missing our food from home: fish lumpia

living here in a place away from home, we usually miss local food prepared using native ingredients. well...here...we try our best to get alternative ingredients that is a good substitute and very close to the local flavor.

here, we had fried tilapia to make this fish lumpia. they also call the fish tilapia here. i'm not sure though if there's a western name of it. my mom who visited a place near jerusalem found a market there selling tilapia too.


the difference of the tilapia sold here is that you buy them in large adult sizes. there are no small or medium sizes here. and when you buy them, you'll be lucky if the fish monger will clean the guts out of the fish you bought.

fish lumpia
1 large tilapia, cleaned and fried
1 medium tomato
1 small onion
1 small carrot
1 small bellpepper
8 stalks of coriander leaves
salt and pepper to taste
square pastry or lumpia wrapper

prepare the tilapia. clean the fish. fry the fish till done. set aside to cool. flake the fish removing the skin and the bones.

prepare the other filling. cut the tomato crosswise. under cold running water, lightly squeeze the tomato to remove the seeds. dry with a paper towel and cut into very small chunks. peel and cut the onion and carrot. cut them into small chunks. remove the seeds of the bell pepper. cut into small chunks as well. cut up the coriander leaves and mix it together with the vegetables. add a little salt and pepper to taste.

make sure that the vegetables are cut having same sizes about the size of a pea.


prepare the lumpia. place enough filling diagonally close to the corner edge of the lumpia wrapper. fold over the corner covering the filling and roll it back nicely but a little tight. close the ends of the lumpia to secure the filling. continue rolling the lumpia till you reach the other end. with a little water, moisten the wrapper to seal.


on a shallow pan, place some oil enough to fry the wrapper. as the filling is already cooked, you only have to cook the wrapper. lumpia is ready when golden in color. place the fried lumpia on paper towels to drain.

for the dipping sauce, crush some fresh garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper and some red hot chilli peppers.