Fresh Popiah (not the fried version)

As it is the school holidays, I cooked more than I baked. So today I am going to share a dish rather than a bake. This is one dish that I love a lot and can have it as a meal on its own. I have not tried making it at home, thinking that it is very difficult, until today. It was not difficult at all. I think the difficulties are the many components that one have to prepare before assembling the final product. 


Some recipes include fried bean curd, peeled prawns, grounded peanuts, fried garlic, sliced Chinese sausage, hard boiled eggs and more. It is a very versatile dish. Mine is a very simple version of the actual recipe. 

I got my popiah skin from a famous handmade popiah skin stall from Margaret Drive food centre, you can also use the pre-made frozen ones by Spring Home (shown below) found in the frozen section of the supermarket. 

Alright, let's get cooking.


Popiah (fresh not fried) Recipe
Adapted from rasamalaysia.com
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp cooking oil
20 fresh popiah wrappers
Fresh lettuce leaves, wash and drained dry

Fillings:
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
15 g dried shrimp, soaked
1 kg local turnip or jicama, grated and drained

1 carrot, grated

5 stalk of dried mushroom, soaked to softened and cut into stripes (save the soaking liquid)

Seasonings:
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sugar or to taste

1 Tbsp soya sauce

50 ml of water + mushroom soaking water

Sauces:
1/2 cup sweet sauce (tee cheo) or Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup chili sauce

Method:
Heat up oil into a deep pot and stir fry garlic until aromatic, add in the dried prawn (pat dry first) and stir fry until fragrant. Add in carrot to stir fry.

Add in the grated local turnip or jicama, salt, pepper, sugar and water, stir well. Reduce the heat and simmer until the turnip turns soft, for about 30 minutes. Taste the filling, add more salt and sugar to taste. Dish out the filling and keep aside to cool. The filling might be slightly watery.

Lay a piece of the popiah wrapper on a cutting board. Spread a little sweet sauce or hoisin sauce and a little chili sauce on it. Place a lettuce leaf over the sauces. Spoon 3 tablespoons of filling onto the leaf. Fold up the two sides of the wrapper and roll up. Serve immediately.



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