Singapore Style Chicken Korma

(serves 3)
Every place has its own way to prepare Korma but its features are universal. The curry is always cooked using almonds and/or cashew nuts as its base flavour, it is always light couloured and it is always mild. This last characteristic makes Korma the go to curry for anyone who are not into spicy food, and children. The Singapore method uses evaporated milk instead of yogurt or coconut milk to marinate the meat and this creates a distinct texture and taste unique to this method of preparation.

Ingredients

1. Chicken Thighs (4, deboned)
2. Shallots (4)
3. Ginger (1 thumb)
4. Evaporated Milk (100 ml)
5. Coconut Milk (150 ml)
6. Almond Flour
7. Curry Powder
8. Cumin
9. Chicken Cube (1)
10. Cashew Nuts (50g)

Preparation (4-6 hours ahead)

1. Place the chicken into a bowl or plastic container and sprinkle in 2 heaped T of curry powder. Evenly coat each piece of chicken. Add 100 ml of evaporated milk, and mix well. Cover and leave in the fridge for a minimum of four hours.

  

Preparation

1. Peel and cut each shallot in half. Julienne the shallots.
2. Peel the ginger and cut first into slices 2mm thick. Next slice into strips and then finally cubes.
3. Put 3T of oil in a large pan and add the sliced shallots and diced ginger. Pan fry until the shallots start to brown. Transfer the contents to a plate temporarily.
4. Dissolve 1 chicken cube in 1 cup of water. Add the resulting chicken stock to the chicken and move the chicken about to wash off the marinade. Drain the chicken in a strainer over the container as shown above.
5. Using the same pan, heat up 1 T of oil and pan fry the chicken. Start with a sizzling hot pan and fry the chicken skin side down for 2 minutes. Flip the chicken, turn the heat down and pan fry for a further 2 minutes.
6. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool.
7. Pour the diluted marinade into the pan and return the shallots and ginger to the pan.
8. Bring the pan to a simmer and sprinkle in 4T almond flour and 1T cumin. Stir until there are no clumps and leave on a simmer.
9. By now the chicken should have cooled enough to touch. Cut each chicken thigh into about six pieces. Return the chicken together with any drippings back into the pan.
10. Add 150 ml coconut milk, 50 g (1/4 cup) of roasted cashew nuts and 1t of sugar. Cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
11. Check if you wish to add salt before serving. Chop up 1 sprig of coriander and use it as a garnish.

Notes

• In case you are wondering what is curry powder, you can refer to the ingredients listed on the package of curry powder on the right. Curry powder is the base for making curries. It is not the same as Garam Masala, which is just a seasoning.
• If you’ll be making other dishes, you can prepare your korma ahead of time and just reheat to serve. It doesn’t taste any better if freshly made.
• The thicker parts of a chicken thigh will not be cooked from 4 minutes of pan frying, especially without a drop lid. That’s fine, simmering in the curry will finish the job. The idea is to caramelize the chicken and extract the oil and flavour from the skin.
• I find cutting the chicken using a pair of kitchen scissors easier than using a knife.
• Though its not part of the recipe, you should serve your korma with steamed rice or some kind of Indian bread. 

 

Basic Mild Lamb Curry

(serves 4)
In winter curry is a really nice hearty food that warms you up. This is a great basic Southern Indian curry recipe suitable for most palates and ideal for those cooking curry for the first time. It is mild in two ways. The grassy flavour of mutton is greatly reduced and so people who don’t like the taste of lamb may find it actually quite nice. It is also not very spicy, so those who don’t fancy spicy foods might still find it acceptable.  

