Penang Popiah 檳城薄餅

Popiah (24 May 2008)


Penang Popiah (檳城薄餅) is a Teochew-style spring roll. It is usually sold by Chinese hawkers although on occasion, you may find an Indian Muslim popiah stall. The popiah filling comprises grated turnip (mangkuang/hongkuak), lettuce leaf, beancurd, egg bits, grated carrot, a dash of chilli paste (huan cheo ciau) and sweet sauce (tnee ciau) and a sprinkling of fried onions. Home-made popiah may also have shittake mushrooms, prawns, crab meat to give it a richer, more luxurious flavor.

The name popiah, which in Teochew and Hokkien means "thin wafer", refers to the skin which is a crêpe made from wheat flour. The sweet sauce is made from soy sauce (tau you), bean sauce (tau ciau) and prawn paste (hae ko). A combination of grated turnip, a smaller portion of grated carrot and optionally, bean sprouts, is steamed.

To prepare popiah, start with the skin. Apply the sweet sauce and chilli paste to the skin. Then place a piece of lettuce leaf. Over this place a spoonful or two of the turnip combo filling. Sprinkle fried grounded peanuts, fried shallots, and shredded fried egg. Fold the skin from bottom to the middle, then fold the two sides in. Finally roll it upwards. And there you have it, one popiah roll.

Popiah is also deep fried to create po₃piah₁-chi₃ or chun piah (spring roll), often sold with Lor Bak.

Ingredients of Popiah:

If you're looking for Popiah stalls in Penang, I hope my food map will prove useful. On it I pinpoint all the stalls I have come across. You can click on the pin to continue to the page describing the stall.

View Popiah Stalls in Penang in a larger map

Where to find Popiah Stalls in Penang

Popiah is available at the following locations in Penang:

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