Stadium Popiah

I visited the neighbourhood pasar malam (night market) tonight and guess what I found... *drumroll* ~ the Stadium Popiah* stall!


the master at work


wrapped


unwrapped


the filling is a secret recipe but we identified taugeh, sengkuang, taukua, lettuce, fried onion, chinese sausage, chilli sauce, sweet black sauce...and ate the rest


*Here's a nice long textbook-style passage for those of you interested in the nitty-gritty of popiah-origins and popiah-making. I lifted the text off here as the site is rather advertisement heavy.

Popiah is believed to have originated in China during the Qing Dynasty and was usually eaten during a time when there was a surplus of vegetables in the market, such as in spring. Other ingriedients have found their way into the Singapore version of this dish.

First the different vegetables are prepared - bean sprouts are blanched, bamboo shoots, sweet turnips and carrots sliced fine and stewed, eggs are boiled and mashed, prawns are boiled, shelled and sliced thinly, Chinese sausage is sliced fine, coriander leaves and local lettuce torn into portions.

Then a "skin" made from rice flour is spread out, smeared with a paste of garlic, chilli and sweet soy sauce. The various ingredients are loaded onto the centre of the skin, and the skin wrapped to form a parcel, which is sliced into four portions.

The skill of the Popiah-maker lies in getting the proportions of ingredients just right so that you taste all the different flavours; and in getting the amount of filling just right, so that the parcel does not disintegrate when you pick it up to eat!

'Popiah parties' are popular in Singapore, where all the ingredients are laid out, and guests get to make their own Popiahs, with varying degrees of success and plenty of fun!

Yum, I feel like eating another one already.