Foodie Paradise

Good Chance Popiah
Blk 149, Silat Avenue, #01-58
Singapore 160149

Ratings: 4.0/5.0

Dine & Dish No. 6 - Amazing Graze - A food blogging event

My first attempt in making my own popiah

Popiah is believed to have originated in China during the Qing Dynasty and was usually eaten during spring when there was a surplus of vegetables in the market. After being given a localised flavour, it is now a common snack in Singapore and Malaysia.

Popiah is made up of a variety of ingredients wrapped in spring roll skin. It is similar to the fried spring roll, though a major difference in both dishes is that the popiah is not fried, unlike the fried spring roll.

The ingredients for the popiah comes separately

A good popiah is usually packed tightly and full, thus one factor in determining how delicious the popiah is will be dependent on the skill of the popiah-maker. This is to ensure that the popiah will not disintegrate when it is being picked up for eating. Secondly, it is also to ensure that all the different ingredients are evenly spread out throughout the popiah since a popiah is usually sliced into many smaller pieces so that it can be shared among the people.

I never got to try how good the skill of the chef at Good Chance Popiah is as the ingredients and the spring roll skin are being served separately at the restaurant. This is to allow the diners to have a chance to wrap their own popiah and also at the same time, allow the diners to decide how much ingredients they want inside each popiah.

Personally, I feel that Good Chance Popiah is an ideal place for gatherings among friends and family, where friends can learn how to wrap popiahs from each other while engaging in a friendly banter or harmless teasing on how good or bad the popiahs have turned out to be. It can also be a good place for couples, even though there is a lack in romantic atmosphere at the restaurant. Making your own popiah can be a nice change from the usual mundane dinner dates. In some sense, it’s a chance for the lady to “showcase” her domestic ability by making popiah for her guy (drawing some inferences from the not-so-secret criteria of Singaporean guys who want their significant others to peel the prawn shells for them).

Peeling prawn shells for the guy is something I will never do (It is actually more gentlemanly for the guy to do that for the gal, since it isn’t nice for a lady to get her fingers dirty *innocent smile*), but I will attempt to do an amateur step-by-step guide on how to wrap a popiah:

Step 1 - Spread the spring roll skin out.

Step 2 - Smear the chilli, sweet source, garlic paste, and crushed peanuts onto the skin.
Step 3 - Add some fresh lettuce.

Step 4 - Add the bean sprouts and shredded omelette

Step 5 - Add the last and the most tasty ingredient of a popiah, i.e. turnips and carrots stewed in fish or chicken stock.

Step 6 - Wrap the popiah up. One amateurish way to do so is to push the ingredients to the side of the skin before wrapping so that the popiah will turn out nicely. Otherwise, just cover the ingredients with the skin deftly and roll!

There are also many Chinese dishes that can also be ordered at Good Chance Popiah:

Mian Xian

Hokkien Mee

Good Chance Popiah used to be located along Telok Ayer Street. It has only moved to its new location recently, which I feel that it is a pity since its old location is right smack in the business district where business is more brisk.

The popiah there is very delicious, which I attribute to the nicely stewed turnip and carrot. No matter how delicious the ingredients are, the most important aspect of a nice popiah lies in its skin, as a tough popiah skin will spoil the entire dish. Thankfully, Good Chance Popiah got its skin texture exactly right, allowing us to savour a delectable and chewy popiah, made by ourselves.