Healthy Popiah for Good Taste and Nutrition

There is a common saying amongst folks who are health-conscious that "Healthy food is seldom tasty, and tasty food is seldom healthy." Generally speaking Chinese people eat for the sake of taste, but this does not mean they do not eat for health at all.

Let me confess that I am committed to eating healthy foods in accordance with the Biblical diet described in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. Secondly, the method of food preparation is also important. Uncooked foods are preferable because cooking destroys the food nutrients.

One of my favorite foods is Popiah which is tasty and healthy as well. It is very popular in the Fujian province of China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Popiah is similar to the Chinese Spring roll except that it is not deep-fried in boiling oil. The high temperatures used for cooking using boiling oil (for deep frying things) alters the molecular structure of the foods being cooked and actually makes them carcinogenic (cancer causing!). Read the cancer center's viewpoint http://nutritionhealth.cn/carcinogenic-soot-india-cook-food-security.html

Traditionally the Popiah has Chinese pork sausages called "lup cheong" as one of its main ingredients. Others add shrimp and crabmeat. Since these meats are biblically unclean other meats such as beef, chicken or lamb are good substitutes.

Popiah is a word in the Fujian (Hokkien) dialect that refers to the very thin skin wrapper made from either wheat or rice flour. There are two groups of ingredients, one is cooked and the other is uncooked.

Uncooked Ingredients include:

Thin skin wrapper (wheat or rice)

Sweet or Hoisin sauce

chilli sauce

lettuce leaves

grated carrots

Cooked ingredients include:

Stir-fried beef (ground) or chicken or lamb

Mushroom which may be local, Chinese or Japanese

Thinly sliced fried tofu

Grated Jicama (Mexican) also called Bankuang (Malaysia/Singapore),

Beansprouts

Prepare egg crepe and cut into strips

1. Lay the thin skin wrapper(s) on a clean flat surface.

2. Spread the sweet chilli sauce and Hoisin sauce on top of the wrappers.

3. Place a lettuce leaf on top of the sauce.

4. Place the cooked food that consists of the meat and vegetables on top.

5. Place the egg strips and condiments over the cooked food.

6. Fold the wrapper on the top, left and right, then roll it over.

7. The Healthy Popiah is now ready for cutting into smaller pieces