Bakpia


Bakpia or hopia is a popular Indonesian and Philippine bean-filled moon cake-like pastry originally introduced by Fujianese immigrants in the urban centers of both nations around the turn of the twentieth century. It is a widely available inexpensive treat and a favoured gift for families, friends and relatives.
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.

Types of dough

Flaky type

The flaky type of bakpia uses Chinese puff pastry. Clear examples of this can be seen in China, 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.

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.

Mung bean

The most popular flaky bakpia both in Indonesia and the Philippines is mung bean bakpia, sometimes referred to as hopyang matamís. As its name implies, it is filled with sweet split mung bean paste.

Pork

Hopyang baboy 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.

Purple yam

Ube hopia or hopyang ube is a variant of hopia from the Philippines which use purple yam. The filling is reminiscent of halayáng ube, 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.