Ingredients

1. Lamb Belly (500g)
2. Potato (2 Large)
3. Carrot  (1)
4. Onion (1)
5. Shallots (4)
6. Coconut Milk (1 Cup)
7. Curry Powder
8. Caraway Seeds
9. Cumin
10. Turmeric
11. Vegetable Cube

Preparation

1. Cut the lamb into one inch cubes. Trim off any obvious large layers of fat. It’s easiest to do this when the meat is semi-frozen, but warm to room temperature using water before proceeding with the next step.
2. Place the lamb pieces in a pot and pour in boiling water from a kettle until the water level is a inch above the meat. Stir, wait 5 minutes, and pour the water away.
3. Take the meat out of the pot and dry the pot over the stove.
4. Peel and julienne 4 shallots. Using a low flame, pan fry the shallot slices in 4T of oil.
5. When the shallot begins to brown add 4T Curry Powder and 2T Cumin to the pot and stir fry. Add water a bit at a time until you end up with a watery paste.    
6. Add 5 cups of water. When this comes to a boil, add the lamb belly pieces followed by 1t turmeric, 1t caraway seeds, 1 vegetable cube, 2t sugar and 2t salt.
7. Cover the pot and keep it on a low simmer for 45 minutes. 
8. In the meanwhile, peel and cut the carrots into half inch thick discs and the onion into twelve wedges. Peel and cut each potato in 4. Dice one of the quarters into tiny cubes (you want them to disintegrate).
9. After the 45 minutes is up, add the vegetables and 1 cup of coconut milk and simmer for a further 30 minutes. Boil uncovered and use this period to manage the thickness of curry to what you prefer.
10. This curry can be prepared ahead of time and reheated for serving. Depending on the curry powder you may need to add more salt. Remember to taste before serving. 

Notes

• Your curry is ideally served with rice, which you will also have to cook. A long grained rice is ideal, like Indian Basmati or Thai Jasmine rice. Any kind of sturdy bread, like Paratha, Naan, or even French Baguette would be an alternative staple.
• In case you are wondering what kind of curry powder to buy, you can refer to the contents of the curry powder I use pictured above. Once you examine what curry powder is made of, you’ll realize that the addition of 2T of cumin in the recipe serves to dilute the overall amount of chili, thus making the curry less spicy.
• The coconut milk also makes the curry less spicy, so if you want a more spicy curry, use only half a cup of coconut milk.
• If you are the type who wants the full flavour of lamb, skip step 2 whose purpose is to reduce the grassy overtones of the lamb. You can also use a lamb stock cube instead of a vegetable stock cube. As for myself, I usually use 1T of red miso in place of the vegetable cube. This really enhances the taste of the whole dish.
• This recipe can easily adapted to make chicken curry. Leave out the caraway seeds and use a chicken cube instead. Chicken doesn’t need to be cooked for that long so skip the entire 45 minute simmer and add the chicken pieces together with the vegetables in step 9.
• If you want a more northern taste to your curry, use plain yogurt in place of coconut milk and cherry tomatoes in place of the carrots.

 

Oven Baked Nonya Otak-otak

(serves 8)
Otak-otak is a terrine-like grilled fish delicacy from South-east Asia, an exotic spicy dish that works as a western appetizer. There are many varieties of Otak-otak from Thailand all the way down to Indonesia; this version is of the Straits Chinese style featuring coconut milk, popular in Singapore and Penang. Otak-otak is usually grilled in banana leaves and contains other ingredients uncommon in the Western kitchen, but I have worked out a modified recipe that resolves these issues.  

Ingredients

1. White Fish Fillets (500g)
2. Yeo’s Minced Prawns in Spices (2x160g tins)
3. Coconut Milk (160 ml)
4. Onion (0.5)
5. Egg (1)
6. White Sandwich Bread
7. Lemon
8. Cucumber
9. Sherry
10. Lemongrass
11. Tarragon

