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Vegetarian Fresh Spring Roll Popiah (薄餅) - With Vegan 'Egg'

 
 
 

Popiah aka 薄餅 is non-fried fresh spring roll that is common in Asia countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The Popiah skin is soft, thin paper-like crepe made from wheat flour, and wrapped with a wet savoury dough, and accompanied with condiments like sweet bean sauce, soy sauce or hoisin sauce and hot chilli sauce before fillings are being laid.
 
The filling comprises of mainly finely grated steamed or stir-fried turnip, jicama or bangkuang with a combination of other ingredients such as bean sprouts, lettuce leaves, carrots, chopped fried tofu, Chinese sausage peanuts powder, fried shallots and scrambled eggs. The list is simply endless! Here, this is the vegan/vegetarian variation. To mimic the scrambled eggs, I used fried tofu, it tastes so real especially with the natural yellow colour from turmeric and the black salt which gives a sulphuric taste and smell of eggs. We vegetarians can have an awesome Popiah party too! Click here for vegan scrambled egg.

All these shredding of veggies sound tedious, isn't it? I can totally understand and it puts me off on making this dish. Thus, I got myself a food processor (I'm using this) to ease my jobs in the kitchen. Where to buy fresh Popiah skins? Refer below.
 
Dietary: Vegetarian, Vegan.
Make about 12 rolls
 
Ingredients
 12-16 pcs fresh popiah skins
 
Filling
 4 cloves garlic, chopped  
 800g turnip/jicama/bangkuang or daikon radish, shredded
 120g carrot (about 1 medium carrot), shredded
 100g green cabbage, shredded  
 3 stalks fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced 
 150ml water
 1 Tbsp soy sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
 1 Tbsp vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce
 1 tsp sugar
 1 tsp sesame oil

 White pepper, to taste
 Canola oil, for stir-frying

Paste
 4 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
 2 garlic, finely minced

Garnish
 16 small lettuce leaves
 80g beansprouts, blanched
 100g cucumber, shredded  
 
Optional Garnish
 100g grounded peanut
 Fresh coriander sprig
 Fried shallot
 Vegan tofu scrambled ‘egg’ (
click for recipe)
 
Method
To prepare filling
1. Heat up oil in a large skillet or wok. Sauté the garlic until aromatic.

2. Add turnip, carrot, cabbage and mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes. Then season with soy sauce, mushroom sauce and sugar. Add water.
 
3. Stir occasionally and simmer for 15 minutes or until the veggies are tender and sauce is slightly dry. Season with sesame oil and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.

To wrap popiah
1. With the back of a teaspoon, brush Pophiah skin with soy sauce, minced garlic and chilli paste. Place a lettuce leaf over it.
 
2. Place a little filling mixture lengthways over the lettuce, then beansprouts and cucumber. Sprinkle the optional garnish.
 
3. Roll the bottom up, then fold the left and right sides in, creating an envelope. Now keep rolling up, into a firm tight roll. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. With a sharp knife, slice each roll into 3-4 pieces and serve.

Before wrapping

Popiah filling
How to make vegan tofu scrambled 'egg'?

 
☆ Where to buy fresh Popiah skins?
Singapore
To the best of my knowledge, there are no fresh Popiah skins available at the supermarkets in Singapore. All of which are meant for frying, not for wrapping fresh Popiah. Do not attempt to use those for wrapping this filling, it will tear when wrapped and it will not taste good because it is doughy and meant to be fried.
 
I got my Popiah skins from a Popiah stall near my place, about 10 cents per piece, so cheap! Many stalls do not sell the skins especially small quantity, thus it takes some time and techniques to make them sell you the skins. For me, I patronise them often, smile to them every time I walk past, and when the rapport is built, I ask them if you can buy the skin from them, viola, LOL! 

 
 



In Malaysia

RM4.99 for 20 pcs popiah skin
(Equivalent to SGD2.00)
Available at Tesco.











Do it yourself
If it is not possible to get at your local stores, why not do it yourself? Check out this video.

Make about 25 pcs (8 inch)
Ingredients
 400 g all-purpose flour, sifted
 1/2 tsp sea salt
 400 ml Water


Method
Combine all the ingredients in a stand mixer bowl. Stir the batter with a wooden spatula, wrap with a cling film and let it rest for at least 3 hours. Beat the batter for about 15 minutes, or until the batter is smooth and elastic. Place the griddle or a flat cast-iron pan on a medium heat. Once the pan is hot, lower the heat slightly. Using one hand, coat the batter and rub onto the pan. Then use the other hand to peel off the wrapper when it is cooked.
 

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous19 June, 2014

    Impressed with your vegan tofu 'egg'! Love your recipes, keep going!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous20 June, 2014

    Love your blog, such an inspiration! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for dropping by. Let me know if you like this dish when you tried out ;)

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  4. I made this last weekend, it was awesome! My wife loves it!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Richie, thanks for trying my recipe, glad u like it ;)

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  5. Oh my gosh, I love popiah! I might have to have a go at making the skins, don't think I'll be able to buy them in Scotland!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Rachel, make your own popiah skin ya, it doesn't look difficult. Let me know if u tried! ;)

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  6. I love popiah too but the shredding part really put me off. Hope to get a food processor to solve this problem. May I know what kind of food processor that you use for shredding the vegetables? And the brand? Your popiahs look very nice. The popiah skins that my family like are from Hup Kiat at Blk 22A, Havelock road, not cheap but very good texture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, food processor really solves this problem, you should really consider getting! I'm using the Philip Viva Collection Food processor, model no.: HR7761. This model is good and is 3 in 1: blender, miller, food processor. Google for it ;)

      Thanks for sharing on this Hup Kiat shop popiah, I will take note the round if I'm at that area.

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