I absolutely loved poh piah as a snack (a roll with shredded daikon, carrots, bamboo shoots, beansprouts and what else, with boiled egg and peanuts and a delicious sauce). It's a Nonya dish and I have a hard time finding a good rendition in NY.
Have you tried Nyonya on Grand St in Chinatown?
Like many Chinese/Asian dishes, e.g. pao or buns, zongzi (chinese tamales), there are great regional variations to each dish, in the ingredients used and sometimes method of preparation. By regional, I am thinking of the different regions within China itself, but there is even greater variety when you consider the overseas influences like peranakan.
My absolute favourite chung pian (foochow for spring roll) is the one I grew up with, foochow style with bean sprouts, firm bean curd (not the silken tofu but a firmer type), garlic chives, rendered pork fat, lots of ginger, and soy sauce, wrapped in a soft spring roll "skin". The filling is rather wet, and the roll is almost never deep-fried. I've had cantonese, vietnamese, fujien versions, heck even deep-fried bad American chinese take-out version, but for what well be nostalgic reasons, in my mind, nothing beats the foochow chung pian.
