''Lumpiang ubod'', also known as heart of palm spring rolls, is a Filipino

appetizer An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the m ...

consisting of

julienned Julienne, , or french cut, is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is cut into long thin strips, similar to matchsticks. Common items to be julienned are carrots for , celery for , potatoes for julienne fries, or cucumbers for . Trimmi ...

''ubod'' (

heart of palm Heart of palm is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees, most notably the coconut (''Cocos nucifera''), juçara ('' Euterpe edulis''), açaí palm (''Euterpe oleracea''), palmetto (''Sabal'' spp.), and p ...

) with various meat and vegetables in a thin egg

crêpe A crêpe or crepe ( or , , Quebec French: ) is a very thin type of pancake. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: ''sweet crêpes'' () or ''savoury galettes'' (). They are often served with a wide variety of fillings such as cheese, ...

. It is commonly served fresh (as '' lumpiang sariwa''), but it can also be deep-fried. It originates from the city of

Silay Silay, officially the City of Silay ( hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Silay; ceb, Dakbayan sa Silay; fil, Lungsod ng Silay), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a pop ...

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental ( hil, Nakatungdang Negros; tl, Kanlurang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Occidental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region. ...

where an original variant, ''lumpiang Silay'', is still popular.

Names and origin

''Lumpiang ubod'' derives its name from ''ubod'' ("

") which is the edible

pith Pith, or medulla, is a tissue in the stems of vascular plants. Pith is composed of soft, spongy parenchyma cells, which in some cases can store starch. In eudicotyledons, pith is located in the center of the stem. In monocotyledons, it ext ...

derived from

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

trunks. The dish originates from the city of

in the province of

Negros Island Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

in the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands ( Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...

. Purportedly it emerged as one of the

s carried on woven trays (''bilao'') by servers (''manuglibod'') in

mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-pla ...

gambling den Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

s frequented by the city's large affluent class. The ''ubod'' was taken from freshly felled coconut trees that are also used widely in Ilonggo cuisine. It became popular and was adopted in other parts of the Philippines, eventually taking on the characteristics of the more prevalent '' lumpiang sariwa''.

Description

Lumpiang ubod (Filipino heart of palm spring roll)

Modern ''lumpiang ubod'' is most commonly served as '' lumpiang sariwa'' (fresh lumpia). It is made by julienning

and

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', na ...

s into thin strips. It is mixed together with minced garlic, onion and various other vegetables if desired, including

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&n ...

green bean Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean ('' Phaseolus vulgaris''), although immature or young pods of the runner bean ('' Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean ( ''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedali ...

s, ''singkamas'' (

jicama ''Pachyrhizus erosus'', commonly known as jícama ( or ; Spanish ''jícama'' ; from Nahuatl ''xīcamatl'', ) Mexican turnip, is the name of a native Mexican vine, although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Jícam ...

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

es, and so on. Meat (pork, beef, or chicken), shrimp, or

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...

can also be added. These are sautéed with spices and '' patis'' (fish sauce) until the ''ubod'' is soft and the meat is thoroughly cooked. The

lumpia wrapper ''Lumpia'' are various types of spring rolls commonly found in the Philippines and Indonesia. Lumpia are made of thin paper-like or crepe-like pastry skin called "lumpia wrapper" enveloping savory or sweet fillings. It is often served as an a ...

can be homemade or commercial. It is the thicker variant used for ''lumpiang sariwa'', and not the thin version commonly used in fried versions. It is made by mixing egg, flour, and water into a thin batter. It is poured into a thin pancake on a pan for more or less a minute and then taken out to dry. A small amount of the pre-cooked filling is then laid on a bed of

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

and wrapped with the lumpia wrapper. It is served drizzled with

peanut sauce Peanut sauce, satay sauce (saté sauce), ''bumbu kacang'', ''sambal kacang'', or ''pecel '' is an Indonesian sauce made from ground roasted or fried peanuts, widely used in Indonesian cuisine and many other dishes throughout the world. Peanut ...

and garnished with green onions, crushed unsalted

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small an ...

s, toasted garlic, and/or crushed '' chicharon''. ''Lumpiang ubod'' can also be served as '' lumpiang prito'' (fried lumpia). The preparation is more or less the same, though the type of lumpia wrapper used is less important. It is deep-fried and then served with a dipping sauce of choice, like other fried lumpia.

Lumpiang Silay

The original Silay ''lumpiang ubod'' is sometimes differentiated as ''lumpiang Silay'', ''lumpiang Ilonggo'', ''lumpiang ubod de Silay'', or ''lumpiang

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Western Visayas, Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occi ...

''. Unlike the versions in other islands, it is always made fresh. It is originally smaller and thinner in comparison (approximately finger-sized). It traditionally included ''ubod'', sautéed meat (ground or cut into strips) and shrimp, an entire sprig of green onion, and crushed '' chicharon'' in a bed of lettuce. The

is also traditionally made with

rice flour Rice flour (also rice powder) is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening ...

. It is not served with a dipping sauce or drizzled with peanut sauce like most modern ''lumpiang ubod''. Rather the sauce is spread ''inside'' the wrapper before rolling. The sauce is traditionally made from

cornstarch Corn starch, maize starch, or cornflour (British English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken sauces or sou ...

, salt, sugar,

soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or '' As ...

, and finely crushed toasted garlic. It is typically served with wax paper covering, a legacy of its origin as

finger food Finger foods are small, individual portions of food that are eaten out of hand. They are often served at social events. The ideal finger food usually does not create any mess (i.e. no crumbs, drips, or any kind of mess), but this criterion is o ...

rather than a dish served on a plate.

Names and origin

Description

Lumpiang Silay

See also

References

Further reading