Bo-Bo-Cui? What Is It?

(For Chinese version of this article, visit here.) 

 
    Since I discovered the delicious bo-bo-cui (卜卜脆) a long time ago, I have been perplexed and intrigued by its lack of recognition. From what I observed, not many people know of this crispy delicacy other than the Kamparians (or Ipoh-ans, for that matter). Who invented this food? Is it only found in Kampar? Out of curiosity, I’ve been gathering information and working slowly on a story about this food while trudging through the challenges in the year 2020. 

Preface: Bo-bo-cui is not fried bean curd!

    Bean curd or bean curd sheet is made from soy milk. The fried bean curd is crispy but tastes bland by itself. It is often used in stew and vegan dishes due to its ability to absorb the soup/sauce. Less well known, probably, is the fact that not all bean curds are created equal, but have categorisation according to their thickness and texture due to different manufacturing cycles and processes. While the thin, bright variants are suitable for soups and desserts, the thicker and darker ones have a firmer texture which make them perfect for deep-frying.

The origin of bo-bo-cui

    In the Perak state, particularly around the Ipoh and Kampar areas, the locals often eat various kinds of noodle dishes (dry or soup) served with different combinations of food toppings, such as fish ball, fried fish ball, and yong-liu a.k.a. pieces of ingredients with fish paste stuffing. For example, when tofu is used, it is known as yong-tofu. Naturally one can make a yong-liu by using bean curd as well. Known as yong-fupi or just fupi (Figure 1), it is made by spreading fish paste onto a tissue-sized bean curd sheet before folding it in half and then deep fried.

Figure 1: Pieces of bean curd with fish paste stuffing, also known as yong-fupi (or simply fupi).

 

    As early as the 70’s, the Neoh family in Kampar has been involved in making and selling different types of noodle toppings including fupi. However, despite being delicious, fupi has started to become too common. Facing stiff competition, the Neoh family decided to improvise on new recipes with fupi as the core inspiration.

    First, in order to increase the efficiency, the Neoh family applied the fish paste on a much larger piece of bean curd sheet rather than those smaller cut pieces used to make fupi. Second, they also experimented with different textures and decided to spread a thin layer of fish paste for better mouthfeel. That was the original inspiration of bo-bo-cui which we know today.

    Throughout the 80’s and early 90’s, the Neoh family kept experimenting and iterated with different ideas until they eventually obtained the desired texture and flavour. The still-new product, with a distinct bubbly texture and crispy in form, was called bo-bo-cui (loosely translated to mean “popping crispy” in Cantonese). Initially sold in Kampar, soon bo-bo-cui began to be hugely popular in Ipoh, and before long it was sold in other markets around the country. Till today, you can find makers of bo-bo-cui in Kampar only.

    Currently, other than the Neoh family, there is another bo-bo-cui maker which is located at the old street of Kampar who also manufactures other fish-based products. The Neoh family, on the other hand, has specialized and fully committed themselves in manufacturing bo-bo-cui entirely. Any readers who are curious and interested to see how this legendary bo-bo-cui looks like and maybe buy some, can drop by this stall (Figure 2; located beside a bread stall) that is manned by this friendly lady at the morning market. May we suggest that you make a trip there before 10.30 am as she might be well on her way to meet her friends for her morning tea after that. If you have trouble locating the stall, do ask around and the friendly Kamparians would surely be able to point out the stall to you.

Figure 2: Who knew an unassuming little stall like this is actually the birthplace of bo-bo-cui! Besides the bo-bo-cui (golden sheets stacked up on the table), the stall owner also sells wholesale pork meat balls and (drumroll… ) various kinds of detergents! Lol

Where can you find bo-bo-cui?

    While the bo-bo-cui sold at that stall is cheap, it is not ready for consumption yet because you still need to cut it into smaller pieces and deep fry them before you can finally eat them. On the other hand, another easier option to taste this yummy masterpiece is to stop by the noodle stalls that are vastly available at the Kampar food court and you may have them on the go or have them as toppings with the noodles. A perfect marriage of bo-bo-cui to another famous local delicacy here is definitely the chee-cheong-fun as you may soon find out that all these stalls do sell bo-bo-cui as one of their toppings.

Figure 3: Chee-cheong-fun in curry sauce, served with bo-bo-cui and fried wantan toppings.

The magic behind Kampar chee-cheong-fun

    Other than the chicken-in-bread, claypot chicken rice, and Kampar green vegetable, it surprises no one that chee-cheong-fun is one of the often-mentioned Kampar delicacies. Here, let me take the opportunity to also introduce a couple of reputed and delicious chee-cheong-fun places. Amongst them are the well-known Chee-Wah and the Ping-Jie stalls (both located at the Kampar food court), and Ming-Ji which is located at Aston Settlement.

Figure 4: Ping-Jie chee-cheong-fun stall in Kampar food court. Because it is prone to lose its crispiness in the open air for too long (not unlike biscuit for that matter), bo-bo-cui is kept in a air-tight container with pink cover in pic.

Figure 5: Ming-Ji chee-cheong-fun in Aston Settlement. It was not my day when this photo was taken; it was closed T_T

All the aforementioned stalls do sell bo-bo-cui as topping. Seriously, I strongly recommend you try it next time when you order your chee-cheong-fun!

Kampar bo-bo-cui: only found in Kampar?

   Feedback has it that despite Kampar bo-bo-cui from the Neoh family has been widely distributed and sold to other areas like Ipoh, KL and Johor, yet it is still not well known, and many have not even heard of bo-bo-bui.

    The reason has later been found out that the Neoh family has always been playing a background role in the production of bo-bo-cui. The down-to-earth nature of the Neoh family meant that the name ‘bo-bo-cui’ was never imposed upon its purchasers. As a result, the snack took on different names on the whim of the purchasers such as fried bean curd sheet (even though fried bean curd sheet is actually vegan food while bo-bo-cui is not), “crispy sheet”, or even as the commonly known “fried fupi”. Therefore, unsurprisingly, one may have tried bo-bo-cui but do not know that they are named as such.
 

    Figure 6: Fried bo-bo-cui, have you ever tried it?

PS: Bo-bo-cui in packaging form! Yet still hard to find low-key

    While I was gathering information for this story, I made a surprising discovery while loitering in the food court: bo-bo-cui has a new packaging now! In the past, bo-bo-cui has been sold in a transparent plastic container just like any other snacks that are being sold during Chinese New Year. With the new packaging (Figure 7), not only the price per weight doesn’t change much, it looks much nicer now and can be given out as gifts. Lucky us, they now have a new flavour.

Oh.

My.

God.

Salted egg bo-bo-cui!!

Figure 7: Packaging in cute designs: original (left) and salted egg flavour (right).

    So, where can you actually buy these nicely packaged bo-bo-cui? Answer: Not at the original bo-bo-cui stall, but at the no.47 drink stall in the food court. Wait … what? When I asked the bo-bo-cui stall owner about it, I was “directed” to go to no.47 in the food court instead. Eventually, I bought two packs of each from there, hehe...

Figure 8: No.47 drink stall in Kampar food court, where the new packaging is being sold.

    Apparently, the owner of no.47 stall is also a member of the Neoh family. It is therefore not surprising that they do sell these newly packaged bo-bo-cui there. Still, I can’t help but remain bugged by a small question: why does the original bo-bo-cui stall owner not sell them at their own stall? I asked the lady stall owner about it, but she never answered...