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Monday, January 31, 2011

Taiwanese Burrito...or spring roll or Luin Bia or Lumpia

I've heard it called all those things, but there are a few things I know for sure:

1) It's Taiwanese
2) It needs Chinese sausage to be complete
3) It's amazing
4) It's healthy
5) You don't need a special reason to make it, but it's a common dish at special occasions

So first off, you need to know the parts you won't find at Stater Bros. Ha Ha Ha. My first choice is usually 99 Ranch Market, but there are plenty of good Chinese grocery stores out there, so find your favorite and go for it.

This is a picture of the items you'll need, which may be hard to locate. In the picture you see the skins (top left), sausage (top right), peanut powder (bottom left), and baked tofu (bottom left).





So there's a lot of slicing and chopping, so get out a large cutting board, some large bowls, the items you see in the picture, and also:
1) 4 large leeks
2) 1 head cabbage
3) 5 eggs
4) 1-2 pounds bean sprouts
5) 1 pound pork loin (option- I don't care for this)
6) lima beans (option - I don't care for these either)

And here's the breakdown. It's a decent amount of prep work, so you might want all four burners going at the same time, as well as your toaster oven. That way it will all be warm when you're ready to eat:

Sausage:

Thinly slice and broil until cooked through and browned (maybe 4-5 minutes)

Eggs:

Beat well with a pinch of salt, then make think omelettes. Cool and slice into long pieces about 1/4" wide.

Cabbage:

Slice into 1/4" x 2" pieces and pan fry with a bit of salt on medium until soft, caring not to brown.

Tofu & Leek:

Cut off green part of leeks and bottom. Slice white part into think slivers, horizontally across the shaft. Pan fry these on medium for about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, slice your tofu into very thin strips (check the picture above for detail). Add these and continue to fry until softened.

Bean Sprouts:

Drop into a large pot of boiling water and bit of salt for 1 minute. Drain, run under cold water, drain, and plate.

Peanut Power & Powder Sugar:

Mix about 2/3 powder sugar to 1/3 peanut powder.

Skins:

You need a steamer for this. I have a Chinese steamer, but you can make one yourself if you have a large pot (big enough to hold a plate inside). For that, you take a large pot, you but a heat proof bowl upside down on the bottom,
and put a plate on top of the bowl. On top of the bowl, you lay a clean kitchen towel. You place the skins on top of that, and you cover with another clean kitchen towel. Fill the bottom with water, but below the plate. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer to steam. The big issue about steaming the skins is that you don't want too much moisture.

The Hot Sauce:

You absolutely cannot have this dish without this particular hot sauce. And, you can't just have this sauce, you must have minced or pressed garlic stirred in. I'm giving you the picture, because you can't mess this one up.












The Spread:

Once it's all ready to go, you plate it.













The Burrito:


And then you stuff it like a burrito, fold it and chow down!!










Enjoy!

~ Brock

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