Popiah Goreng 炸薄餅 Fried Popiah - "Malaysian Monday 58"

Popiah (薄餅 meaning thin biscuit in Hokkien, referring to the thin, soft crepe like wrapper) is the answer to the spring roll in Malaysia and Singapore. This is the ultimate party snack for many; although I have never been to one myself, a popiah party where a large selection of ingredients for filling and stacks of wrappers are laid out on the table and guests roll their own popiah D.I.Y style is extremely popular with homesick Malaysian and Singaporean expatriates.

For some time my friend M was telling me about some wonderful spring rolls made by a friend's mother, A at a party which I got to taste eventually. I was expecting the common Chinese spring roll filling but was surprised to find a simplified version of fillings reserved for the popiah which is never fried. 

I ended up making a small batch of the fried version after much pestering from my friend. With some modifications the result is nothing less than spectacular and I am glad I did take on this rather fiddly task. Feel free to add crab meat, prawns or Chinese sausage for a more extravagant version if you wish.

My next goal is to host a little D.I.Y popiah party in the near future, so stay tuned!

P.S the round up for this month's MMM is a week away so please send in all your entries to me before this coming Sunday.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen

makes 10 

you'll need;

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup of dried shrimp, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, drained and chopped (optional)

1.5 kg of jicama, peeled and shredded

2 tbs of oyster sauce

3 tbs of light soy

1.5 tbs of Thai palm sugar or brown sugar

dash of white pepper

5 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1/2 cup of whole peanuts, toasted and chopped

1 cup of bean sprouts, scalded, refreshed and drained well

10 shop bought spring roll wrappers

egg white for sealing

oil for frying

Peel off the hard brown skin and you get the white juicy jicama flesh.

Finish all the shredding, chopping and cutting and you are one step closer to some really delicious snacks.

Saute garlic and dried shrimp with a little oil til fragrant (~30 seconds).

Add in the jicama and continue to cook for a minute. Add seasonings and mix well, cook for another minute or two or until the jicama is tender but still retains a little crunch. Remove and leave to cool, when it is cool enough to handle, squeeze out excess liquid (a dry filling will prevent the wrapper from breaking) and let the mixture cool completely before wrapping.

To wrap the popiah - loosen a piece of spring roll wrapper from the stack and place 2 heaped tbs of the fried jicama in the middle of the wrapper. Top with some bean sprouts, chopped egg and peanut.

While pressing down the filling, lift the corner closer to you over the filling, then fold in the two sides. Roll into cylinder about 1.5" wide and 5" long. Brush a little egg white on the upper corner to secure the roll. Repeat the rest.

Fry popiah in hot oil until golden and crispy. Drain well before serving.

Slice popiah at an angle and serve immediately. They are delicious plain with the very flavoursome filling but feel free to have some Lingham chili sauce on the side.

Layers of different ingredients with very different flavours and texture are encrusted in the crispy spring roll wrapper, one bite will have you come back for more.

I am hosting this month's event, please send all your entries to sureshchong@yahoo.com. To find out more about MMM and on how to enter, simply click HERE