How to Make Fried Popiah (Fried Spring Rolls, 炸 春 卷)

Popiah (spring rolls) is a traditional nyonya dish I used to eat at home as a kid. My mom would make the ‘skin’ (oriental crepe) which wraps the rolls and assemble all the ingredients on the dining table.

However, this recipe is about making the popiah filling and using ready made popiah skin available from the Asian grocery store. Being away from home, I try to make cooking as easy as possible. Traditional nyonya cooking involves scraping the vegetables manually and standing in front of the hot stove. The recipe is relatively simple but time consuming.

There are five main ingredients:

1. Yam bean or Mexican Turnip

2. Carrots

3. Bamboo shoots

4. Mince Garlic

5. Soy Bean Paste (Fermented Soy Bean)

You can add other ingredients if you like, from mince meat, prawns, fried tofu strips and the list goes on.

When my mom first taught me to cook this dish, I always asked her for proportions. But being a typical nyonya cook, she would say that it is “agak agak”. This basically means that it is an estimation. You will need to “taste and see”. I cook this in bulk so that this makes life easy when you have to entertain at home or feel a craving for Malaysian/Singaporean delights. All you need to do is defrost the filling and popiah wrappers before hand.