If you have a food question swirling in your head, who do you ask? Bing!

Question
I forgot to get something for my friend’s potluck party happening tonight! Help! I have half a day to order something amazing for this. Please recommend something I can get!  

Bing's Answer
You’re in luck because I do have something both fun and delicious to recommend. My favourite potluck party option is the DIY popiah set from Kway Guan Huat Joochiat Poh Piah. Most people probably know this shop more casually as “the Joo Chiat Poh Piah shop, loh”.

Image Credit DIY Standard Set from Kway Guan Huat via joochiatpopiah.com

Frozen sets are available for takeaway at any time at all, making them perfect for last-minute shoppers.

Bonus: because they’re DIY sets where you choose your own ingredients and roll up the popiah yourself, these sets are especially good for adding a playful, interactive element in less formal settings.

What Is Popiah?
For those who aren’t quite clear, popiah or poh piah are a traditional Hokkien dish of soft spring rolls usually made fresh upon order, with soft crepe-like wrappers and a variety of chopped ingredients as filling. Different shops will add different things to the filling, but the usuals are turnip or jicama shreds, a sweet sauce and minced garlic as well as some kind of protein like pork or prawns.

Image credit Bing Blokbergen-Leow

The most traditional Hokkien versions will usually have bamboo shoots – but this traditional version needs quite a lot of effort and is high cost, and is therefore not so common for popiah purchased in shops and stalls.

In Singapore, there is also a Nonya version – acknowledged as richer and more complex with the jicama, turnip shreds or bamboo shoots braised in a robust prawn stock and offering more ingredient options for the filling. The protein is more likely to be seafood – prawns or crabmeat.

Popiah is frequently sold in small shops in hawker centres in Singapore with a mix of Hokkien and Nonya ingredient fillings, and in addition to the abovementioned ingredients, we frequently see lettuce, some deep-fried dough bits for texture, and chilli sauce.

What Bing Recommends Ordering
The DIY popiah sets from Kway Guan Huat may not have bamboo shoots, but they do have the most aromatic jicama shreds – braised in such a heady minced scallop and crabmeat gravy that it tastes as if you added fresh wild-caught seafood to your roll –  and super crispy fried garnishes.

They also have a wide range of delicious ingredients – not usually available – to create the most perfect popiah.

When we order these DIY sets for family dinners and parties, we like to prepare the following extra ingredients on our own so that we can create a truly customised roll. :

• Fresh chopped garlic**
• Strips of wax meat
• Chopped boiled eggs
• Beansprouts
• Fresh prawns

**A note from Bing: we like to prepare our own but this is also available from Kway Guan Huat!

Image credit Bing Blokbergen-Leow

Of course, this is just a suggestion! If you are a last minute shopper and don’t have time to prepare these extras, rest assured that you don’t need them to have a delicious experience.

Popiah Skin – Freshly Made from a Traditional Recipe
Most importantly, Kway Guan Huat’s popiah wrappers are always freshly made – tender and stretchy at the same time, making them a enjoyably al-dente chew.

On a related note, their third generation owner Michael Ker received the Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award in 2020 because of their shop’s efforts over 80-odd years to prepare popiah skin in the traditional way, following a recipe handed down in their family from their Chinese ancestors in Fujian, China.

Pro-tip: Order their crunchy kueh pie tee shells to make it a 2-in-1 party potluck set!