Bakpia ( jv, ꦧꦏ꧀ꦥꦶꦪ, bakpia; - the name it is known by in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

) or Hopia ( - the name it is known by in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

) is a popular

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

and

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

bean-filled

moon cake A mooncake () is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節). The festival is about lunar appreciation and Moon watching, and mooncakes are regarded as a delicacy. Mooncakes are offered between f ...

-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 Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

which specialises in the pastry. These

sweet roll A sweet roll or sweet bun refers to any of a number of sweet, baked, yeast-leavened breakfast or dessert foods. They may contain spices, nuts, candied fruits, etc., and are often glazed or topped with icing. Compared to regular bread dough, ...

s are similar to bigger Indonesian ''pia'', the only difference being the size.

Types of dough

Mongo hopia (mung bean hopia), Philippines

Flaky type

The flaky type of ''bakpia'' uses

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

puff pastry. Clear examples of this can be seen in China (especially

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and countries with established Chinese

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

communities such as

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

making this type the authentic Chinese ''hopia''. In addition, there is more skill involved in making this type of ''hopia'' crust.

Cake-dough type

Philippine ''hopia'' also uses the cake-dough type in addition to the flaky type. It 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 ''hopiang 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 A cappuccino (; ; Italian plural: ''cappuccini'') is an espresso-based coffee drink that originated in Austria and was later popularized in Italy and is prepared with steamed milk foam (microfoam). Variations of the drink involve the use of cre ...

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...

durian The durian (, ) is the edible fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus ''Durio''. There are 30 recognised ''Durio'' species, at least nine of which produce edible fruit. ''Durio zibethinus'', native to Borneo and Sumatra, is the onl ...

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

, screwpine (pandan), and umbi talas (

taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...

Mung bean

The most popular flaky ''bakpia'' both in Indonesia and the Philippines is

mung bean The mung bean (''Vigna radiata''), alternatively known as the green gram, maash ( fa, ماش٫ )٫ mūng (), monggo, or munggo (Philippines), is a plant species in the legume family.Brief Introduction of Mung Bean. Vigna Radiata Extract G ...

''bakpia'' (

: ''bakpia kacang hijau''; Tagalog and

Visayan Visayans (Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group, ...

: ''hopiang munggo''), sometimes referred to as ''hopiang matamís'' ("sweet ''hopia''" in Tagalog). As its name implies, it is filled with sweet split mung bean paste.

Pork

''Hopiang baboy'' ( Tagalog and

for "pork ''hopia''") is filled with a savoury bread-crumb paste studded with candied wintermelon, flavoured with scallion and enriched with candied

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

back fat, hence its name. This type of ''hopia'' is also sometimes referred to as ''hopiang maalat'' (Tagalog for "salty ''hopia''").

Purple yam

''Ube hopia'' or ''hopiang ube'' is a variant of hopia from the

which use purple yam (

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 Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Viol ...

colour and sweet taste. ''Ube hopia'' was first introduced in the 1980s by Gerry Chua of

Eng Bee Tin Eng Bee Tin Chinese Deli () is a Chinese deli chain based in Binondo, Manila, Philippines. History Eng Bee Tin was established in 1912 on Ongpin Street in Binondo, Manila by Chua Chiu Hong, a migrant from mainland China whose family decided to ...

, a Chinese Filipino

deli Deli may refer to: * Delicatessen, a shop selling specially prepared food, or food prepared by such a shop * Sultanate of Deli, a former sultanate in North Sumatra, Indonesia Places * Deli, Boyer-Ahmad, a village in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Pro ...

chain in the

Binondo Binondo () is a district in Manila and is referred to as the city's Chinatown. Its influence extends beyond to the places of Quiapo, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas and Tondo. It is the oldest Chinatown in the world, established in 1594 by the ...

district of

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

noted for their fusion of Chinese and Filipino culinary traditions.

Azuki bean

A variant from the Philippines that uses red

azuki bean ''Vigna angularis'', also known as the adzuki bean , azuki bean, aduki bean, red bean, or red mung bean, is an annual vine widely cultivated throughout East Asia for its small (approximately long) bean. The cultivars most familiar in East Asia ...

paste is called ''hopiang hapón'' (Filipino for "Japanese ''hopia''"). It differs from other ''hopia'' in that it is made from cake dough. It is small and round and is similar in filling, crust texture, and style to the Japanese ''kuri manjū'', hence its name. These are also often formed into cubes and cooked on a griddle one side at a time instead of being baked in an oven.

References

{{Filipino food Kue Indonesian Chinese cuisine Javanese cuisine Indonesian fusion cuisine Indonesian pastries Indonesian desserts Philippine cuisine Philippine fusion cuisine Chinese fusion cuisine Legume dishes