Lately I've been craving lumpia, a Filipino dish that my mom used to make for me. If memory serves me correctly, it was full of pork and ginger and yummy goodness, etc. It was also FRIED. In a big vat of oil!!! *gasp*
I've been trying to avoid fried foods lately, so in thinking of alternatives, I thought of baked phyllo dough. I set off on an experiment and I learned a few thing that I'd love to share with you! I'll just say off the bat, I loved the flavor of my lumpia. I loved the texture of the phyllo dough around the filling. My only regret is using the filling raw. Sure, it cooked just fine in the oven, but it released so much steam that it made the bottom of the rolls soggy. The flavor was great, but the texture left something to be desired. In the future, when I make this recipe, I'll cook the filling first and then make the lumpia once it's been drained and cooled!
*Note. The phyllo dough is found in the freezer section. I just stick it in the fridge for a day or so until I'm ready to use it.
I made the filling from ground pork, ground ginger, garlic, onion powder plus carrots/green onions/jicama that I minced in my chopper.. Add salt, pepper, and soy sauce to taste. I'm sorry. I don't measure stuff, but it's really not that important! I used a pound of ground pork, a bushel of green onions, a few cloves of garlic, a BUNCH of ground ginger (because I love ginger!!), etc. If YOU love it, add more. If you don't love it, add less or omit it altogether. I swear, it won't make or break the recipe. It's about being tasty to YOUR palate!
My mixture looked like this, but in hindsight, I'd throw all this in a pan and cook it up, drain it, cool it, then use the cooled mixture. But, live and learn!
Lay a stip of the filling at the end of a sheet of phyllo dough.
Roll it up, about half way so you can tuck the sides...
This is what the end rolls should look like, abouts.
Brush with melted butter and bake at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes.
*another thing I discovered... They actually crip up better on a tin lined cookie sheet than a pizza stone! Go figure!
So, after my lumpia experiment I got vey excited for variations of phyllo stuffed "things". I branched out to asparagus first. So funny... One of my boys won't eat asparagus.... But if I roll it up into some cripsy dough he's all over it! Yay!
I used: asparagus, phyllo dough, melted butter, parm cheese, Penzy Trinidad seasoning ( lemon and garlic)
I used about three pieces of asparagus per roll because it was pretty thin. Otherwise, I'd probably use two.
The Penzy Trinidad seasoning was yum! But you could also use just salt and pepper/ olive oil, or lemon juice and parm cheese, or whatever your palate prefers.
I cut the roll of dough in half because it was just way too long!
I put half back in the fridge for desert, which I'll get to in a second!
Then I just brushed them with melted butter, put them on a foil lined sheet and baked at 400 for 20 minutes. I checked them after 15 but I thought they need just a bit more time.
Nom!!! Everyone gobbled them up!!
Variations!! I had plenty of left over dough, so I decided to make desert too. I made banana & fudge and raspberry & fudge roll-ups. Tomorrow I will make peanut butter and fudge roll ups. Seriously, you can put anything you like into it... Nutella?! Yes, please. Caramel and pistachios? Duh! Marshmallows and fudge with graham cracker crumbs?! Zomg.
A dollop of fudge, a few raspberries... Roll and fold!
Banannas?! I got some of those...
Rolled up nice and tight and ready to bake! Just brush with butter and do the 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Let them cool a bit before you top with cream and serve!
So, I've been having fun playing with phyllo! I hope to comtinue my trials... Maybe salmon and dill? Cream cheese and shrimp? Canned peaches and cinnamon? BACON AND CHEDDAR?!?!
Sky is the limit! Enjoy!
