*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

Popiah (薄饼)

Nonya Popiah (薄饼 Bao Bing)

I thought that it would be bad of me if I didn't post an entry about one of my favourite local food delights. The Nonya popiah is really just the Peranakan springroll. 'Nonya' is the Peranakan term for lady and the Peranakans are more commonly known as the Straits-born Chinese.

I love the description of popiah on the website makansutra.com (makan means to eat in the Malay language):

Imagine… tasty turnips and carrots with dried shrimps softly stewed in fish or chicken stock, garnished with crushed peanuts, eggs, prawns, garlic, fresh lettuce, bean sprouts, sweet fruit sauce and chilli…all wrapped up in a spring roll skin that tastes more like a sheet of A4 fax paper!!

Sometimes the paper-thin skin comes in an egg-skinned version which has a yellow tinge. I prefer eating this version because the egg gives the otherwise bland-tasting skin an extra flavour.

What I like about popiah is that it makes for a healthy snack as it is not deep-fried nor are any of the ingredients high in fats. I really missed eating in when I was in Sydney and I'm surprised that I couldn't find any Singaporean/Malaysian eateries that served this food item. It's probably because popiah requires a lot of preparation time what with so many different ingredients, hence the reluctance to have it on the menu.

What's fun to have are popiah parties. Here, all ingredients are laid out on the table and individuals make their own popiah according to their own tastes. Making one requires considerable skill. First, you can't smear too much sweet sauce on the skin otherwise the sweet sauce soaks through it, causing the skin to become soggy. Then just the right amount of turnips (which have been julienned) and other ingredients must be placed on the skin so that the roll doesn't end up being too small or too big such that all the stuffing's spilling out.

Most of the time, it's all a huge mess at popiah parties. I'm hopeless at wrapping popiah. My popiah almost always falls apart. Oh well, I think it's all part of the fun! :)

Posted by DSD at February 9, 2004 12:01 PM | TrackBack