Teratai x Leha: A family business with Malay-style popiah, inspired by mum’s cooking

A family that cooks together

The recipes for Teratai x Leha’s signature menu items — the popiah basah, yong tau foo, kachang phool (stewed fava beans) and tahu goreng (fried beancurd with peanuts) — were passed down by the sisters’ late grandmother to their mother Leha. 

And now, they’ve taken over the mantle, together with their cousin, who they convinced to come on board.  

“My mother enjoyed being in the kitchen when my grandmother prepared food for the family and learnt recipes from her,” recalls Nurgeena. “We also grew up watching our mother cook. Aadilah in particular loves to cook, and would always rave about my mum’s food whenever she came over.” 

Besides that, Leha also owned a hawker stall at Bedok selling popiah basah and laksa. She would supply her popiah to other shops during Hari Raya Puasa, and even ran a popiah pop-up at the Ramadan bazaar along Arab Street for many years. 

To lighten their mother’s workload, the sisters began helping out with the popiah-making as they got older, washing, cutting and grating the various ingredients.

However, they confess that till today, there’s one task that they can’t master — making the delicate popiah skin. 

“My mother still does the popiah skin for us today,” says Nurgeena, with a laugh. “All of us have tried, but we can’t make it as well as she does.”

As a result, Leha still steps in on this front. And even though the matriarch has been doing this for a staggering three decades, she still tweaks the recipe every now and then to see how the skin’s quality can be improved. 

“For example, I’ll let her know if the skin feels dry and the next day, it’ll taste much better,” says Nurgeena. 

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Starting Teratai x Leha

While Nurgeena, Hyrene and Aadilah had all learnt to cook since young, it was only in 2018 that they decided to start a food business together. 

Nurgeena had been working in the logistics line for 10 years and wanted to escape corporate life. Given the rich repertoire of recipes passed down from her mum, venturing into the hawker trade was a no-brainer. 

As it turned out, her cousin Aadilah, who was working in the same company, also wanted a change of pace, too, so she convinced her to come onboard. 

Hyrene, who was working as a front deck associate at a relative’s gym at that time, decided to join them, too, and as they say, the rest is history. 

The trio opened a hawker stall, then-named Anisha at Haig Road Market & Food Centre, selling popiah basah, kachang phool, tahu goreng and char kuey tahu bakar.

“We were there for nearly five years and were doing quite well when Covid-19 hit,” says Nurgeena. “We pivoted to deliveries, but ultimately made the difficult decision to close our shop.” 

After two years of taking up part-time jobs, post-closure, Leha convinced them to start a new stall after meeting the then-owner of Joo Chiat Complex Food Centre (now Chew N Chat). 

“I was hesitant at first, as coffee shops tend to hike up rental prices, but my mother told me to give it a shot and we negotiated a fair price,” says Nurgeena. 

Nurgeena and Hyrene also credit their mother for encouraging them to add yong tau foo to the stall’s menu, given that they now had a bigger stall space. The recipe also happens to be their mother’s, made with a salmon broth, instead of the more common soybean-based one. 

“My mum has played such a big role in our business and is really our superwoman,” says Nurgeena, fondly. “She is so supportive and I always take her advice.” 

In fact, their current stall is partly named after her — Leha. 

As for the word “Teratai”, it’s the Bahasa Indonesian word that means lotus flower and symbolises the three owners coming together.

Trying Teratai x Leha’s food

After hearing Nurgeena rave about her mother’s recipes, we knew we had to try the trio’s signature dishes popiah basah, yong tau foo, kachang phool and tahu goreng.

We first had the popiah basah ($5 for two pieces), which consists of turnip, salad, egg and carrot wrapped in the homemade skin. It is topped with their in-house sambal popiah sauce, made with ingredients such as black sauce, garlic, sugar, and cooked chilli.

We were very impressed by the popiah skin, which was paper-thin but held together when we dug into them. The skin was also flavourful with a good consistency.

In comparison to Chinese popiah, which has a more savoury flavour profile, I found this version to be sweeter and lighter in taste, perhaps due to the addition of vegetables, such as turnip, instead of shrimp. 

Nurgeena says that her mother makes the skin elastic and a bit stretchy, so that it doesn’t break when rolled. The sauce and ingredients tasted fresh, too. 

Next up was the yong tau foo (from $6.50 for a six-piece set, with your choice of rice or noodles). 

Hyrene prepares the salmon broth fresh each morning, by boiling the salmon fish in the soup and adding ingredients such as shallot and garlic into the mix.  

Digging in, the salmon broth soup tasted light, but was still savoury and flavourful, and also incredibly addictive. The salmon broth added a different depth to the soup as well, being richer in flavour than the traditional Chinese soybean base.  You get to choose your own ingredients for your yong tau foo, too.

The ingredients we chose (80 cents per additional piece), such as crab meat, tofu and tomato soaked up the broth well. 

The accompanying sambal yong tau foo sauce had quite the sweet and spicy kick, too, which paired well with the yong tau foo. 

Nurgeena tells us that customers love the sambal popiah and sambal yong tau foo sauces so much that the trio has received requests to buy them separately. 

They’ve since bottled both sauces ($6 per bottle) for customers to purchase and pair with their own foods. 

We also tried the kacang phool ($4.50), which came with sunny-side-up egg, cut green chilli, onions and french bread.This was actually my first time trying this dish, and I enjoyed dipping the bread in the thick and well-balanced sauce. The sauce consists of ingredients such as garlic, onion, chilli, and curry powder. 

The last dish we savoured was the tahu goreng ($4), which came with bean spouts, cucumber and peanut sauce with chilli. The tahu is freshly deep-fried when ordered, and stands out as it’s softer than ones you’ll typically find at other stalls. Nurgeena says that the softer consistency caters to many of their older customers, who are unable to chew crispy foods. 

What’s next

Having started Teratai x Leha for over a year, the trio’s current plans are to focus all their efforts on this stall. 

“The price of goods and rental is rising, so it’s a little intimidating to think of setting up more than one store,” notes Nurgeena. 

Even though expanding their business or menu isn’t really in the cards, Nurgenna loves that her beloved mum’s recipes are reaching a wider audience. 

“Ever since I was little, I felt that my mother’s cooking was the best,” she says. ”Now, I am happy to share her delicious cooking with the people around me.” 

She adds: “We also hope to inspire younger generations to join the hawker scene, by showing that it’s possible to preserve traditional flavors. We hope to make hawker culture more appealing to the youth and ensure its legacy continues for years to come.” 

For more interesting eats, check out Salt at Old Airport Road serving up Korean fried chicken and comfort food, and new “blind box” bingsu concept Nana and Friends Cafe.

Teratai x Leha is on the GrabFood delivery service and offers free delivery (up to S$3 off) with GrabUnlimited.

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.  

Alternatively, book a ride to Teratai x Leha at Joo Chiat.