Day 6: Tuna Spring Rolls... na hindi lumpia

M and I both have work tomorrow, and the best way to make sure that we have baon is to cook the night before. Last week was a toxic week, so the Tuna Theme continues until, well, I run out of tuna!

On the agenda was this recipe:

As I set out to prepare my ingredients, I noticed that the red bell peppers weren't looking too great. So I decided to call my mom for a quick consultation. Upon learning that I intended to fry the lumpia tonight, then we would just microwave it at work, she exclaimed with dismay, "Naku, lalambot 'yan! Huwag mo na lang i-lumpia!" After all, to turn it into lumpia, I would have to cool the tuna mixture first before putting it in the lumpia wrapper, roll each piece individually, then deep fry it. Seeing as it was already 10PM, I decided to take her suggestion.

So I followed the recipe up until the part where it required me to actually roll the lumpia. Here's everything I needed:

Already, I made my first booboo: burnt onions. I hereby blame the tuna that needed to be drained, and my lack of multitasking skills.

The recipe said to wait until they were translucent, so I'm pretty sure that them turning brown meant I had burnt them. I guess the pan was also too hot when I put them in? They are looking very sorry with the garlic.

Then I added the bell peppers and the carrots. The recipe said to cook them until they were soft, but I have no idea how to tell if they were soft enough. I tried spearing a piece of carrot to bite into it, and I guessed that as long as it didn't taste raw, it should be fine. Besides, the recipe also said around 1-2 minutes.

And so I added the tuna and the raisins, and proceeded to mix them well. In hindsight, I should've probably used a bigger pan since my mixing skills aren't great, but thankfully nothing spilled out of the pan.

The last step was to season the mixture with 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. But when I added the soy sauce, it already seemed salty enough, so I no longer added salt and pepper. I suppose that's my saving grace: a good palate (if I may say so myself).

And so the Tuna Spring Rolls turned into an Arroz Cubana-like dish made of tuna instead of meat, topped over white rice. When I was done cooking, M came out of the room to say it smelled good, so I guess we'll see tomorrow if it tastes just as good as it smelled!

Good night!