GEORGE TOWN, Nov 30  — The Chinese fresh spring roll – commonly called poh piah in Penang – is stuffed with a medley of shredded vegetables and sometimes a sweet clear vegetable broth is ladled over it when serving.

The poh piah is commonly eaten as an afternoon snack or as a starter; think of it as a Chinese version of the Western salad perhaps although the vegetables are not raw.

This particular dish, though not exactly a Penang creation, is believed to have originated from the Fujian province in China and is now available not only in Malaysia but also in Singapore, Medan and Taiwan.

There are two variants to the poh piah – either deep-fried or not – but we are focussing on the fresh, non-fried one here.

The ingredients for both variants are almost similar except for the different poh piah skin used.

The poh piah skin is a thin crepe-like wrapper made from rice flour and comes in different thicknesses for different purposes.

For the non-fried fresh poh piah, a very thin poh piah skin is used and this has to be steamed first before it is used to wrap the flavourful concoction of vegetables.

Far from the Fujian province, the poh piah in Penang has a taste and flavour of its own that reflects the intermingling of local cultures here.

There are even Malay-style fresh poh piahs available with some variation to the ingredients and even different Chinese poh piah stalls serve up their own style of poh piahs.

The preparation of fresh poh piah is pretty simple as the filling is made usually made up of shredded jicama, diced French beans, diced bean curd, diced omelette, diced shrimps and fresh lettuce.

The shredded jicama and diced French beans are usually cooked together and simmered in their own juices while the bean curd, shrimp and eggs are fried separately.

Once the ingredients are ready, the poh piah is ready to be assembled by first placing the cooked vegetables on the poh piah skin and garnishing with the diced bean curd, shrimp, omelette and shallots.

The skin is also given a dash of sweet sauce and chilli paste, if you prefer to add some spice to it, before a fresh lettuce leaf tops all the ingredients and it is all gathered togather and rolled up.

The poh piah is usually cut into bite-size pieces before it is served and if you like it extra soft and juicy, the hawker will ladle over the vegetable broth made when cooking the jicama and French beans.

There are variants to this as some hawkers may add shredded crab meat for an extra flavour while the Malay-style poh piah usually has bean sprouts in it.

The main secret to a delicious poh piah is in the assembling of the ingredients as it has to have a balance of the vegetables, shrimps, shallots, bean curd, omelette, lettuce and sauces to deliver a sweet, slightly spicy, juicy mouthful bursting in fresh flavours that is not too soggy or too plain.

Try out some of the fresh poh piah stalls in Penang:

1. Taman Free School Hawker Centre, Jalan Terengganu GPS: 5.403079,100.309044 Time: 6pm--11pm

2. Batu Lanchang Hawker Centre, Lintang Batu Lanchang GPS: 5.38985,100.306104 Time: 2pm–6pm

3. Old City Food Court, Jalan Fettes GPS: 5.451284,100.304301 Time: 11am–3pm

4. Bee Hooi Cafe, Jalan Burmah GPS: 5.43231,100.310133 Time: 9pm–11pm

5. Roadside stall, Lintang Kampung Melayu GPS: 5.399976,100.284287