabulous and at .50 what a great snack.

    ReplyDelete
  20. the skin resembles the Singapore "popiah" ... I like that it's served in banana leaf :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. our "pohpiah" (lumpia wet spring rolls) version
    is different.
    do you know fried spring rolls?
    it looks like that.
    if you want to see it here the link
    http://pisangonmove.blogspot.com/2009/10/spring-rolls-tanjung-sepat.html

    ReplyDelete
  22. I am more familiar with the lunpia basah Semarang... this one looks definitely larger and "messier" to eat LOL

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is what we call Popiah by chinese people in Malaysia

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm not a linguist, nor a native speaker of any of the languages involved (so why I am I fit tocomment on this?) but this lumpia/popiah issue got me interested, so just wanted to start something in case someone more knowledgeable can correct any errors.

    The word lumpia is also what is used in the Philippines (I wonder if it is also common in Sabah therefore?).

    Anyway, the most likely origin for the term popiah is "薄餅" or thin cake, which would be pronounced "bo2 bing3" in Mandarin. However, as far as I can tell, in contemporary Fujian the term is used to the flatbread wrapper rather than the roll. In Taiwan, the term "潤餅", or moist cake, is also used which is still pronounced popiah in Hokkien/Min-Nan but is "run4 bing3" in Mandarin.

    Lumpia is simpler to explain, since this would be the Hokkien pronounciation for "春餅" or spring cake (spring roll). It is pronounced "chun1 bing3" in Mandarin.

    Why these two different terms came about in the areas they did, I won't even pretend I have an idea.

    Also, although bengkuang = sengkuang = jicama = yambean, I don't have any clue how the first two terms came about.

    ReplyDelete
  25. skchai: Thank you so much for the explanation of the Lumpia/Popiah, it's really interesting to know it more :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. My favorite street snack! I always eat this whenever I visit Bandung.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin Related Stories Widget for Blogs