Homemade Fresh Popiah and Popiah Skin (Fresh Spring Rolls)

Learn how to make fresh popiah from scratch. This tutorial also shows you how to make fresh popiah skin and delicious popiah filling.

What is popiah?

Popiah or loosely translated as fresh spring rolls with jicama are popular street food in Southeast Asia countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. I grew up eating these and love them so much. The main component of popiah is a soft, thin wheat flour skin, similar to a crepe or pancake, which is used to wrap the fillings. The fillings can vary, but typically include a mixture of finely shredded vegetables like turnips, carrots, lettuce, bean sprouts, and sometimes jicama. These vegetables are usually cooked together in a savory sauce, which may include ingredients like soy sauce, garlic, shallots, and other seasonings.

In addition to the vegetables, popiah may also contain other ingredients like minced meat (commonly pork, shrimp, crabmeat, etc), chopped peanuts, fried shallots, scrambled eggs, and fresh herbs like cilantro. The combination of textures and flavors makes it a delightful and refreshing dish. Popiah is often served as a roll, similar to a burrito, and is usually eaten with your hands. It can be found in various street food stalls and restaurants across the mentioned Asian countries, and it’s a beloved snack or light meal option enjoyed by many due to its delicious taste and healthy qualities from the abundance of fresh vegetables. Popiah can be fried or not fried. This version is usually not fried.

Recipe for the spring roll wrapper is adapted from China Sichuan’s. Love the easy recipe!

Homemade Popiah Medan (Fresh Spring Rolls with Jicama)

Prep Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Servings 20 popiah

5 from 8 reviews

REVIEW & RATE PRINT

Ingredients

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Spring roll wrappers (makes about 20 skins or more):

• ▢ 200 gr all-purpose flour
• ▢ 300 ml water
• ▢ ½ tsp salt

Fillings:

• ▢ 500 gr jicama/ yam bean / bang kuang peeled and shredded
• ▢ 1 large carrot peeled and shredded
• ▢ 200 gr crab meat lump you can also use shrimp
• ▢ ⅓ cup dried shrimp soak in warm water until soft and finely chopped
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic peeled and finely minced
• ▢ 4 Tbsp cooking oil

Seasonings: (adjust to your preference)

• ▢ ½ tsp Salt or more as needed
• ▢ ¼ tsp sugar or more as needed
• ▢ ¼ tsp ground white pepper

Sauce:

• ▢ Sweet chili sauce
• ▢ Hoisin sauce

Other ingredients you can include in the filling (as many or as few as you wish):

• ▢ 2 eggs (beaten and made into omelette and cut into long strips)
• ▢ 100 gr ground roasted peanuts

Instructions

 

Make popiah skin:

• Mix the flour salt and water in a large mixing bowl. Strain the mixture through a strainer to make sure you get a smooth batter
• Turn on the heat on your stove to the lowest. Place the non-stick pan, about 8-inch size if you have one. Use a large pastry brush to brush the batter on the pan. 
• Brush several times to make sure you are covering the surface so there won’t be any hole on the wrapper
• Once you are done brushing, turn the heat up to start cooking the batter. The batter will slowly turn white starting from the edge 
• Once the bottom has cooked, gently peel it off the pan to a plate. Cover with a cloth. 
• Wipe the pan clean and repeat the process. Give the batter a stir each time before brushing
• Once the wrapper has cooled down, you can stack them up and cover with a cloth until needed. The wrapper can be made one day ahead, covered and keep at room temperature until the next day. Make sure they are completely cool down so no condensation is formed when you wrap them 

Prepare the filling:

• Preheat oil in a skillet or wok. Add in garlic and stir fry for about 10 seconds and add the dried shrimp and stir fry for another minute. Add the yam bean/ bangkuang, carrots and seasonings. Stir fry until the yam beans started to soften. Add the crab meat lump. Have a taste and add more salt if needed. Sometimes the yam beans may ooze out more water as you stir-frying them, that's normal. Once the yam beans are soft, it's done

