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Related to Spamarind Dinner
(Tamarind sauce is the darker sauce. The orangier sauce is sweet chili sauce.)
For our appetizer I wanted to try to conquer both Spam and tamarind in one dish. I accomplished this with making lumpia. One of the ingredients in lumpia is ground pork. Again, a matter of substitution. I chopped up the Spam with my Food Chopper and added that in place of ground pork.
Also note that I shortcut by using cole slaw mix instead of chopping cabbage and carrot myself.
Spam Lumpia
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bag of cole slaw mix
1 can of Spam
2/3 c cooked shrimp, chopped
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
1/4 c sesame oil
3 T soy sauce
fresh ground black pepper
1 pkg of lumpia wrappers
1 egg, beaten
vegetable oil
Add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil to a hot wok and add garlic. Cook under a minute and toss in onions. Cook until tender. Add in cole slaw mix and tossed vegetables together until well mixed. Cook for about ten minutes.
In a separate skillet, cook the chopped Spam until it is nicely browned. Add chopped shrimp and mix well.
Take meat mixture and add to veggie mixture. Add water chestnuts. Mix them until well incorporated. Turn off heat. Add soy sauce, rest of sesame oil, and black pepper to taste. Mix well.
Line a cookie sheet with paper towels to catch drippings. Set a colander on top and pour cooked mixture into colander. Let it cool and drain completely.
While mixture is cooling, open lumpia wrappers and separating each sheet. It is important that you separate the sheets in advance of wrapping because they stick together and you want to be able to wrap at a constant pace. Place the sheets on a plate and cover with a damp but well wrung out towel.
To wrap, place one wrapper on the table or counter in front of you, with one of the corners pointing at you. Place a tablespoonful of the filling about 2 inches above the corner closest to you, spreading it into a mini log. Fold the corner closest to you over the filling, tucking it snugly against the filling so the corner lays flat. Roll the wrapper once and fold in the left and right corners. Dampen your fingers with some beaten egg and wet the top corner. Continue rolling so that the top corner seals the roll shut.
Pour oil into a fry pan so that you have a 1/2 inch of oil. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over high heat. When it is hot enough to make a piece of the wrapper crisp and brown within seconds, it is ready to use.
Fry a few lumpia (do not crowd them) at a time until crisped and browned, turning them with tongs as they cook. Each batch should take about 2 1/2 minutes. Use tongs to transfer the lumpia to paper towels to drain. Repeat to cook all of the lumpia.
Spicy Tamarind Dipping Sauce
# 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
# 1/4 cup tamarind paste (found in Asian markets)
# 1 tablespoon canola oil
# 1 tablespoon fish sauce
# 1-2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
# 1 tablespoon sugar
Mix ingredients together.
Spam
