Summer Fresh APPYs Recipe Contest: Thai Curry Beef Lumpia #BlogSF2013

I felt like I was  Willy Wonka from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory…only this was better!  It was almost dreamlike! Imagine being in a plant where all your favourite foods were prepared for you — from delivery of fresh ingredients (vegetables by the skid loads!) to finished product and ready to be consumed!  Oh, it was lovely.  I felt as though I could lose myself in the hummus room. I am not kidding when I say my day spent at the Summer Fresh head office and plant was like Disney World for for me.

Just a  few weeks ago, I was invited (along with nineteen fabulous foodies and bloggers) to the Summer Fresh head office for an exciting behind-the-scenes experience and new product launch! Summer Fresh has been a part of my life for years.

I love their dips and hummus. Special occasions, everyday meals or snacks, Summer Fresh is always in our kitchen.  What’s even better is that our four year old daughter loves the dips, hummus and salads too! I’ve never seen a kid devour a seven grain salad like she does!

Head over to my Summer Fresh behind-the-scenes experience and new product launch post for my thoughts about the Summer Fresh Blogger Event, photos, and what I thought of the production plant, the company.  You’ll also get a bit of the history of Summer Fresh and how it all began, as well as a peek at the delicious food we were able to sample!

Summer Fresh APPYs Recipe Contest

Fellow bloggers and food enthusiasts in attendance were given a little challenge for after the event.  We were given the opportunity to create our own original Summer Fresh APPY. Check out the amazing Summer Fresh Blogger Contest here.

My APPYs recipe is actually the perfect marriage of my culture and my husband’s. A little history:  I’m a city girl who comes from a Spanish-Filipino-Caribbean-Chinese-Canadian household and my husband is a veritable meat and potatoes farm boy.  City girl meets farm boy, they fall in love, and this once upon a time vegetarian ends up marrying a beef farmer.  True story.  Fast forward and I’m introduced to the wonderful flavours of Summer Fresh Sauces!  I incorporated the Thai Curry with beef (we own and operate a 750 acre beef farm on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, so beef is what we do best). Not only did I combine the Thai Curry with beef (because that in itself is an amazing combo), but I also made sure to make it my own by including my Filipino background.  I made Thai Curry Beef Lumpia.  Lumpia is a kind of Filipino “Spring Roll”.

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Summer Fresh Thai Curry Beef Lumpia

Combining different cultures (Summer Fresh Thai Curry and 'Lumpia', the Filipino spring roll) to bring a tasty appetizer that is easy to make for your next event, dinner or party.

Author: Christine McNaughton

Cuisine: Fusion

Recipe type: Appetizer

Serves: 30-50

Prep time:  40 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Total time:  55 mins

Ingredients

• 1 pkg 5"x5" Filipino Lumpia Wrappers (30-50 wrappers depending on the brand)
• 1 lb sirloin tip (any good cut of steak/beef will work), thinly sliced
• 1 medium carrot, julienned
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 container Summer Fresh Thai Curry Sauce
• Oil for frying

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, marinate thinly sliced beef in Summer Fresh Thai Curry Sauce. * Marinate for at least 30 minutes, but I do it overnight so that the beef can soak in all the flavours.
2. In a heated wok, add cooking oil. Cook beef so that it's no longer pink/red. Remove beef and set aside. Drain grease. You don't want too much liquid/sauce in the actual spring roll because it will spill/leak out.
3. Stir in onion and carrot. Cook until tender, but not too soft. Return beef to the wok and let cook together for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until cool enough to handle.
4. Get your lumpia wrappers ready. Turn your wrapper facing you so that it looks like a diamond shape and not a square. Spoon a bit of the filling (3 slices of beef and some carrots and onion) diagonally near the bottom corner of the wrapper. Leave 1 inch at the bottom. Fold the side along the length of the filling over the filling, tuck both side ends in and roll neatly. Make sure to keep the roll as tight as possible. To seal, moisten the edge of the wrapper with water (I keep a pinch bowl or a ramekin with water to dip my finger in for moistening and sealing the edges. Repeat this procedure for the remaining spring rolls. You can do all 30-50 of them yourself, but if you have helpers in the kitchen, you can do an assembly line or split up the wrappers so the job gets done faster. Cover spring rolls/lumpia with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.
5. In a heavy skillet, over medium heat, add oil for cooking. When your oil is hot enough, slide in a few Thai Curry Beef Lumpia (making sure not to crowd the skillet). Fry rolls for 2-3 minutes or until all sides are a nice golden brown. Drain the spring rolls on paper towel and serve immediately. Lumpia is best served hot!

Notes

Our 4 year old thought the Thai Curry was a little on the spicy side, so she pulled out the Summer Fresh Crumbled Feta Greek Yogurt Dip and the Roasted Garlic Topped Hummus to dip her lumpia in. She said she liked the yogurt to cool down the heat of the curry. Not bad for a 4 year old. Any dip will do or you can just eat this APPY on its own.

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Please visit the Summer Fresh Facebook Page and let them know what you think of my Thai Curry Beef Lumpia recipe!

Disclosure: I was provided the above mentioned product (along with a selection of other Summer Fresh items) to facilitate this recipe creation. All thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are honest and  my own.