Assemble into popiah (only wrap as many as you want to eat):

• Place 1 piece of popiah skin on a clean working surface or cutting board. Brush the skin with some sweet chili sauce (if you choose to use) and sprinkle with some crush peanuts if you choose to use. Scoop about 2-3 Tbsp of the yam bean mixture on top of the sauce. Add strips of egg omelette, and 1-2 sprigs of fresh coriander leaves if you choose to use. Fold the two sides in firmly tuck and roll up tightly. Cut into desired pieces and serve immediately. Only prepare as many as you would eat. This is not something to prepare ahead of time as the skin will get soggy and tear

Storage:

• Popiah skin usually only good for 1-2 days. If you store them in the refrigerator, they will lose that elasticity and break when you try to wrap. So you need to reheat them with a moist heat like using a steamer. Steam for a minute or until heated through and they can be used again

RECOMMEDED TOOLS

non stick skillet

Silicone Pastry Brush

Did you make this recipe?Let me know how you like this recipe and consider rating it! Tag me @whattocooktoday I’d love to see your photos/videos on Instagram

How to make popiah skin from scratch

I’ve tried several recipes that require so much work and to no avail! I failed miserably! I don’t like the store-bought spring roll wrapper for this version of unfried spring rolls because the texture is just not the same. Until, of course, I came across how to make popiah wrappers so easily! Like seriously easy that I’ve made them 3 times in the course of two weeks! Fresh spring roll wrappers are only good for 1-2 days after being made.
1. Mix the flour salt and water in a large mixing bowl. Strain the mixture through a strainer to make sure you get a smooth batter
2. Turn on the heat on your stove to the lowest. Place the non-stick pan, about 8-inch size if you have one. Use a large pastry brush to brush the batter on the pan. 

3. Brush several times to make sure you are covering the surface so there won’t be any hole on the wrapper

4. Once you are done brushing, turn the heat up to start cooking the batter. The batter will slowly turn white starting from the edge 

5. Once the bottom has cooked, gently peel it off the pan to a plate. Cover with a cloth. Wipe the pan clean and repeat the process. Give the batter a stir each time before brushing

6. Once the wrapper has cooled down, you can stack them up and cover with a cloth until needed. The wrapper can be made one day ahead, covered and keep at room temperature until the next day. Make sure they are completely cool down so no condensation is formed when you wrap them 

TIPS ON HOW TO EASILY MAKE GOOD POPIAH FILLING

1. Grate the veggies
Majority of the muscle work for making popiah filling is in shredding the jicama and carrots. Peel the jicama and then use a box grater if you have one to shred it into strips
2. Use dried shrimp
Dried shrimp adds that nice umami flavor to the overall popiah taste
3. Use crab meat lump
The crab meat lump adds some sweetness to the filling
4. Lose the juice when wrapping
There will be some juice oozing out when you cook the jicama, it’s normal. Just make sure you don’t scoop that juice when you wrap the popiah, or you will end up tearing the wrapper and wet popiah, but you can serve the juice on the side with the popiah

How to assemble popiah

Only assemble as many as you want to serve. They can’t be assembled in advance as the popiah filling will make the popiah skin turns soggy and ripped
1. Place 1 piece of popiah skin on a clean working surface or cutting board.

2. Brush the skin with some hoisin sauce and chili sauce (if you choose to use) and sprinkle with some crushed peanuts (if using, I didn’t). Line with some lettuce (if you want). Scoop about 2-3 Tbsp of the yam bean mixture on top

4. Add strips of egg omelette, and 1-2 sprigs of fresh coriander leaves if you choose to use.

5. Fold the side near you up and then fold the two sides in firmly tuck and roll up tightly.

How to store freshly-made popiah skin

They can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Reheat them using moist heat like steaming. Just steam over high heat for 1 minute or so until they are softened.

Did you make his homemade popiah recipe?

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