FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – The Army Community Service's Conversational English Class cohosted a Lunch & Learn cooking demonstration featuring Filipino lumpia at the USO on Oct. 19.
"One of the programs at the Soldier and Family Readiness Center is Conversational English," said Denise Chappell, relocation readiness manager at ACS. "We feel that our international spouses add so much to the military community, so we give them a safe, fun way to practice their English."
"Today, we are featuring cuisine from the Philippines," Chappell said as she introduced Kristine Sims, a Conversational English student and the demonstration's chef.
Sims describes lumpia as a Filipino version of a spring roll, filled with ground chicken or pork, water chestnuts, eggs, cilantro, onions, cabbage, ginger and garlic. The mixture is sautéed in a skillet and then rolled in a thin paper-like pastry skin wrapper. These are soft and light but strong enough to wrap and hold fillings without breaking apart.
"Lumpia can be savory or sweet," she explained. "You can make it with any vegetable, meat or fruit filling."
Sims made her mother's savory ground chicken recipe.
"I use a food processor for chopping the vegetables," she said noting the mixture needs to be finely chopped.
Sims created a pastry-filling bag with a quart-size sandwich bag. Loading half of the bag with the sautéed mixture, she sealed the top with a rubber band and snipped the corner allowing her to squeeze uniform, teaspoon-sized dollops onto each pastry wrapper.
As she explained the process, she rolled and stacked them on a cooking sheet until a complete batch of lumpia was ready for the oil fryer. Then the hot, crispy lumpia were served with Thai red chili sauce. Sims answered questions from the audience throughout the demonstration. She said the recipe has so many variations.
"Making these for a party would be perfect," said Sharen Crenshaw, family readiness support assistant for 111th Military Intelligence Brigade.
Sims mentioned making lumpia for a large gathering is relatively easy and economical.
"We had a great time shopping!" exclaimed Aimee Randazzo, the senior operations and programs manager for USO Arizona. "Everything we bought for the recipe is available at the post commissary."
Chappell announced that the Conversational English Class students are creating an international cookbook with their recipes as a gift to the community for the upcoming holidays. Recipe submissions for the cookbook are open to any international residents on the installation. Contact Army Community Service at 520.533.2330 for more information.
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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.
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