Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Recipes Pt 2

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Recipes Pt 2

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Filling:
1. Cucumbers, chredded 2 whole pcs
2. Bean sprouts, roots plucked 300 g
3. Coriander plants, cut 2 Handfuls
4. Chinese lettuce leaves 2 to 3
5. Lap Cheong (sausages) 5 pcs
6. Omelettes made with 3 eggs
7. Small prawns, peeled 1 to 11/2 pcs
8. Steamed crab meat 300 g
9. Pounded toasted peanuts 100 g
10.Garlic, peeled and chopped 100 g
11.Fresh red chillies, pounded 200g
12.Tee cheo (dark sweet sauce) 1 small bowl

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 To Serve:
1. Large "poh piah" skins 20 to 30 pcs
2. Sugar 2 tbl
3. Fried pounded "pee hee"
4. Vegetable oil

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Method:
1. Mix peanuts with sugar.

2. Deep fry 1/2 of the garlic in oil.

3. Wash prawns and leave shells on. Rinse "lap cheong". Steam "lap cheong" for about 3 minutes till cooked. Repeat with prawns till a bright orange pink colour. If using fresh crabs, crack the claws and steam till the shell is bright red.

4. When ingredients are cool, slice "lap cheong" finely. Peel prawns and crabs.

5. Shreds eggs finely. Arrange all ingredients in plates and bowls.

6. Fold each poh piah skin into 4 and arrange on a plate. Cover with damp cloth.

7. Boil the filling. Invert a small bowl in a large bowl and spoon the filling over. Serve.

8. Spread out a skin on your plate. Spread out the skin over the whole skin and spread over with some "tee cheo", raw garlic and chillies.

9. Place a lettuce leaf on top and spread some filling on top of that. Sprinkle over a little of the rest of the ingredients on roll up "poh piah" tucking in both corners.

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Recipes Pt 1

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Recipes Pt 1

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Ingredients:
1. Fresh winter bamboo shoots 450 g
2. Young carrots 200 g
3. French beans 200 g
4. Ordinary leeks 200 g
5. Bangkwang (sweet turnip) 300 g
6. Cabbage 200 g
7. Taukwa(hard soya bean cakes) 5 pcs
8. Pee hee (dried plaice) 350 g
9. Streaky (belly) pork with skin 300 g
10.Garlic, peeled and pounded 80 g
11.Small shrimps 600 g
12.Water 3 cup
13.Vegetable oil 2 cup
14.Lard 7 tsp

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Seasoning:
1.Salt 1 tsp to 2 tsp
2.Sugar 1 tbl
3.Light soya sauce 2-4 tsp
4.Dark soya sauce 2 tsp

Popiah or Spring Roll 薄饼 Method:
1. If using fresh bamboo shoots, peel off skin and cut into large pieces. Boil a pot of water, add the shoots, cover and boil for 1/2 hour.The water and shoots will turn yellow. If using tinned bamboo shoots, drain and wash. Shred prepared shoots finely. Bamboo shoots can be stored in water in the fridge.

2. Peel carrots and "bangkwang" and shred finely. Remove rough outer layers of leeks and slice finely. Remove outer leaves of cabbage and shred finely, discarding hard central stems. String the peas or beans and shred finely.

3. Shred "taukwa" finely. Wash shrimps, peel and remove intestinal vein.

4. Boil 3 cups water, add the washed piece of pork and boil for about 1/2 hour till soft. Drain, keep stack, and when pork is cool, shred finely against the grain.

5. Place "wok" over high heat for 1/2 minute, add 2 cups oil and when smoking, add the shredded "taukwa". Deep fry, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes till golden brown. Drain.

6. In the meantime, peel the "pee hee", discarding bones and skin. After frying the "taukwa", turn the heat down to medium and add 1 handful of "pee hee" pieces to the hot oil. Deep fry, turning occasionally till golden brown, fragrant and crispy. Repeat till all is used up. Discard oil or keep for future use. Pound "pee hee" till fine.