Preparation

1. Dice half an onion and pan fry the pieces on low heat in a pan with a dash of oil. When the onion begins to get limp turn up the heat and add the two cans of minced prawn to the pan and continue frying until you see bubbling. Sprinkle on 2t lemongrass and 1t tarragon and transfer the contents of the pan to a large mixing bowl when it has cooled down.
2. Make a brine out of 1T salt, 1t sugar, 1T of lemon juice and 2 cups of water. Cut the fish into chunks and put them in the brine them for 20 minutes (and no more). Rinse and place the fish pieces on a tea towel to dry. You can do this concurrently with step 1.
3. Cut 2 slices of plain bread into small cubes. If the bread is fresh and the crust is still soft you can keep the crust, otherwise trim the crust off. Pour in 160 ml of coconut milk over the diced bread followed by 1 egg, 1T of sherry and 1t of sugar. Mix well, then add the fish.
4. Place a quarter of the fish and bread mixture in a food processor and give it a 2 second pulse (and no more) on low power. Transfer the resulting fish paste to the mixing bowl with the shrimp and onion. You want the fish paste to be coarse but even, so you cannot blend too much at a time. Repeat another three times to use up all the fish and bread. Stir  everything in the mixing bowl until you get an even colour.
5. Preheat your oven to 150oC (300oF).
6. Pour the seafood mixture into a medium sized casserole dish. The casserole dish should be big enough such that the thickness of the seafood is no more than one inch. Cover the casserole dish, if it doesn’t have a cover you can use aluminium foil snugly crimped over the top.
7. Place the casserole in the oven. The idea is not so much to bake the fish but to steam it. After 40 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool. There will be bulge in the centre initially but this will flatten over time. What you have now is a seafood terrine of sorts.
8. When the terrine is cold, and this can be several hours later or even overnight (in the fridge), put it back in the oven, this time uncovered, for twenty minutes at 200^oC (390^oF). This will boil off most of the free liquid, refine the aroma and give the Otak-otak a nice crust – as shown here.
9. While still hot, cut the Otak-otak into slices and serve on untoasted plain white bread with some thin cucumber slices.

Notes

Yeo’s Minced Prawns in Spices

• As the fish is cooked for an extended time, there is no point in using fresh fish. I typically use frozen pangasius fillets myself , they are cheap and readily available, but really any kind of white fish is fine. The important thing is to dry the fish (draining on a colander is insufficient) properly after brining as the Otak will end up too wet if you don’t.
• Yeo’s Minced Prawn in Spices a.k.a. Prawn Sambal is a key ingredient that contains in a single tin every ingredient you need for cooking Otak you won’t find in your kitchen larder. Last time I checked, you can order it from Amazon. Its not the perfect solution, but its better than looking for weird ingredients like candlenut and galangal.
• If you don’t like your food spicy, you can use just one tin of the minced prawn instead of two (the child’s version I call this), but you’ll need to add salt and sugar to compensate.
• To bring your Otak-otak to the next level, you can add chunks of whole seafood. For example you could brine a few scallops along with the fish, dice them and add them in step 6. Canned or bottled clams would work well also. If you bake cakes and have pandan essence around, a few drops will also do wonders. 
• Instead of on bread, you can also serve Otak-otak with some white rice cooked with coconut milk.
• The Thai version of Otak-otak has a different name, which is Hor Mok Pla.  

 

Kobi’s Top Picks for Singapore Local Food and Where to Eat Them

(I’ve just updated this old post from 2012)
I‘ve been asked so many times by people about the best local food to try on their upcoming visit to Singapore that I’ve decided to make a post about it, so I don’t have to keep repeating myself. I’m even going to go the extra mile and say specifically where you should eat the top 10 Singapore foods, taking into account how hard it is for a tourist to find certain places. This is not the kind of thing I intended for Kobi’s Kitchen, but since I’m writing it all down, I might as well let everyone see it. It’s a long post, don’t read it for entertainment, save it for when you are going to Singapore.

