YOU MUST COOK A LOT OF FILIPINO DISHES

We live at my parents' house, so many people assume that I must never have to set foot in the kitchen because my parents are probably cooking and feeding us all the time, or I must know how to cook a lot of Filipino food.  

It's funny to say that neither of those assumptions are true.  I actually spend a good portion of my day in the kitchen.  Most of it towards dinner time.  We have our favorite dishes, and several easy quick dinners in our repertoire.  It makes the menu easy to plan, but I'm the type who loves variety.  Since I am no longer allowed to buy recipe books until I can honestly say I've made most of the food in the ones I already have, I am on Pinterest daily, checking out new recipes.  Sometimes I search the Internet for recipes to use up certain ingredients I have sitting in the refrigerator.  

I cook mostly American and Mexican dishes.  We have also cooked Mediterranean and Persian cuisine.    I do know a few Filipino dishes, but have never made any of them all on my own until Savannah's Family Holiday Traditions presentation.  She was only supposed to bring one prop to school and she had her heart set on making a parol (star lantern).  I blame the Filipino side of me for insisting that she should also bring something to feed her teacher and classmates.  After all, what's Pasko without a feast?

I wanted to make lumpia.  It's fairly easy and not messy, which is perfect for a quick bite.

This recipe was passed on from my Auntie Zenya:

LUMPIA

I don't have exact measurements.  So, just eyeball it to see if it's all evenly mixed.

1 lb. ground chicken

garlic cloves, minced

green onion, sliced thinly

carrots, diced

celery, diced

salt and pepper to taste

ALL PURPOSE MENLO wrappers

Mix all the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.  

Then it's time to wrap.

You can cut the Menlo in half, diagonally, to make bite-size lumpia.

With the peak of the triangle at the top, make a thin line of filling 1/3 of the way up from the bottom.  

Fold the bottom over the filling and tighten wrapper around filling.  

Fold the sides to the center, and roll up.  

Dampen the peak with water to seal.  

Fry lumpia in a deep fryer or in a shallow saucepan filled with vegetable oil.

I like to use Safflower Oil.

Enjoy with ketchup, sweet and sour sauce, or sweet chili sauce.