After watching Uncle Lim’s entertaining performance whipping the popiah dough to the hotplate, I could not resist buying half a kilo from the thin Chinese crepe. Getting a fundamental concept of what ingredients walk inside a popiah, but getting never cooked it before, I made the phone call.
"Mother, are you able to show me steps to make popiah?"
"What, popiah? That's lots of work. Shouldn't you be busy along with other things?"
It goes on for some time. When she realizes my determination, she tries one further tactic, "I didn't remember steps to make popiah. A lot of things. I. I do not remember."
The following day, I am standing alongside her in her own kitchen, and she or he has all of the ingredients ready and it has already began cooking. Trained or otherwise, chefs really are a difficult bunch.
A Hokkien/ Teochew style fresh spring roll, popiah is all about layers of texture and a mixture of flavors. The juicy turnip filling, the faint sweetness of prawn and crab meat, refreshing Chinese lettuce, the mixture of sweet sauce and spicy sambal and anything else among. No question popiah may be the all-time favorite snack in Penang. It’s our form of a tortilla wrap.
Here’s what we have to have seriously scrumptious popiahs:
15 fresh popiah wrappers (or something like that - perhaps a tortilla? Or help make your own crepe?)
Fillings:- 1 large turnip, grated (also referred to as jicama or in your area referred to as bangkuang)
- bits of bean curd, diced into small pieces
- 150g of small or medium shelled prawns (deveined and reduce small pieces)
- 100g of crab meat, shredded - (This really is optional. My mother really buys an entire crab in the market, and steams it. This obviously will prove to add a great deal additional time towards the preparation, so most likely biggest score crab meat, or even the imitation crab meat, in the store.)
- 3 eggs
- 5 cloves of garlic clove, chopped finely
- Fried shallots*
- Fresh Chinese lettuce leaves, wash and drained dry (normal lettuce is okay too)
Seasoning for turnip filling:
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon white-colored pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup water
Sauces:
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce or sweet sauce
1/4 cup sambal* or chili sauce
*For fried shallots and sambal, Mother I built them into on your own. In order to save time, you will get pre-made ones in the store.
Method
- Inside a wok, heat oil on medium fire, and fry two cloves of chopped garlic clove until aromatic, after which include grated turnip. Add soy sauce, sugar and pepper for seasoning. Stir fry for that first a few minutes.
- Add water and lower heat to low, cover and then leave the turnip to prepare for an additional thirty to forty minutes until soft. Increase the soy sauce and sugar as needed. When cooked, strain the juice right into a small pot and warm. The juice will be utilized for a gravy within the popiah. (Another optional step: To boost the taste, my mother also adds in steamed and shredded belly pork [3 layer pork] to prepare using the turnip.)
- As the turnip is cooking, heat oil inside a separate wok, add one clove of chopped garlic clove and deep-fry the bean curd until gently browned. Hand out and drain any liquid.
- With similar wok, increase the oil as well as heat. Toss in all of those other chopped garlic clove, and when fried, include the prawns. Give a dash of soy sauce, white-colored pepper oyster sauce. Stir fry the prawns until cooked. Hand out.
- Beat the eggs and fry them omelette-style within the same wok. Then reduce thin shreds.
- Put aside each filling out separate bowls or tiffin.
- Lay a bit of the popiah wrapper on the plate and spread one teaspoon of hoisin sauce and 1/2 teaspoon of sambal lower the center.
- Place lettuce leaf within the sauces.
- Spoon 2-3 tablespoons the strained turnip filling to the leaf.
- In layers, top with fried bean curd, prawn, crab meat, sliced egg omelette and fried shallot crisps.
- Fold the edges from the wrapper, tuck in firmly and roll-up tight. Reduce 3 or 4 pieces.
- Pour a tablespoon from the turnip juice within the popiah. Serve Eat immediately.
A harmonious mixture of sweet, spicy and savoury flavours. Popiah is just scrumptious!