As an introduction let me say that Singapore is a great destination for travelers who are into discovering exciting new foreign flavours and foods. Originally a small fishing village, modern Singapore was created through a steady influx of immigrants over a century or so under British rule. Unlike most other countries which have a cuisine culture defined by the surrounding local ingredients, Singapore had no preexisting  predominant cooking style. Immigrants from the Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Hainanese speaking parts of China, the Southern parts of India, the Middle East and other parts of Malaya brought recipes from their homeland with them and these were adapted to make best use of the wide selection of ingredients brought in by trading ships from far and wide. Besides being modified, recipes were also hybridized. Singapore was a cultural melting pot and new dishes were created by combining the cuisines from its various sub-populations. This explosive culinary evolution of new foods left the small city-state with a disproportionately large cornucopia of uniquely Singaporean dishes.

In no particular order…

1. Pepper Crab
Pepper Crab something unique to Singapore. It is made from giant Sri Lankan crabs which aren’t all that common outside the sub-continent. The crab is chopped up and then has its shell cracked before it is wok fried to let flavour penetrate right into the meat, which stays nice and firm. When the Pepper Crab arrives at the table, you will enjoy piping hot chunks of crab thoroughly infused with butter and pepper.

The dish was invented at the Long Beach restaurant and that’s where you should go to eat it. The original restaurant is along the east coast where all the seafood restaurants in Singapore used to congregate but today I think the best outlet to go to is Long Beach@Dempsey. It is a newer branch in Dempsy Hill, a former military base (that I worked in once upon a time ) now converted into a lifestyle district full of restaurants, bars and fine grocery stores. Other dishes to try at Long Beach include the Chili Crab and Australian Lobster in Butter and Crispy Cereal.

2. Bak Chor Mee
While Asians traditionally serve noodles stir-fried or in soup, Singaporeans have a unique style of eating their noodles tossed in sauce. This is the closest thing in Chinese cuisine to Italian pasta. Bak Chor Mee was originally specific to the Teochew Chinese but has since become a national favourite. Egg noodles are boiled and then tossed with oil, vinegar, mushrooms and minced pork, meat balls and other ingredients. The soup that the noodles originally came in is served separately and you are supposed to drink it by itself. After you order some Bak Chor Mee the whole dish will be cooked on the spot right before your eyes.  You’ll be asked what kind of noodles you like and I recommend the type called mee pok, its like fettuccine. You’ll also be asked if want chili and you have to say yes or it won’t come out nice. If you don’t like spicy food, ask for ‘less chili’. ‘No chili’ will land you with a yucky children’s version using ketchup.

You can find Bak Chor Mee at the hundreds of locations around Singapore but the place I’d recommend to try it is the food court in the basement of Terminal 3 of Changi Airport. It’s the stall that sells Fishball Noodles. They offer a few different variety of tossed noodles and its the item numbered as 1 (note: for some strange reason it is not the leftmost item on the masthead menu). If it is at all possible, schedule eating this delicacy into your itinerary ahead of time; plan to have it either when you arrive in or when you leave Singapore. If your flight is at a different terminal, just take the free sky train linking all the terminals.

3. Seafood Hor Fun 
I have to eat this every time I go to Singapore. It is basically flat rice noodles fried under high heat to impart texture and a caramelized flavour and then stir-fried with slices of fish, egg white, pork lard and miscellaneous sauces. It doesn’t sound all that fantastic, but believe me when I say it is. Many cooked food stalls and hotel coffee shops will serve this dish but undisputedly, the best place to try this is Ka-Soh Fish Head Noodle. ‘Ka-Soh’ is Cantonese for what the family matriarch calls her daughter-in-law so everything here is cooked in the traditional way passed down from generation to generation. You would think that best Cantonese food should only be found in Hong Kong, but this is clearly a case of an exception to the rule.

The Ka-Soh restaurant is in the Alumni Medical Centre on the fringes of Singapore General Hospital at 2 College Road, not easy to find or get to if you are a tourist. This is the outlet that was recognized by the 2016 Michelin Guide as a quality restaurant that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg. However I suggest you go to their sister restaurant downtown at 96 Amoy Street, called Swee Kee(Ka-soh). This is actually the older restaurant of the two. You’ll find the walls plastered with the pictures of movie stars and celebrities who have come over from HK to eat there over the years. The other thing to try while you are there is of course is the restaurant’s eponym, the fish head noodle, a milky fish-head broth served with thick vermicelli. I also recommend their fried chicken marinated in prawn paste.

