Dinamita Wraps

After a short halt on sharing recipes, I am back! :D

Dish for this week is the Dinamita Wraps, something I learned from my sister. She told me their head cook (she works at a restaurant) would often times cook this as their snacks, and is one of their favorite foods. One time during her day off, she asked brother to buy the ingredients, and she and I tried to imitate it based on sister's memory.




Dinamita Wraps
{Makes 10 pieces}

Ingredients:

• 10 pcs. chili fingers
• 10 pcs. lumpia wrappers
• 1/4 kilo ground pork
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced onions
• salt and pepper to taste
• cheese (optional)
• oil for frying
  

Dipping Sauce

• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Saute onions and garlic in very little oil and add the pork. Season with salt and pepper and saute until pork is cooked. Set aside to cool.
• Take out the seeds from the chilies by cutting a slit lengthwise. Be careful not to cut through and through.
• Depending on your preference, you can also add small bits of cheese on the pork. Stuff each chili with the sauteed pork.
  
• Wrap each chili on lumpia wrappers, allowing the stem to show at one end.
  
• Fry each pieces on hot oil and take out as soon as the wrappers turned golden brown. Place on a plate with paper towel to help drain excess oil.
• Serve with the dip while it's hot.

Personal Notes:

• If the chilies you bought were slightly small and you think there would be a lot of left over pork, you can also put in some pork outside as you wrap each chili on lumpia wrappers.
• Use plastic gloves as you take out the seeds of the chilies. You never know which among the chilies are spicy and you don't want to burn your hands like what happened to me - the burning sensation scattered in my hands and it lasted for two days.
• If the chilies weren't spicy, you can add some drops of hot sauce on the dip.
• Mixing mayonnaise with garlic ranch salad dressing is also a good combination.

My sister and I made five wraps without cheese, and made the other half with cheese. She told me that their cook normally does this without the cheese, and she just thought of adding some because she felt adding cheese might be a good idea. With or without cheese, I do find this one great.

According to the inventor of Bicol Express (Cecilia Kalaw) in an interview of a local cooking show, chili fingers are spicier during the rainy season. So, if you want this dish to be spicy, I guess now is a good time to try it because rainy season has already started.

Happy eating!


*** Jenn ***