Poh Piah is one of my absolute favourite dishes. I grew up eating it with springy egg skin, instead of the papery white wrapper. It’s hard to find egg skins these days. Grandma taught me to make the egg skins and when I was in my teens (a very long time ago!) I got to practise on the few occasions we held poh piah parties at home. It takes a lot of patience standing around the hot stove, making them one by one in a pan just like you would crepes. The thinner the skin, the better. These days, I think no one can beat my Aunty Maggie’s skilled hand at paper thin egg skins :).
Don’t forget to check out my other poh piah entries here.
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[Typed up from 1990s notebook]
EGG SKIN
Makes 30-40 pieces
350g wheat flour
250g tapioca flour
6 rice bowls warm water
10 eggs – stir with 2 tsp salt and sieve
2 tbs oil
Mix flour by hand in basin adding warm water gradually.
Alternately add in eggs which have been sieved.
When well mixed, add in 2 tbs oil.
FILLING
3 kgs bangkuang
10 pieces taukwa
800g pork – streaky / no skin
500g small prawns
2 tbs taucheo – fry
Garlic – fry
OTHER INGREDIENTS
3 eggs beat up and fry into pancake, then shred
500g pounded chillies –
500g Lettuce
Garlic (raw)
Taugay/ beansprouts
3 cucumbers (shredded)
Sweet sauce (Buddha brand)
+ others according to taste
Popiah is my favourite. And yes, the skin is very important. Ah, but I am poor at cooking only good at eating. If anyone is trying and needs tasters, remember me. (^^)
You can buy popiah rolled in egg skin at Glory, a shop selling nasi padang and their own cakes and cookies along East Coast Road. Not cheap though – the last time I had it (maybe 4 years ago!) it cost $2 a roll. Ex!
Thanks for the tip, Wheyface! I recently had egg skin poh piah at the foodcourt at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, when my grandmother was warded there. There’s a nonya stall at the very front on the right hand side as you enter. It wasn’t particularly nice though and it was definitely more than $2 – maybe $2.50. (Well if you consider that normal white skin poh piah is already $1.80 at some foodcourts, e.g. Food Republic and Banquet at Vivocity…).
Every family does the poh piah filling in a different way, and every individual in the family rolls their poh piah in a distinctive way with their own choice of ingredients, which is why poh piah in anyone else’s home or made by anyone else is never quite the same!
The latest issue of The Peranakan Association’s magazine (April-June 2007) has an article by Noreen Chan on Poh Piah egg skin, together with a recipe from Mrs Leong Yee Soo’s book ‘The Best of Singapore Cooking’.
Saw Poh Piah with Egg Skin on sale in Tangs’ basement – $3 a roll!!
i like poh piah too.. luckily i found the recipes here… cos my bf ask me do it for him… actually i know how to make the ingredients inside but just the skin i give up. Now i know how to make, will try it up and post my comment after.
Good luck with the skins, Annie! It’s just like making crepes, so if you know how to swirl the batter round the pan, you’ll have no problems :).