4. Char Kway Teow 
This is a very, very delicious fried noodle dish that is synonymous with Singapore. Char Kway Teow is also made from Hor Fun but because this dish hails from to a different dialect group (Hokkien), the noodles are called by a different name, Kway Teow. Anyway that is where the similarities end. Char Kway Teow is served dry (i.e. oily), not in a sauce. A combination of flat rice noodles and round egg noodles are fried with soya sauce, egg, cockles, Chinese sausage and bean sprouts to give you a semi-sweet noodle dish to die for.

Char Kway Teow is notoriously hard to fry well and a hundred things can go wrong with it. The quality varies from place to place depending on the cook and ingredients. There are of course many famous Char Kway Teow stalls tucked away deep in suburban housing estates which are difficult to find for non-locals. The place I’d suggest to try is Guan Kee Fried Kway Teow (Char means Fried). Their stall is located in the Ghim Mo Market a few minutes walk from the Buona Vista MRT station. It also happens to be 4 stalls away from the Chicken Rice stall highlighted below in No.8 so you can kill 2 birds with one stone. I would suggest not going at lunch time unless you are prepared to queue for a long time.

5. Islamic Curry
There are many types of curry in cosmopolitan Singapore and one more special type is made by Indian Muslims. One of the oldest, if not the oldest shops serving this type of curry is the Islamic Restaurant at 745 North Bridge Road. This was my dad’s favourite and he used to tell me stories of how the restaurant gave free food to starving Chinese during the Japanese occupation. The restaurant has down-sized somewhat in recent times and sadly, many of the more traditional curries and drinks are no longer served. However, you can still pick your curry visually at the counter instead of ordering from a menu just like in the old days. You should still be able to order a drink called Bandung, which is rose hip syrup in milk. It’s perfect for cancelling the burning effect of chili effect if you are not used to spicy curry. Make sure to order the in-bone mutton leg and also the chili eggs. Forget about Nann, eat your curry with Briyani Rice.

If the restaurant is full, you can also try the equally famous Zam Zam and Victory, both of which are just a few shops down the road.

6. Kaya Toast 
This is a breakfast item, which is eaten also during morning tea break or afternoon tea. Kaya is a Hainanese egg custard made into a jam, a speciality of Singapore. You normally spread it on toast, typically with a slab of butter. Kaya toast is the Singapore equivalent of waffles with maple syrup, so people eat it any time of the day they like.

For the best Kaya Toast I recommend a place called the Killiney Kopitiam. In case you were wondering, it’s not an Irish pub; the shop is named thus because it is located on Killiney Road and has been there since before World War II. If you can’t make the trip to the original shop, Killiney has one kopitiam at each of all three terminals of Changi Airport. Another thing to try at Killiney is the kopi, which is a bitter shop-roasted Robusta Sumatran blend served with sweet condensed milk at the bottom of a glass mug. You stir the cup just enough to attain the sweetness you like. Leave the last mouthful of the coffee and remaining condensed milk at the bottom. A larger rival kaya toast chain to Killiney is Ya Kun. Their are famous for their pandan flavoured Kaya, which is green instead of brown. There’s no need to provide an address as they have over 40 outlets all over town. To find out more about Kaya, you can refer to my post about Kaya.

7. Laksa
Laksa is another of those hybrid Chinese dishes with its roots in a subgroup of Chinese intermarried with Malays, called the Nonya. The Chinese part of Laksa is the noodles and slices of fish cake, and the Malay part of it is the rich coconut curry broth the noodles are cooked in. Laksa has a unique flavour to it because of the addition of Laksa leaves and cockles in the broth. The noodles used in Laksa are very slippery and hard to eat with chopsticks and so an innovation called the Katong Laksa in an area of Singapore called… you guessed it, Katong, came about. It is different from normal Laksa only in that the noodles are chopped up so you can eat it easily with a spoon.

