CNY : 春卷 Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are literally translate from Chinese word ’春卷‘  ( pronounced chūn juǎn ), are originally snacks prepared during first day of spring ( 立春), to celebrate and mark the first day of the spring.  It is also known as popiah ( 薄饼 in Hokkien dialect ) in Southern China, Malaysia and Singapore.   

Spring rolls are made of sweet or savory fillings wrapped in a thin flour-made crêpes, fried or non-fried.  The fillings varies, mostly combinations of vegetables and meats. 

The popiah’s filling consists of julienned French bean, jicama, chinese leek, carrot, cabbage ; bean sprout ( taugeh ) ; tofu ; and minced pork.  The tofu is carefully cut into small long pieces, and deep fried till golden in colour.

In a big wok, stir fry the minced pork till its half cooked.  Then put in all the ingredients except the taugeh.  Keep on stir fry till everything is cooked.  Don’t add any water.  Lastly, add in the taugeh, and a substantial amount of pepper powder and salt to taste.

As the ingredients sweat during the cooking, the broth need to be strained out.  Otherwise, the popiah would be too damp and slurry, and caused the popiah crêpes to rupture. 

first, place some filling on the lower corner of the popiah crepe ...
add chili sauce ...

roll up the crepe a bit ...

fold-in both left and right corners ...

proceed to roll the crepe ...

finish !

Popiah, as my family fondly call it, is prepared especially during CNYs.   As we skipped meals while busying visiting ( 拜年 ) relatives and friends, popiahs are eaten to fill in the no-so-hungry stomach.   Besides, everyone was lazy to cook anyway.