Inspired by one of my lovely food blogging friends, I decided to adapt Holly’s lumpia recipe into my own. But let me tell you, I simply don’t have the range to roll lumpia. I accept my truth. My store didn’t have wonton wrappers or the thinner rice wrappers for lumpia, so I had to work with what I had: egg roll wrappers. And since egg roll wrappers are thicker than what’s traditionally used for lumpia, they fell apart into a complete mess in the process.

So, instead, we’re having Filipino-inspired egg rolls! To me, cooking is all about working with what you have and adapting to any mistakes. That’s what makes it fun! Cubed, smoky and spicy longaniza sausage, plump shrimp, and lots of crisp and tender veggies. Be warned, there’s a lot of prep work here when it comes to assembling, but once you have all of your mise en place (everything in its place), you’ll be ready to roll. Literally. See what I did there? Ha! Let’s get cooking!

Shrimp & Sausage Egg Rolls

Cook time: 1 hour (including cooking, assembly, and frying)

Yields: ~ 24 egg rolls

1lb longaniza, cubed or ground

1lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined, cut into small chunks

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

Kosher salt

Black pepper

1/4 head small green cabbage, thinly sliced

1/4 cup shredded carrots

1/2 bunch green onion, thinly sliced

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 package egg roll wrappers

1 egg, beaten

Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

Nori komi furikake seasoning

The longaniza sausage I worked with was previously smoked, making it easy to cube. More than likely, you’ll have to remove the longaniza from its casing in order to break it down like you would a traditional ground sausage. Keep in mind that either kind of sausage will work just fine in this recipe.

Once you have all of your vegetables sliced, chopped, and in their place, we can move onto the proteins. In a large bowl, toss together the chopped shrimp, soy sauce, sesame oil, minced garlic, a few pinches of salt, and black pepper. Set aside and let the shrimp marinate for at least 10 minutes.

While the shrimp are marinating, we’ll work on cooking the longaniza. In a large frying pan, over medium-high heat, cook the cubed sausage to render out the fat. Stirring occasionally, make sure that all sides of the cubed sausage get crisp, about 7-10 minutes. Set aside in a large bowl and reserve about 2-3 tablespoons of fat in the pan. Discard the rest of the fat. Sauté the carrots and sliced cabbage for about 4 minutes, making sure to leave the cabbage slightly undercooked so it stays crunchy.

Remove the vegetables from the heat and add them to the bowl with the cooked sausage. Fold in the green onions and cilantro. Taste and adjust any seasoning with kosher salt and black pepper. Add any additional soy sauce or sesame oil to your liking. Remember, this will be the only time you get to season the filling before it gets rolled up in the wrapper. So, make sure it’s tasty!

Next, time to preheat the oil for frying over medium heat. I used a cast iron skillet but you can use a standard frying pan or pot for this. If you want to bake the egg rolls, that’s also an option but they’ll take a little longer in the oven to get crisp. I prefer them fried. Go big or go home, right?

Time to assemble the egg rolls! To be honest, I treat them like tiny little burritos, adding a heaping tablespoon of filling into the flat wrapper along with a spoonful of the chopped shrimp. Yes, the shrimp will be raw while rolling the egg rolls. Don’t worry, they heat from deep frying the egg rolls will allow the shrimp to cook through gently so you don’t overcook them.

Start with the filling in the center of the wrapper with one of its edges pointing down at you directly. Then, fold from the bottom corner inside and up into the center to form a triangle. Then, tuck in a corner from the left and fold over the right corner. Use a little water or egg wash to coat the top remaining edge of the wrapper and roll upwards to create a seal, making sure to gently press along the edge and down when rolling.

Let them rest for a bit while finishing the rest of the batch with the seals facing down. Once you finish rolling up the egg rolls, deep fry them in the preheated oil until they’re golden brown on all sides, about 5-8 minutes, turning occasionally to evenly brown. Drain them on a paper towel lined plate or a sheet pan with a cooling rack. You don’t have to fry all of them in one round since this recipe yields around two dozen rolls (unless you’re feeding a lot of people). I actually froze half of them for later use in a parchment lined plastic freezer bag.

Once cool enough to handle, serve the egg rolls with a quick dipping sauce made from the soy sauce, sesame oil, and nori furikake seasoning for dunking. Try not to eat at least three. If you do, I won’t tell anyone. They’re made for a solid snacking session.

¡Buen provecho!