Nowadays there is no need to go all the way to Katong to try this. There is a Katong Laksa stall in the trendy Holland Village and that’s the one I usually go to. Its not in the Holland Village Market Food Centre at Lorong Mambong but in a row of shop houses at 31 Lorong Liput. Look for a sign that says 363 Katong Laksa. If you really want to try the original shop (and again this one will be plastered with the photos of movie stars eating their laksa) its at the corner of Ceylon Road and East Coast Road. In either case, don’t forget to ask to add ‘otak’ to your laksa. It is a special kind of fish cake BBQed in banana leaves.

8. Hainan Chicken Rice 
This is a dish that is also universally associated with Singapore, in spite of the fact that it is called Hainan Chicken Rice. In the old days, one group of migrants from China came from the island of Hainan and they were known for their cooking (and laundry) skills. One of the dishes they invented or modified from their hometown recipes, I’m not too sure which it is, was the Chicken Rice. I won’t go into the details of cooking it but the chicken is simmered briefly in stock and then cooled immediately in cold water. Some of the stock together with garlic, pandan leaves is used to cook the rice component. The entire dish is eaten with a fixed set of sauces and condiments without which it is still not Hainan Chicken Rice.

Tourists are often directed to the Mandarin Hotel for chicken rice but it is mega expensive and its Chicken Rice is pretty average. The best chicken rice is made by Tong Fong Fatt. Besides having the most tender and succulent chicken, it differentiates itself by selling its chicken deboned and drenched in a special tasty marinade. Their stall is at the Ghim Mo Market a few minutes walk from the Buona Vista MRT station, the same food centre where you can find the Char Kway Teow stall mentioned in No.4 above. If you want to have Chicken Rice comfortably in a proper restaurant, then may I suggest Boon Tong Kee at 399 Balestier Road. This restaurant is open late into the night. If you have enough people, you can order a whole chicken. There are several other outlets besides this original shop, including one in River Valley Road.

9. Dai Pau 
‘Dai’ means big in Cantonese and a ‘Pau’ is a Chinese steamed bun filled. The Dai Pau can be made with savoury chicken or pork filling (signified with a coloured dot) and will contain a chunk of a boiled egg as well. Dai Pau is dying out in Hong Kong although it is still served in a few banquet restaurants. The Singapore version on the other hand is sold everywhere (even convenience stores and gas stations). Reason: Hong Kong Dai Pau are 70% bun and 30% filling, Singapore Dai Pau are the opposite, 70% filling and 30% bun. Its thinner skin has given the Singapore Dai Pau enduring appeal to young and old alike. You will find the meat filling delightfully juicy, tender and flavoured with various herbs and spices, and slightly sweet. As the name implies, it is large compared to other types of steamed buns like the more common char siew pau.

Since Teck Kee Tanglin Pau wen out of business Tiong Bharu Dai Pau is the only game in town nowadays. The Tiong Bharu versions are made with a dark filling (i.e. dark soya sauce marinated) which is how you can easily tell it apart from your run of the mill competitors sold at most petrol kiosks. Anyway, their pau can be found in, you guessed it, the Tiong Bharu, or more specifically Tiong Bahru Pau & Snacks at 237 Outram Road (pictured). I understand there is also a popular store selling a similar Dai Pau at the nearby Tiong Bharu Market Food Centre on Seng Poh Road but I’ve never tried it.

10. Bak Chang
This is a rice dumpling normally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival by Chinese across the globe but in Singapore they are available all year round. An assortment of goodies (depending on which part of China the original recipe is from) are packed into a pyramid of glutinous rice, wrapped in bamboo leaves and then steamed.

