No Filipino party is complete without lumpia! These crispy Lumpia Shanghai leave out the garlic and onion, but not the flavour. Ginger, spring onion greens and garlic-infused oil do the heavy lifting. Sarap!

Please note: this article is general information, not personal medical advice. If you have gut symptoms, talk to your GP or a FODMAP-trained dietitian.

Ingredients

Filling

  • 400 g minced pork (or half chicken, half pork)
  • 80 g carrot, finely grated (1 medium)
  • 60 g white or Chinese cabbage (very finely shredded)
  • 20 g spring onion greens, finely sliced (green part of 4 spring onions)
  • 6 g fresh ginger, grated (1 tbsp)
  • 14 g garlic-infused oil (1 tbsp)
  • 24 g soy sauce or gluten-free tamari (1½ tbsp)
  • 50 g egg (1, approx. 50 g without shell)
  • 3 g salt (½ tsp)
  • 1 g black pepper, ground (½ tsp, to taste)
  • 6 g patis (fish sauce) (1 tsp; optional)

Wrappers and frying

  • 190 g rice paper or gluten-free spring roll wrappers (about 24 sheets of 22 cm; weight per sheet varies by brand)
  • 500 ml lukewarm water, for soaking the rice paper (approx. 500 g)
  • 920 g sunflower oil, for deep-frying (approx. 1 l; for the air fryer 14 g, 1 tbsp, for brushing is enough)

Homemade chilli sauce

  • 60 ml rice vinegar (approx. 60 g; 4 tbsp)
  • 24 g sugar (2 tbsp)
  • 2 g chilli flakes (1 tsp)
  • 0.5 g salt (pinch)
  • 3 g cornflour (1 tsp)
  • 15 ml cold water (approx. 15 g; 1 tbsp)

Toyo-calamansi

  • 32 g soy sauce or gluten-free tamari (2 tbsp)
  • 10 ml calamansi juice (approx. 10 g; 2 tsp; or lemon or lime juice)

Method

  1. Squeeze the vegetables. Squeeze the grated carrot and shredded cabbage well in a clean tea towel, so the filling isn't watery and the wrappers don't tear.
  2. Mix. Mix the mince with the carrot, cabbage, spring onion greens, ginger, garlic-infused oil, 24 g soy sauce (1½ tbsp), the egg, salt, pepper and the patis if using.
  3. Fry a test ball. Fry a small ball of filling (about 5 g) in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes and taste. Adjust the salt or pepper before you start rolling.
  4. Roll. Dip a sheet of rice paper in the lukewarm water for 3 to 5 seconds (don't soak spring roll wrappers). Place about 25 g of filling (a generous 1½ tbsp) as a thin log along the bottom, fold in the sides and roll up tightly. Repeat until the filling is used up (about 24 rolls).
  5. Make the chilli sauce. Heat the rice vinegar, sugar, chilli flakes and the pinch of salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Mix the cornflour into the cold water, add it and stir for 1 minute until thickened. Leave to cool.
  6. Make the toyo-calamansi. Stir 32 g soy sauce (2 tbsp) and the calamansi juice together in a small bowl.
  7. Deep-fry or air-fry. Heat the sunflower oil to 170 to 175 °C and fry the lumpia in batches for 4 to 5 minutes until golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Or brush them with 14 g oil (1 tbsp) and cook in the air fryer at 190 °C for 12 to 14 minutes, turning halfway. Serve with both dipping sauces.

FODMAP check

Garlic-infused oil — Low FODMAP

Garlic-infused oil gives garlic flavour without fructans, because fructans don't dissolve in oil (Monash).

Spring onion greens — Low FODMAP

Use only the green part of the spring onions; the white part is high FODMAP (Monash).

Cabbage — Low FODMAP

Common (white) cabbage is on Monash's low-FODMAP shopping list; we have not checked separate Monash data for Chinese cabbage. Here it is 15 g of cabbage per person, a small serve.

Carrot — Low FODMAP

Carrot is on Monash's low-FODMAP shopping list. Here it is 20 g per person.

Soy sauce — Low FODMAP

Soy sauce is low FODMAP in a limited serve; check the Monash app for the current serving size. The filling and the toyo dip together come to about 14 g per person, less than 1 tbsp.

Rice paper instead of wheat wrappers — Swap

Wheat lumpia wrappers contain fructans, so we avoid them during the elimination phase. Monash itself uses rice paper in recipes such as rice paper rolls. We have not checked a maximum number of sheets per serving with Monash; here it is about 6 per person.

Patis and calamansi — Uncertain

We could not check patis (fish sauce) or calamansi with Monash. Patis is optional; lemon or lime juice is an alternative to calamansi.

Shop-bought sweet chilli — Avoid

Many shop-bought chilli sauces contain garlic. Making your own takes five minutes.

Gomez's tip: freeze them raw

Roll a double batch and freeze the raw lumpia spaced apart on a baking tray. Then they can go into a bag together. That way you always have a gut-friendly merienda ready. Cook them straight from the freezer, a little longer than fresh lumpia.

Sources