EEvery year when the Chinese New Year is near I would think of the Hokkien man sitting at the corner of Tai Lung at High Street,in Sibu, quietly making popiah skins. In the 60’s there were fewer people in Sibu , so there was not much of a queue. He would even have an admiring crowd of young people watching him patiently making the skins, one after the other and piling them up on a rattan shallow basket. I would be one of the young crowd watching him.
He was our Hokkien Apek in a town of a Foochow dominant town. If he was a Foochow, we would have called him Ah Bak. Apek is not a derogative term for in Hokkien as Apek means an uncle who is older than your father and it is a very honorable way of calling a good man.
Somehow in Malaysia the term has become a little loose to mean a shabby looking Chinese man, an uneducated man with poor manners, a poor looking man,etc. Can we restore a term to its original high standing?
The Hokkien Apek would stack up the skins in the tray in tens or twenties. To me, his popiah skins, were elegant, thin, and perfect!! Years later, with a bit of research I found out that no one had inherited his skills and after his passing, that special corner of Tai Lung forever lost a nostalgic iconic Popiah Skin Man.
The Chinese festive season would never be the same again to many of my friends and I.
It is strange how one person like me can miss that social scenario. And it is stranger how I can never bring myself to make popiah with supermarket popiah skin. But then, it is only natural I would like to bite into a freshly made and fragrant popiah skin made at a familiar street corner. I would like to sink my teeth in the ingredients freshly and patiently prepared by my mother.
I have not tried to make the popiah skins myself although I obtained a recipe recently. May be you could try to make some.
The dough starts out as a thick batter. The ingredients for the batter are
1 kg flour
4-1/2 cups water
1 Tsp salt
2 Tbsp tapioca flour
You mix all the ingredients together until they make a lumpy batter. You can use a non stick frying pan.
The Apek had a special flat pan, like that of a roti canai pan and he would sit in front of his stove on a stool which was the same height as his stove. Who had inherited his popiah making pan?
Psalm 107:8-9
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
May this spring festival bring you wonderful blessings from God the Almighty.