Lumpia Basah

Lumpia basah is definitely one of my new favorite foods. Lumpia basah is not your typical lumpia. Instead of the unhealthly, but oh so delicious, deep fried lumpia, this Indonesian version is wrapped by a savory crepe skin. In my book, these out rank their fried friends. My Indonesian friend, Janice, came over one night and we made about 40 of these with this recipe and ate most of them ourselves. This recipe is from what Janice remembers and what I thought would sound good. I would strongly encourage you to make these wrapped pieces of heaven. I promise you, you won't be sorry.

The Ingredients for the Filling
.5 lb ground pork
.5 lb ground chicken
.5 lb ground turkey
1 large yellow onion
2 carrots
1 small jicama
1 cup cloud ear mushrooms
4 green onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic
.25 cup chopped cilantro
4 bundles of clear, bean thread noodles
1 tablespoon soy sauce
.5 teaspoon sesame oil
salt
pepper

The Ingredients for the Crepes
3 cups flour
3 cups milk
3 eggs
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt

The Method
This recipe works best with two people, one to make the crepes and the other to work on the filling.
The crepes are fairly simply but are perfect for this dish. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, milk, eggs, salt, and melted butter. Remember the whole discussion on over mixing, which leads to chewy, rubbery crepes...not good. Take a medium pan and put it on medium heat. Take about a 1/3 cup of batter and do the scoop, pour, and swish technique to cover the pan. Once lightly browned flip and cook for another 30 seconds on the other side. Repeat this process until you are left with a large stack of tasty crepes. Try and resist eating too many.
The filling starts with getting all the ingredients prepped. Soak the clear noodles in cool water for about 10 minutes until soft. Cut then with clean scissors into 2-3 inch lengths. Mince the garlic and slice the green onions, cilantro and the cloud ears. Cloud ears are a type of mushroom which have a crunchy texture.
Next, pull out a box grater. Grate the carrots, onion and jicama into separate piles. Take the jicama and squeeze out the juice to keep the filling from being too moist.
Take a large pan with a little vegetable oil and heat on medium high. Saute the grated onions, then add the carrots and garlic after a couple of minutes. Then add the jicama and cloud ear mushrooms. Salt this mixture to taste or add some soy sauce. Put this vegetable mixture in a bowl and set aside.Heat the pan again, fry the turkey, pork, and chicken with some soy sauce until cooked. The pork provides flavor, and the turkey and chicken add body. You could use one kind of meat if you would like. Add the vegetables, clear noodles, cilantro, green onions, sesame oil, freshly ground pepper and more soy sauce/salt if needed. Stir to combine all the ingredients and check for seasoning.Now comes the fun part. Get your stack of crepes, filling and a couple of spoons. Hopefully, you or your friends haven't eaten them all. Lay a crepes on a cutting board or large plate. Put a couple tablespoons of filing in the center of the crepes. Fold in the sides and roll the lumpia up like a burrito. Keep rolling until there are no more crepes and filling left.
These lumpia basah can be eaten warm or room temperature. They are really great with sweet chili sauce, available at many asian grocery store. I hope you enjoy this recipe because these lumpia basah are one of my favorite foods to eat, ever.