Rick's Hokkien Popiah truly rocks!

Since 1992, Rick Chew was a tour guide who enjoyed introducing local attractions and destinations in our beautiful country to tourists, both local and foreign.

Individually wrapped Rick's Hokkien popiah

While the global pandemic closed our country’s borders and kept the nation in various stages of lockdowns, it also kept tourists away and tour guides like Rick were left without any tour assignments.

As the lockdown periods gradually eased, it was sheer boredom which caused Rick to switch gears and become a Work-From-Home entrepreneur.

Rick confessed that while he was on tour with his visitors at any destination, he would take the opportunity to seek out the taste of local popiah or Chinese fresh spring rolls which the Cantonese call, Chon Queen.

Of course, there are many types of spring rolls – both fresh and deep-fried – some filled with only vegetables while some are also stuffed with meat and, or seafood.

Well, even the Indonesians, Thai and Vietnamese have their own versions of this popular snack.

Popiah stuffed chockful of ingedients!

Making and eating spring rolls is a family tradition and the ingredients that go into the stuffing for spring rolls may vary from family to family.

Rick, who is Hokkien, claimed that wherever he went, he could not taste any popiah that came close to the popiah that was prepared by his mother.

As Rick pondered about what to do in his Work-From-Home project, he then decided to share the taste of his mother’s recipe for popiah by serving traditional Hokkien popiah from home.

Beginning with his own circle of contacts and friends, Rick shared through WhatsApp about his Traditional Hokkien Popiah along with a list of the spring roll ingredients and instructions on how to place orders.

To ensure there were sufficient ingredients, freshly prepared to fulfill orders, he would only serve this Hokkien Popiah on two days per week – Tuesday and Friday – and asked for orders to be placed a day in advance, before 6pm.

Paper-thin popiah wrap!

It took about two months for his brief intro of Hokkien Popiah to circulate through WhatsApp before I finally received it about three weeks ago.

A quick read showed me a list of the more than 10 ingredients that goes into the popiah, and it easily convinced me to have a taste of this Hokkien popiah.

Besides the all-important turnip, the list included carrot, tofu and mushrooms, long beans, cabbage or beansprouts, Chinese celery, egg omelet, shallots, crushed peanuts, spread with sauces like garlic chilli and rojak petis, and – wait for it – pork belly and pork lard.

Keen to support local businesses through this difficult time, I did not hesitate to place an order for collection at 12 noon the following day.

I arrived at the given address promptly at 12pm and moments later, while I waited outside in the car, Rick delivered my order gently into my hands.

Rick explained that each spring roll was individually wrapped to encourage diners to conveniently unwrap and eat it as a roll.

Because it was a takeaway, the timing for pick-up was important so that the spring roll remained fresh and not end up soggy.

He thanked me for my order and asked to give him my constructive feedback.

Pork belly among the ingredients
inside Rick's Hokkien popiah

Back home for lunch, when I unwrapped the spring roll, the first thing I noticed about the roll was its homemade wrap.

For the unfried version, the texture of the wrap is important: not too thin that the sauces and gravies could easily soak through and not too thick that it would be tough to bite through.

I believe it took a great deal of skill to prepare the batter in the right consistency and to cook it over a heated griddle at the right temperature with the right timing, to make paper-thin wraps such as this.

As the old proverb says: The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I wasted no time to taste this Hokkien popiah to discover whether I liked it (or not!).

Each time I tasted something new, the litmus test for me was a simple question, “Would I eat it again?”

NP = No Pork

If the reply was a resounding, “Yes” then this would mean that it was good enough for me want to eat it again… and again.

So in my next order for Rick’s traditional recipe popiah, I requested for two spring rolls made without chilli and two rolls without any pork or lard, to which he obliged.

When I collected this order, I asked Rick how I could identify these specific orders and he promptly replied that they were marked: “NC for No Chilli and NP for No Pork.”

So, what are you waiting for? If you are a connoisseur of spring rolls, just place your orders for a taste of Rick’s traditional Hokkien Popiah.

Rick’s Hokkien Popiah [Non-Halal] priced at RM4.50 each, are freshly made only on Tuesdays and Fridays, available for collection from 12 noon.

Orders are accepted a day in advance, received before 6pm. Tel: +6012 7093828.

Please indicate your collection time so that your orders are freshly wrapped and ready for pick-up from No. 5 Jalan Kerambit 3, Taman Sri Tebrau, 80050 Johor Baru, Johor.