Alternative names Hopia Place of origin China | Type Pastry, sweet roll | |
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Region or state Maritime Southeast Asia | ||
Bakpia (Chinese: 肉餅; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bah-piáⁿ; literally: "meat pastry") or hopia (Chinese: 好餅; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hó-piáⁿ; literally: "good pastry") is a popular Indonesian and Philippine bean-filled moon cake-like pastries originally introduced by Fujianese immigrants in urban centres of both countries around the turn of the twentieth century. It is a widely available inexpensive treat and a favoured gift for families, friends and relatives.
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In Indonesia, it is also widely known as Bakpia Pathok, named after a suburb of Yogyakarta which specialises in the pastry. These sweet rolls are similar to bigger Indonesian pia, the only difference being the size.
Flaky type
The flaky type of bakpia uses Chinese puff pastry. Clear examples of this can be seen in China (especially Macau), Taiwan and countries with established Chinese diaspora communities such as Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana making this type the authentic Chinese hopia. In addition, there is more skill involved in making this type of hopia crust.
Cake-dough type
The cake-dough type uses a soft cookie-dough similar in texture & taste to the wrapper-dough for fig newtons. This type is very similar to Japanese bean cakes, which grants it the name hopyang Hapon (Japanese bean cake in Filipino).
Fillings
Below are the four traditional and most popular bakpia fillings, though recently other fillings have been created such as cappuccino, cheese, chocolate, custard, durian, mango, pineapple and screwpine (pandan).
Mung bean
The most popular flaky bakpia both in Indonesia and the Philippines is mung bean bakpia (Indonesian: bakpia kacang hijau; Tagalog and Visayan: hopyang munggo), sometimes referred to as hopyang matamís ("sweet hopia" in Tagalog). As its name implies, it is filled with sweet split mung bean paste.
Pork
Hopyang baboy (Tagalog and Visayan for "pork hopia") is filled with a savoury bread-crumb paste studded with candied wintermelon, flavoured with scallion and enriched with candied pork back fat, hence its name. This type of hopia is also sometimes referred to as hopyang maalat (Tagalog for "salty hopia").
Purple yam
Ube hopia or hopyang ube is a variant of bakpia from the Philippines which use purple yam (Visayan and Tagalog: ube/ubi). The filling is reminiscent of halayáng ube (ube jam), a traditional Filipino dessert eaten during Christmas season. Like other ube-based dishes, it has a unique, vivid violet colour and sweet taste.
Ube hopia was first introduced in the 1980s by Gerry Chua of Eng Bee Tin, a Chinese Filipino deli chain in the Binondo district of Manila noted for their fusion of Chinese and Filipino culinary traditions.
Azuki bean
Azuki-bean hopia are small, round cake-dough type hopia usually filled with sweet azuki bean paste, similar in appearance to small mooncakes served during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. These are also often formed into cubes and cooked on a griddle one side at a time instead of being baked in an oven. Due to its similarities in filling, crust texture, and style to the Japanese kuri manjū, it earned the popular moniker hopyang Hapón (Filipino for "Japanese hopia").