Popiah Lunch at Home

I picked up some soy fillets from the supermarket on the weekend. Soy fillets are vegetarian chicken fillets. They are meant to taste like chicken breast fillet but no animals were harmed in the process of making it! I must say though, they do not taste like chicken very much at all. They taste a little like turkey Spam so I guess it does have a little poultry twang to it, just not chicken.

I decided to have a simple meal for lunch on the weekend using the soy fillets. That's where popiah fits in... each person does their own roll however they like. For the popiah filling, the stir fried jicama and carrot with oyster sauce is a must. Next is some kind of protein - usually prawns cut into small pieces and fried. And fried tofu strips. For these two fillings, I used the soy fillets - they're both tofu and protein blend! Kills two birds withone stone... Next, something crispy... the traditional Hokkien popiah recipe calls for peanuts grounded into little pieces but I've made crispy fried garlic instead just because I like garlic and it's also good for the immune system. To add to the abundance of vegetables we're already consuming, there is also lettuce. The lettuce is good as a buffer layer between the wet jicama and carrot filling, and sauce with the delicate popiah skin. Sometimes I like to add strips of egg omelette but decided not to go the extra distance this time.

To make a popiah roll, I took the shortcut way and purchased spring roll skins from the Asian grocer (they are also available from the mainstream supermarket these days). Put a piece of lettuce on the popiah skin, some sauce (like chilli sauce or hoisin sauce), some jicama and carrot, the soy fillet and sprinkle a bit of garlic chips on top and roll!

They were so yummy and best of all, contained loads of vegetables. It was not an entirely vegetarian lunch but it is not difficult to convert it to so - just substitute the oyster sauce with vegetarian oyster sauce!