The store I’d like to recommend is called Hoo Kee Rice Dumpling and it can be found at the Amoy Street Food Centre #01-18, within walking distance from the Seafood Hor Fun shop mention in No.3. Choose the variety of dumplings that are stuffed with pork, chestnuts and salted egg yolk, they are simply the best. Get there before lunch time for they are often sold out before the lunch hour is over. Another famous place for Bak Chang is Eastern Rice Dumpling at 300 Balestier Road. This is reasonably near the Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice mentioned in No.8. They have a variety of nice dumplings but one I’d like to highlight is the Nonya Bak Chang. The Nonya are early Chinese settlers of the Malay British Straits Settlements who studied in English schools and adopted many of the local Malay cooking practices. Nonya Bak Chang is therefore quite unique, nothing like any traditional Chinese varieties; as its filling expect a mixture of pork belly, mushroom and candied winter melon flavoured with five spice and pepper. They are traditionally wrapped in pandan instead of bamboo leaves.

Three Bonus Snacks (I know that makes it 13 actually)

A. Old Chang Kee Chicken Wings
Old Chang Kee was a famous stall selling curry puffs next to Rex Cinema in the 1950s which has grown to become a large chain of fast food outlets selling curry puffs. The Old Chang Kee Wings are HUGE and more importantly they are the best fried chicken wings in the world, something to do with the secret marinade they use on the chicken and/or the batter. There are outlets are in many shopping malls so there’s no point singling out one for you. As a local I patronize the outlet at the Barker Road Caltex petrol station next to ACS (where I went to school) and when the lady asks how many wings do you want? The reply is usually “all of them”. OK, while you buying the wings don’t forget to try the curry puffs as well. They are quite nice or Old Chang Kee would not have thrived all these years, plus it is somewhat unique to Singapore. The original puff is called the Curry-O and you should try that first and then if your stomach still has any space left you can think about the other flavours.

B. Cold Ching Teng
Its pronounced Ching Terng and it means clear soup which is a misnomer because it is not a soup, and neither is it clear. Ching Teng was originally a hot long-an(a fruit) soup back in the old days in China but in Singapore it had evolved into a cold dessert served with shaved ice. There are bits and pieces of all kinds of things in it like pearl barley, dried persimmon, ginko nuts, lotus seeds and of course rehydrated dried long-an. It’s perfect for quenching the thirst on a hot day (basically every other day in Singapore) or as a dessert after eating curry or food with chili. One famous place serving this is Shan Ren Cold and Hot Dessert at the Newton Food Center, its stall no. 88. There’ll be dozens of other desserts pictured on the store front so you can try a few other desserts while you are there. If you like something with more shaved ice, try Ice Kachang, another Singaporean specialty.

C. Bak Kwa
Bak Kwa is the local name for barbecued pork jerky. Unlike western beef jerky, Bak Kwa is not tough. The meat is vacuum treated to tenderize it and then it is barbecued with sugar and spices and all things nice. The leading brand Bee Cheng Hiang has shops everywhere so you no longer have to go to Chinatown to buy it. Check their website for a convenient location. I recommend the Golden Coin or Minced Pork type Bak Kwa if you like a really tender piece of jerky. They also sell pork floss if you are into something drier.

Other Contenders for the Top 10
Many of these are just as good but I didn’t want my list to expand to a top 20 list, its already long enough. Try them, especially if you are on an extended visit.

1. 1. Fried Carrot Cake
   2. Hokkien Prawn Noodles
   3. Chinese Pork Satay
   4. Oyster Omelette
   5. London Duck (Four Seasons Restaurant at Capitol)
   6. Ngoh Hiang
   7. Poh Piah
   8. Roti Prata
   9. Kweh Lapis
   10. Pineapple Tarts

 

Pressed Tofu (Tau Kwa)

Why you do it
Pressed Tofu is a sturdy form of tofu used in situations where normal tofu would fall apart and disintegrate, such as in salads or in stir-fried dishes. Commercial tofu already comes in different levels of firmness and manufacturers control tofu’s hardness by varying the amount of water they press out of it. What you are simply doing is squeezing more of the water out of your tofu to increase its firmness even more. The hard part is how you can squeeze tofu without smashing it.

