FRESH SPRING ROLLS
It is widespread in the countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Medan, and Taipei. You can make this recipe at home with healthy ingredients, and it’s a crowd-pleaser!
Fresh spring rolls known as Popiah can be found in Malaysia, Singapore, Medan, and Taiwan, amongst other places. Filled with chopped vegetables, Popiah is one of Malaysia’s most popular street food options.
At home, it’s also one of the most popular dishes. Sharing it with loved ones makes it much more enjoyable! The popiah my mother prepared for me as a child were among my earliest memories. We would all gather to help her prepare popiah on the days she prepared it, slicing jicama, cutting beans and shelling shrimp while also boiling the filling, which took hours because we always made a large batch for our large family.
It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realized that my older siblings and I would hurry to the kitchen as soon as my mother said “popiah is ready.” In our house, there was always a great deal of anticipation and excitement whenever we had popiah, because not only was the food fantastic, but we had so much fun “playing” with it.
Popiah hails from the Fujian province of China, where he was born. Even though I’ve tasted a number of different versions of this dish, including in Xiamen (possibly its birthplace), Singapore, and Medan, Malaysia, my favorite is still the one made by my mum.
Popiah parties are one of my favorite ways to spend time with friends. The popiah dish that my mother made is one of my all-time favorites, not just for its mouthwatering flavor but also for the flood of memories it elicits in me.
Each serving of this recipe contains only 269 calories.
INGREDIENTS:
- 20 fresh popiah wrappers
- ¾ cup of cooking oil
- Fresh lettuce leaves
FILLINGS:
- 1 kg of grated yambean or jicama
- 226 g of shelled and deveined shrimp
- 56 g of sliced French beans
- 4 bean curd
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- Fried shallot crisps
SEASONINGS:
- 1 cup of water
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of white pepper powder
SAUCE:
- ½ cup of hoisin sauce, tee cheo or sweet sauce
- ¼ cup of chili sauce
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Slightly brown the bean curd by frying it in a wok with 1/4 cup of oil. Remove the dishware and let it air dry.
- Add the remaining oil to a large pot and bring it to a boil. Garlic and prawns are added to a deep saucepan, and they are stir-fried until the prawns are just cooked through.
- When you’re finished, add the water, yambean (or jicama), french beans, and the seasonings of salt, pepper, and sugar. Simmer the yambean or jicama for about 30 minutes at a lower temperature. Add extra salt and sugar to the filling if needed.
- Remove the filling from the oven and set it aside to cool to room temperature. It’s possible that the filling is a little runny.
- The Popiah wrapper should be placed on a flat surface. Spritz it with a little hoisin or sweet sauce and a dash of chili sauce. Cover the sauces with a lettuce leaf. Place a generous 3 tablespoons of filling on each lettuce leaf. The fried bean curd and fried shallot crisps should be atop the dish.
- Roll the wrapper up after folding the two long sides in. Filling juice can be poured over the Popiah if you choose. Serve right away.