Lumpia

Lumpia Shanghai

One of the most famous of Filipino foods, besides adobo, is lumpia. Lumpia are small, fried spring rolls: very simple and tasty.

The most common variety of lumpia in the Philippines is lumpia Shanghai (which gives a clue to its origin.) These are filled with ground pork, minced onions and shredded carrots with a beaten egg as a binder. If a Filipino talks about Lumpia he's typically referring to lumpia Shanghai. There are vegetarian versions though, probably eaten during Lent. These may contain such things as palm hearts (ubod), mung bean sprouts (togue), shredded cabbage, carrots and/or Julienned string beans. These items may also be added to the meat mixture in lumpia Shanghai.

Lumpia, especially lumpia Shanghai, are usually quite small when compared to the typical size of Chinese spring rolls. This is so that the pork filling will be thoroughly cooked during the frying process. I think it's also just a Filipino thing as they're crispier that way.

Lumpia may be eaten with a typical soy and vinegar sauce, a type of spicy chili sauce, sweet and sour sauce, banana catsup or (most commonly) with regular tomato ketchup (catsup) as dipping sauces. They're usually eaten with rice, and may be either eaten as a finger food or cut up into small pieces then eaten as a viand with a spoon, along with some rice.

Here in Cebu no feast would be complete without certain foods: lumpia, bam-i, chop suey and lechon baboy (spit-roasted suckling pig.) A few lumpia with rice make a fine light meal all by themselves, though.

Siopao

Two siopao

Yet another common street food in the Philippines is siopao. Pronounced show-pow, these are large steamed buns, made from wheat flour and containing a savory meat and sauce filling (usually pork, in which case they're properly called siopao asado though in reality everyone just says siopao.)

Siopao are eaten as snacks all by themselves: no rice for a change. They come in a paper wrapper which is used to hold the siopao while eating. Filipinos typically add some ketchup (catsup) to the filling by means of a small, restaurant-style ketchup bottle with a long, narrow spout. You turn your siopao upside-down, insert the spout through the bottom of the bun where it's thinnest, and squirt some ketchup inside.

The name siopao is from the Hokkien Chinese dialect: in standard Chinese they're called bāozi, or in English simply as "steamed buns." In China they're typically served with a dipping sauce consisting of soy sauce, vinegar and some chili paste rather than ketchup (you mix your own sauce, so ingredients and proportions vary from diner to diner.)

One is enough to tide one over until the next meal. Two make a light meal on their own. They typically cost 25 pesos each: around 60 cents.

Note that the siopao you get in the Philippines typically don't contain as much meat filling as those shown in the photo above: they're mostly bun.

Siomai

A serving of siomai

Another bought dish (though some people make their own, but it's easier and inexpensive just to buy some) is siomai. Pronounced like show-my (show rhyming with cow), these are actually a type of Chinese dim sum: small, steam-cooked dumplings. They're basically just wonton wrappers filled with a seasoned pork mix, and sometimes some extra "extenders" such as peas and carrots, steamed, and served with toothpicks along with a spicy, oily, dark garlic sauce as well as calimansi (a small, green citrus fruit, the juice of which is used to flavor certain foods the same way we use lemon wedges- which, incidentally, would make an excellent substitute at Western tables.)

We've started getting ngohiong for dinner every payday as a treat, but 1) I'm starting to get tired of them already, so they're not as much of a treat any more, and 2) they make us both poop a lot the next day: probably due to all the oil from deep-frying. :) So this coming payday I requested something different: siomai, which we haven't had in a long time.

Twelve siomai, with sides of rice, are plenty for dinner for two with some left over (often enough to have again the next evening.) They cost just about the same as a paper bag of ngohiong, too.

A variation of siomai, called "Japanese siomai", uses nori (Japanese edible seaweed, used by them as the wrapper for sushi) instead of wonton wrappers. It's OK but it kind of tastes odd because the siomai are warm, where my palate is expecting cold sushi. It needs a bit of wasabi, too.

You can buy siomai in the food courts of shopping malls (in the Philippines) as well as from carts or booths along the streets.

Ngohiong

Two ngohiong with hot dipping sauce

My wife had been craving ngohiong lately, so the other day (payday) she came home with a big, greasy paper bag full of them. Only 100 pesos (US$2.50) for 20 plus dipping sauces!

You don't make ngohiong, you buy them. The best ones come from a small place across from the University of San Carlos' (USC) Talamban campus, which happily is very near and on her way home from work.

Ngohiong (pronounced something like no-yong or new-yong) are a type of fried spring roll. They contain ubod (palm hearts: the center portion of the very top of a coconut palm tree) and Chinese five spice powder (Five Fragrant Spices) which is what the name ngohiong actually means. Some people also add things like ground pork, chicken, or other meats, but your basic ngohiong just has palm hearts. This makes them cheap, which is attractive to the poor, hungry college students which is this place's main clientele. You take four or five strips of palm heart and season them with five spice powder, then wrap them in a large lumpia (egg roll or spring roll) wrapper, dip it in a batter made from rice flour and deep fry it in hot palm oil until it's crispy and golden brown.

Ngohiong are eaten with a hot chili dipping sauce mixed with some soy sauce, and accompanied by rice or puso (so-called "hanging rice", which is portions of raw rice wrapped tightly in woven strips of fresh banana leaves then boiled in the wrappers.) Puso is a frequent accompaniment to street foods as it's a convenient way to eat rice. The dipping sauce is hot and tangy while the ngohiong are more subtle and mild-tasting. They're even good all by themselves.

We have several ngohiong left over, so I plan to reheat them for dinner tonight. They need to be eaten up already.

Puso (hanging rice)