Playoff eats for Winnipeg Jets fans: Get creative with lumpia

As the Winnipeg Jets get farther and farther in their playoff run, Winnipeggers will need to get creative in the kitchen to come up with different party snacks to go along with each game.

It's a challenge Chef Allan Pineda is more than ready for.

That's why CBC News asked the local chef who specialises in Filipino cuisine and pop up dinners to give us some some ideas for the perfect playoff snacks.

And he didn't disappoint.

Pineda combined traditional Filipino cuisine with a Canadian twist to create unique lumpia — Filipino for spring roll — filled with fan favourites like buffalo chicken fingers, ground bison, pork and even a desert roll filled with, wait for it, blueberry cheesecake.

"I like to mix cuisines a lot," he said. "I'm using the techniques that my mom showed me, but the fillings are like buffalo and mozzarella and chicken fingers."

Pork filled lumpia (makes 28 lumpia, serves four)

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 small carrot small diced
• 5 cloves of garlic minced 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce 
• Oil for deep frying 
• Bowl water for wrapping up
• 28 pieces medium lumpia wrapper

While this recipe calls for pork, Pineda says the filling can be replaced with just about anything a chef can dream up.

For the blueberry cheese cake rolls, for example, he uses cream cheese, fresh blueberries and graham crackers as the filling.

"They're all weird and different," he said of his creations. "You can put anything you want in a spring roll.

"Anything deep-fried is going to be good though."

To start, all of the filling ingredients need to mixed well and set aside, then it's time to start wrapping.

Take one lumpia wrapper and place it in a diamond shape on clean work surface and add about a tablespoon of filling on the lower half of the lumpia wrapper, spreading it into a log shape.

Once the filling is in place, fold the bottom corner over the filling, then fold the right and left points toward the middle and moisten the edges and roll upwards with the remaining wrapper.

Then repeat the process for all 28 rolls.

For best results and less chance of your lumpia unravelling, Pineda recommends freezing them overnight.

Then, just before game time, fry the frozen spring rolls in vegetable oil at 375 C for five to seven minutes until golden brown.

To top off the snack Pineda suggests mixing up dipping sauce for the lumpia. It's another chance to get creative, he says.

For his buffalo chicken finger lumpia — which are filled with chicken fingers, buffalo sauce and mozzarella — he mixes up blue cheese, mayonnaise and salt and pepper for a simple and delicious dip.

Cream cheese, icing sugar and little bit of cheese makes a perfect dip for the blueberry cheesecake spring rolls.

Pineda, who calls himself a huge Jets fan, says he's been looking forward to working during the playoffs.

He says there's always a vibe among customers on game days, and that energy is only amplified now that the Jets are in the playoffs.

"It's crazy," he said. "This is a hockey town, right? It's a crazy hockey town."

The Jets are scheduled to play the Minnesota Wild in Game 3 of their first-round NHL playoffs series, which the Jets lead 2-0, on Sunday starting at 6 p.m. CST.

• More on the Winnipeg Jets playoff run