Roll up your sleeves and let's roll the POPIAH!

This post is dedicated to Evan, whose Kitchen Ramblings leave many of us salivating...



Mum's the world's greatest cook. This is a sentiment shared by many people of their mothers. Except for my kids, who think yours truly a better cook then their mum, the Slim Lady. If that's the irrevocable truth, and I think it is, I have my mum to thank for.

See, like most people, me too think my mum is the world's best cook. She's thought me how to whip out a mean bowl of laksa, a plate of glutinous rice, and my favorite kim kueh mee or pumpkin noodle. When it comes to cooking, my mum is the sort who subscribes to the theory of "agaration" (an acronym of Malay and English words meaning Estimation). There's no hard and fast rules on the ingredients or amount of seasoning used. Everything is based on estimation, and anything goes.

Having said that, my mum cooks other fabulous food such as braised duck, hor-fan and yu-sheng, the kind that goes with congee, just to name a few. I've been wanting to put into writing my mum's many recipe or they will be in oblivion when my mum makes her exit one day...

Evan, a 'blogo-friend' of mine, has asked me for my mum's popiah recipe when I did a post on Chinese New Year goodies recently. See, popiah is a staple food for my family during CNY. My mum usually prepares 3 big pots of the popiah veggie, enough to serve all our relatives and friends who come visiting, with left over to last at least another 3 days. It's become a tradition of sort, having popiah for CNY in my household. And it's really quite a joy to see all my aunts, uncles and cousins rolling up their sleeves and rolling the popiah themselves, basically having a rolling-good time (no pun intended).

So, Evan, here's the recipe, courtesy of my mum. Be warned though, that I've yet to try it out myself.

Ingredients

1. Shredded Carrot (5x)
2. Shredded Turnip (3x)
3. Long bean (2 packets)
4. Cabbage (1 roll)
5. Bean-curd (2 packet. My mum says to buy them from the supermarket. Each packet contains 4 bean-curd)
6. Pork belly
7. Suan Ah (10x). [I don't exactly know what this is called in English; but in Hokkien, it's called Suan Ah]


Method

1. Cut bean-curd into tiny cube; then fry them
2. Stir-fry carrot, turnip, long beans, cabbage and "suan ah" separately
3. Slice pork belly into tiny pieces, stir-fry it.
4. Mix ALL ingredient together.
5. Add salts and MSG (optional) for taste

Chilli

In my humble opinion, the chilli is one of the most important ingredient in popiah-making (just like the Hainanese chicken rice), without which the popiah simply won't give us the ooommmpphh! My mum uses only three ingredient for the chilli - the chilli itself, garlic and a bit of salt. First, grind the chilli. Then add the garlic and continue to grind. Lastly, add the salt.

Peanuts

You also need peanuts. I'm not sure if my mum prepares this herself. But you can get the ready-made one in the market.

Popiah skin

Can get the traditional one from Joo Chiat as recommended by Victor. No car? Never mind, get Victor to buy for you. Just pay him petrol money. Or repay him with TEN rolls of popiah. :P You might as well ask him to deliver some to my house. ;) Actually, those ready-made skin from the supermarket is just as good.

Other ingredients

You can add prawn, mashed egg etc. And don't forget the sweet sauce. Another ingredient that is a must is the Chinese lettuce (or Pang Chai in Hokkien).

I guess that's about it, Evan. Apologies for the delay. So when do you think Victor and I can sample your popiah? :P

Category: Food