7. Keep 1/2 the "pee hee" to put in the filling. The rest is to be served at the table in plates. If prepared ahead of time, store in air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

8. Wash "wok" and dry. Place over high heat for 1/2 minute, add 1 tablespoon lard into thw "wok" and when smoking, add 11/2 teaspoons garlic and stir fry till slightly crispy. Add shredded carrots and french beans and stir fry till vegetables are limp. Remove to a large pot.

9. Put 11/2 tablespoons lard into the "wok" and when smoking, add 11/2 teaspoon garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Add cabbage, stir fry for about 2 minutes, then add leeks. Stif fry till limp. Remove to large pot.

10.Put 11/2 tablespoons lard in "wok" when smoking, add 11/2 teaspoons garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Add prawns, stir fry till pink, then add "bangkwang". Stir fry till limp. Remove to the large pot.

11.Add 21/2 tablespoons lard and remaining garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Add bamboo shoots and stir fry for about 4 minutes. Add pork, stir well and add "taukwa". Stir well. Add to the pot.

12.With a ladle and pair of chopsticks, mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

13.Add stock and bring to the boil. Add the salt, sugar, light soya sauce and dark soya sauce. Simmer gently for about 1/2 an hour till ingredients are cooked through.

14.Add the 1/2 of the pounded "pee hee", stir into the mixture and boil for another 10 minutes. Eat at once or keep in the fridge.

Ching Ming Festival 清明節 2006

Ching Ming Festival 清明節 2006

Ching Ming 清明節 a traditional chinese festival is also known as the grave-sweeping festival. It's observed ten day before and after 5th April 2006 this year. Chinese families show their respect to ancestors & loved ones by visiting their graves to clear away weeds, touch up gravestone inscriptions, burn incense and make food & wine offerings. The burning of imitation paper money & other paper goodies is for the deceased to use in the afterlife. In modern days, there are fancy paper goodies including clothes, radios, TVs, cars, etc.

Ancestor worship is the native religion of China and that may have been the origin of Ching Ming festival. Buddhism, Christianity and Islam were imported to China. Confucianism & Taoism started in China but are philosophies rather than religions. In Confucianism, ancestor worship is incorporated as the virtue of filial piety.

Popiah [Spring Roll] 薄饼

Popiah [Spring Roll] 薄饼

Most Singaporeans are well acquainted with this traditional favourite: the popiah 薄饼 or spring roll, which is enjoyed as a complete meal or snack.

In the old days, family members of the Hokkien dialect-speaking community in China would gather during the Ching Ming (equivalent to the All Souls Day) in spring to feast on and offer to the spirits of their ancestors the good harvest of a variety of vegetables.

With the abundance of vegetables, the womenfolk of the family would busy themselves in the kitchen cutting and shredding bamboo shoots, cabbages, leeks, and French beans. This manage of cut vegetables will be thrown into a big wok and slowly cooked with the addition of strips of soya bean curd, pork belly, and shrimp to enhance the taste.

The Hokkien were skillful at making the thin dough skins that hold the ingredients together. Each skin was then stuffed with a liberal helping of cooked vegetables relished with a generous amount of savoury seasoning. Thus the name popiah 薄饼 Spring Roll originated. Till today, the Hokkien still hold pride in the making of these skins or wrappers out of flour, water, and salt.

With the early Chinese immigrants settling in Singapore and inter-marrying the local Malays, many local specialities have evolved, including the Straits Chinese or Nonya version of popiah 薄饼 or spring roll.

The difference is the addition of eggs to make the skins and the pre-cooked turnip stuffing, which is fried in garlic and soya bean paste.

Today in Singapore, the spring roll is a fried snack while the non-fried version is known as popiah popiah 薄饼.

Organising a popiah party is an excellent way to break the ice among guests who do not yet know each other. It is fun to watch everyone attempting to make the perfect popiah with the occasional comical bursting of skins in the process.