In this cooking lesson we are preparing one of the Thai versions of a worldwide popular starter and snack: Popiah, which is the name for spring rolls in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand.
Spring rolls are rolled and filled appetizers which come in a large variety. Its origins are from China. The Chinese chūn juǎn (春卷) literally translated means “spring roll” and comes from a pancake filled with fresh spring vegetables.
The popiah we are preparing in this cooking class is the fried one, the most common variety in Thailand. If our cooking students are interested, we teach as well the tiny snack variety shown in the picture. Other varieties of Popiah are “Salad Rolls”. This is often the choice or our more health oriented vegetarian students. The difference to the spring rolls described here is merely that it’s rolled in a different pastry and not deep fried. This way to prepare spring rolls is more common in Vietnam, which is the reason that the pastry used is called “Vietnamese spring roll pastry”. It actually is just rice paper.
For now have fun with the popiah cooking class.
Hardly found in any restaurant outside of Thailand, this cooking class is about a Thai snack, which is very popular with westerners, visiting the island destinations in the South of the country. The dish literally has no name in Thailand. It is a snack originating out of times of poverty, when people scrambled to make a living. This dish was made out of scraps. The name is probably not older than a few decades. It probably was named when American soldiers on leave from the Vietnam War were asking for the name of the dish. The Thai script in the title sounds “No Name Pak” with “Pak” meaning “vegetable”.
In our recipe for the cooking class is already mentioned in the ingredients “… and more vegetables of your choice” which can be taken face value – just experiment with any scraps you have at hand. They work as well with minced meats like pork and chicken and as a more sophisticated variety with prawns.
This snack is served with some tomatoes and lettuce. As a sauce you are usually given the same sweet chilly sauce which accompanies spring rolls when ordered in a restaurant. On our picture the sauce is a homemade sweet chilly sauce which preparation we will show you in another Thai Cooking Class recipe. If you like, you can prepare the curry paste yourself: Red Curry Paste
Have your ingredients ready. The 2 little bowls on the plate are the Red Curry Paste and the finely chopped lime leaves. Behind the plate you see the tempura and rice flour.
Add all the vegetables, egg, red curry paste, salt and sugar into a bowl. If you are vegan, just leave the egg away.
Add tempura and rice flour
Add a little bit of cold water and mix well
Heat up the cooking oil in a pan
Add more flour if it is too wet and start spooning it into the hot oil. Just take spoon full and scoop the mixture off the spoon with another spoon or fork.
Fry until golden brown
Serve with sweet chilly sauce and decoration to your liking
