Saturday, February 16, 2013

popiah

I've not made popiah for years. Too much work involved. This had been a favourite in the Lim family and I'm glad I learnt how to cook it. It's different from how Ing cooks it where she dumps everything in and it's done.

Today while in the market, I saw popiah skin. Decided I have to make it since it's still holiday and CNY and I'm not in a stressed mode yet. So picked up all the ingredients needed.
 Three turnips, peeled and ready to be sliced.
 While I was slicing the turnips, KC helped me to fry the omeletes which are later cut to strips.
 This is the time consuming part. Slicing the turnip to thin slices. The thinner the better. Nelda helped me...that cut the time by half.
 Chicken slices used to fry together with the turnip. I seasoned it with some pepper, sesame oil and soya sauce.

One picture missing...shallots. First of all, I fried the shallots in my vision pot. I discovered vision pot is great for frying shallots or garlic till crispy as the heat is even. Place the shallots into the oil before it gets hot. It takes a while to brown....once it browns, lower the heat and remove the shallots. It is evenly browned, real crispy and fragrant. Leave the oil for frying all the other stuff.
 Cucumber...sliced thinly also.
Chinese sausage...sliced. This is the first thing I fried in the wok without oil as it is very oily and the wok would be oily after frying it. Be careful not to let it burnt as it is sweet so burns easily.
 Yellow taukua....sliced thinly also. I fried this after the sausage. The oily wok was good enough to fry this till fragrant. So not oily.
 A whole kilo of shrimps. Fried with the oil used for frying the shrimps and add some pepper and salt to it.
 French beans...also sliced thinly. Stir fry and add some salt.
Lastly....the turnip. This is the most important ingredient. Do it well and the popiah will be great. Fried the chicken slices and pour the turnip in the wok. It's a lot...KC had to help me stir and turn it around the wok. Add salt, pepper and black soya sauce. I just covered it and left it to simmer till soft. The softer the better. I kept adding water as it tends to dry up. Took quite a while before the texture was soft enough. I kept the fire going even while we were eating the popiah...so the turnip in the wok will continue to be hot and continue to soften.
KC is the expert in folding popiah. So this is how it is done. Skin at the bottom. Lettuce. Put some sauce onto the lettuce. 
(Forgot to mention how I cooked the sweet sauce. Bought a bottle from the market. Fried some chopped garlic, put in a bit of sambal which Ing cooked for me and then half bottle of the sweet sauce. Add a small spoon of sugar....fantastic sauce.)
Put the turnip, taukua, cucumber .... oh yes bean sprouts/taugeh (blanched in hot water), chinese sausage, egg, prawns and onions. Roll it up!!! I started work at 10am and food was only ready at 1pm. That was lunch and dinner ... really healthy. Three popiah and a bowl of soup ...the tummy is overfull!
You need skill to roll it as neat as this. I can't do it. Only KC can. When we retire, we are going to open up a stall outside our gate....I will prepare all the stuff and he will roll the popiah. Then I will collect the money!!!

Maybe I can put some tables out and add Penang laksa to the menu!

No comments: