Pork Egg Rolls —rsquo; The Lumpia at the Center of Every Table That Says We Have Enough

Christmas Day. I went to Lourdes's house. Angela and James were there. The Mountain View house was decorated the way it's been decorated every Christmas since I was a child — the parol (Filipino star lantern) in the window, the Nativity scene on the mantel, the tree that Reynaldo used to put up and that Mark took over and that now, with Mark in San Diego, Angela's husband James manages with the careful precision of an electrical engineer ensuring the lights are evenly distributed and the structural integrity of the tree is sound.

Lourdes cooked everything. Ham, lechon kawali, pancit, lumpia, bibingka, leche flan, fruit salad (the Filipino kind, with condensed milk and cream and canned fruit and the sheer caloric audacity of a dessert that uses both condensed milk and cream cheese). The table was excessive. The table is always excessive. Excess is Lourdes's love language — more food than anyone can eat, more dishes than the table can hold, the abundance that says: we have enough. We have more than enough. We left a country where we didn't always have enough, and now we have more than enough, and the more-than-enough is the point.

Jason called. Christmas afternoon, from Fairbanks, where the temperature was negative thirty-five and the daylight lasted three hours. He sounded good. He sounded far. The goodness and the farness are not mutually exclusive — he is good and he is far and both are true and the truth of both is the shape of this relationship now. I said Merry Christmas. He said Merry Christmas. We were two people saying the same words across three hundred sixty miles, the words arriving simultaneously and from different worlds.

I gave Lourdes a new mortar and pestle — marble, heavy, the kind she'd been wanting for her garlic. She held it with both hands and tested its weight and said, "Good. Heavy. This will crush properly." A woman who evaluates a gift by its crushing capacity. I love her. I love her so much that the loving is indistinguishable from breathing — automatic, involuntary, essential.

I made Reynaldo's salmon sinigang on Christmas evening, at home, alone. Not because I was sad — because it's Christmas, and on Christmas I make my father's recipe, and the making is the memorial, and the eating is the prayer. The salmon was pink. The tamarind was sour. The kangkong was green. One more squeeze. Always one more squeeze. Merry Christmas, Papa.

Lourdes’s table had lumpia — it always has lumpia — and even after we’d eaten through the lechon kawali and the pancit and I’d gone home and made Papa’s sinigang, I kept thinking about those small, tight, golden rolls and the particular satisfaction of the crunch. Lumpia is the dish that says this is a party, and also this is us, and also we made it. This pork egg roll recipe is the one I make when I want to carry a piece of that table into any ordinary day — when the occasion doesn’t need to be Christmas for the food to mean something.

Pork Egg Rolls

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 20 egg rolls

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground pork
• 2 cups green cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 cup carrots, shredded
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 20 egg roll wrappers
• 1 egg, beaten (for sealing)
• Vegetable oil for frying (about 3 cups)

Instructions

1. Cook the filling. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground pork, breaking it apart, until no longer pink, about 6–8 minutes. Drain any excess fat.
2. Add the vegetables. Add the garlic to the pork and stir for 30 seconds. Add the cabbage and carrots and cook, stirring, until just softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat.
3. Cool completely. Spread the filling on a baking sheet or large plate and let it cool to room temperature, at least 10 minutes. Wrapping with hot filling causes the wrappers to tear and the rolls to open in the oil.
4. Wrap the rolls. Lay one egg roll wrapper on a clean surface in a diamond orientation. Place about 2 tablespoons of filling in a compact log shape in the center. Fold the bottom corner up over the filling, fold in both side corners, then roll tightly toward the top corner. Brush the top corner with beaten egg and press to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.
5. Fry in batches. Heat vegetable oil in a deep skillet or heavy pot to 350°F. Working in batches of 4–5, fry the egg rolls, turning occasionally, until deep golden and crisp on all sides, about 3–4 minutes per batch. Do not crowd the pan. Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate.
6. Serve immediately. Pork egg rolls are best eaten hot, within minutes of frying, when the wrapper is at its crispest. Serve with sweet chili sauce, banana ketchup, or a simple soy-vinegar dipping sauce.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 118 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 10g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 215mg