The thing I miss most is Mum’s Kueh Pie Tee, we can’t buy those crispy shells here in Hong Kong and making them is a labour intensive deep frying activity. Chinese New Year in a couple of weeks and what better way to celebrate with a pohpiah party – the hokkien version of spring rolls- and always a welcome dish for big parties.
Well, the thing about cooking alongside Mum is everything is agak agak (Malay word to guess/approximately) style and there is never an end all recipe because she cooks by intuition and feeling, tasting on the go. And that’s where and how I learnt to cook and I do the same. I am not good at baking for the very same reason, I find it hard to be regimental about measuring ingredients!
**5 medium size turnips (bang kuang variety) can cook for about 30 to 40 rolls of poh piah and enough for a whole box of 50-60 kueh pie tee
1. Slice the turnip into really thin shreds. **It is better to do this than grate it as alot of water comes out and makes it mush and soft. Optional to add carrot
2. Slice into little cubes 2 or 3 strips of belly pork, alittle fat is better (optional) Anything with pork lard tastes better!
3. Soak 1/2 bowl of dry shrimps
4. Slice and dice a whole clove of garlic
Directions
Heat 3 or 4 tablespoons of oil, then fry garlic until it turns golden brown,
Throw in the dried shrimps and continue to fry it until the aromatic flavours come out and they are golden brown. In Cantonese we call this 爆香 (when the aromas and fragrance explodes)
Remove fried garlic and dried shrimps.
Next fry the pork belly pieces until it turns crispy and golden brown
Throw in the sliced turnip and stir fry, then add water enough to cover the turnip
Add in garlic and dried shrimps
Simmer for 1hr and half or until it is soft, **you need to add some more water if turnip is not soft enough.
Add 2 chicken stock cubes and some pepper.
Add a bit of dark sweet sauce (kecap manis or jujube thick sweet sauce)
On the side you can start the mise en place for the other ingredients to go with your poh piah wrap.
Ingredients to go with fillings:
Hard boil eggs
Lap cheong Chinese sausage
Prawns, shelled and cut into small pieces
Ground peanuts
Chopped garlic
Sweet dark sauce (kecap manis or jujube dark sweet sauce)
Chilli sauce (homemade, throw some chillies, garlic, ginger and add some lime juice into the blender)
Lettuce
Corriander
Poh piah skin (there is a shop in Macau at the red market that makes them fresh daily!)
Kueh pie tee shells (this is too much work to handmake so I buy them from Singapore Seong Cheong super market!)
Eh voilà! Ready for a wrap!
Are you on Instagram? Follow along for real time updates of latest Macau discoveries this month! I am finally done with work travels and getting back to wandering Macau. :)