Semarang Bakery Icon · Chinese-Javanese Spring Roll
Lumpia Semarang
Photo: Midori / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
It exists because a Chinese immigrant selling pork and bamboo shoots fell for a Javanese vendor selling shrimp and potato at the same market — they married and merged their recipes into the fusion snack sold today.
A thin wheat-flour wrapper is filled with sautéed bamboo shoots, dried shrimp, and shredded chicken or egg, then fried until crisp, or served fresh, alongside a sweet dark sauce, raw garlic, and a green chili on the side. Semarang's bakeries and street stalls sell it as the city's defining takeaway snack.
Why it's made this way: Chinese immigrant Tjoa Thay Yoe and Javanese vendor Wasih combined their two market stalls into one recipe in 19th-century Semarang, and their children carried the fused dish forward into what's now sold as lumpia Semarang.
More from Indonesia
Es Cendol
Sate (Skewered Grilled Meat)
Gado-Gado (Vegetable Salad with Peanut Sauce)
Bakso
Martabak
Sate Padang
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.