cooking with la carlotta: stuffed chili lumpia

with the valkyrie away for a couple of months, the reins of domestic diva-ing conveniently fell into my hands (in a manner of speaking. heheh.). of course the thing i enjoyed most was the cooking part because it gave me a chance to use my rusty skills in cooking as well as use up some of the creative juices that have been stored in hundreds of bottles already. :P

one of the dishes that i was able to cook so far was the stuffed chili lumpia. i picked it up from some friends who have made it and i tweaked the stuffing a bit using the ingredients that i have in the refrigerator. well, that's one fun thing about cooking, you can experiment with ingredients any way you like. for sure my ingredients for the stuffing will be different the next time i try this. here's my recipe:

ingredients:

20-30 pcs small lumpia wrapper

20-30 green chilis (the kind we use for sinigang)

stuffing:

1 medium onion, minced

1 head of garlic, minced

500g ground pork

1C grated carrots

250g grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste (i used about only 2tsp of salt here because the cheese already adds flavor to the mix)

procedure:

saute onion and garlic in a little oil, then add the ground pork. cook for about 20 minutes, then set aside to cool.

while the pork is cooking, wash the chilies and chop off the stems. then slit each chili lengthwise on one side and scrape off the seeds. you can actually leave the stems on though if you like something to hold on to, as this dish can also be a finger food.

add the carrots to the cooled minced pork

then add the cheese and mix thoroughly.

place one chili on a piece of lumpia wrapper, then stuff the chili with the ground pork mix. you can stuff the chilies with as much stuffing as you like, but not too much that the spring roll would be too fat and might even lessen the kick of the chili. brush all sides of the wrapper with egg whites as you roll each chili.

when wrapping a chili with the stem still on, leave it poking out of the wrapper. not only will there be something for you to hold on to while eating it, it also adds to its aesthetic appeal. :D but as for my version, i cut the stems off just because. haha.

fry in hot oil until golden brown, then let drain on paper towels.

serve and enjoy!!! :D

a (re)new(ed) endeavor

i just recently bought this lovely boxed set of larousse gastronomique (in three easy installments ;-p) from my cousin N, who is a certified foodie herself. from the moment i saw it on her multiply site, i knew i had to have it (talk about impulse buying). impulse buying or not, larousse gastronomique is considered to be the encyclopedia of gastronomy of professional chefs since its first publication in 1938. (now i ain't no professional chef but i can cook pretty well, if i do say so myself.)

this edition of larousse gastronomique is divided into four parts to make the recipes easy to follow: fish & seafood; vegetables & salad; meat, poultry & game; and desserts, cakes & pastries. each book has basic recipes for the sauces, pastries, garnishes, etc... another great thing about this is that it includes all the different measurements for wet and dry ingredients and even for the oven temperature. for someone who shudders at the very thought of conversion like yours truly, this is heaven-sent. basically, most of the recipes in larousse gastronomique are french (duh!) but over the years recipes from different cuisines have also been incorporated into it whilst retaining its very essence.

when there's the time and opportunity, i will post here the dishes that i'd have tried cooking already. to try and cook the recipes presents a challenge to me as i haven't cooked that much in a long time--except for my spontaneous cooking inventions and the obligatory holiday meals which are far and few in between. now the question is, do i have the guts to try and cook these wonderful recipes?

oh, yes. i do.

who knows, maybe this impulse will pay off.

wish me luck!