Pressed tofu is actually quite common in East Asia outside of Japan. In Southeast Asia it is called Tau Kwa. There is a style of Haka cuisine from China called Yong Tau Foo where minced fish is stuffed into Tofu. Obviously if the tofu is not firmed up beforehand, there would be no way to stuff anything into it.  In Teochew cuisine, also from China, pressed tofu is stewed in soya sauce together with goose. Often pressed tofu is deep fried. Fried pressed tofu is an essential ingredient in Pad Thai, a common type of fried noodles from Thailand found worldwide. It is also used in a dish called Mee Siam, which is a ‘Thai’ style vermicelli dish popular in Singapore and Malaysia (but paradoxically not in Thailand/Siam).

How you do it
Place a block of tofu onto a flat bottomed tray or dish after draining away the water it comes in. I usually use the tray from my toaster oven. It should be of the firm type, sometimes labelled as ‘stone’ tofu. In any case, be very careful not to damage the tofu in anyway as any localized weakness in structural integrity will cause the tofu to crack when it is pressed.

Wrap some cling film tightly around the side of the tofu, twice. Don’t wrap the bottom because that’s where the water escapes from and cut away most of the extra cling film protruding at the top. You are only interested in constraining or reinforcing the side walls so the tofu doesn’t bulge sideways and burst. Some people use towels but I find that cling film is the best way of preventing the tofu block from crumbling under pressure.

Place a stiff cutting board over the tofu, making sure the tofu is exactly at its centre. Place a can of food on the cutting board to start off with and gradually increase this to 6 cans over the course of an hour. When you notice the cutting board tilting to any particular side, adjust the position of the cans to bring it level again. Wait another hour after you reach six cans and you are done. Your tofu should be sitting in a pool of water about half as high as it was when you started, but twice as firm.

One example of a recipe that uses pressed Tofu is my Chinese Pork Rib Curry recipe.

 

 

Singapore-style Prawn Ramen

(serves 5)
Singapore’s Hokkien Prawn Noodles is a favourite of mine, and so is the Shio-Ramen of Hakodate in Japan. In fact they can be considered distant cousins. Both these types of noodles use seafood, pork and salt to flavour their soup so I thought why not try a fusion combination of the two styles. The good thing about prawn stock is you don’t have to boil it for hours and hours for perfection, for extracting the full rich flavour of prawns is a relatively simple process. This makes this Ramen recipe a great option for home cooking.   

Ingredients

1. Large prawns (8=600g)
2. Fish Cake (400g)
3. Noodles or Ramen (5 servings)
4. Shallots (8)
5. Bean sprouts (2 cups)
6. Garlic (1.5 bulbs)
7. Coriander (100g)
8. Chinese Wine
9. Chicken Stock Cube (2)

Please note: the ingredients for Chashu Pork must also be procured but they are not listed above. Refer to the link just below.

Preparation 

1. The night before you have to oven-stew the Chashu Pork according to this recipe. Use only 2T instead of 1/4 cup of soya sauce but otherwise follow the recipe faithfully. Leave the Pork to soak overnight in the cooling oven and the following morning, place the meat(wrapped in clear film) and stewing liquid separately into the fridge.
2. On the day itself, julienne the shallots and put the peeled cloves of 1 bulb of garlic through a press. Fry them together in a pan on low heat in 1/4 cup of oil until they are slightly caramelized. Strain the oil into a bowl and then pour the oil back into the pan, leaving the fried material on the strainer.
3. Cut the heads off the prawns. Heat up the pan again and stir fry the heads in it. When the heads are red, pour in 3T of Chinese wine. Then add  1 cup of water. Cut the heads up with a pair of scissors while they are in the pan and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Strain the liquid into a large pot and add a fresh cup of water (without wine this time) to the pan. Bring to a boil again, then simmer for 5 minutes, then strain the liquid into the pot again. Repeat for a third time. This is the secret to a rich bright red prawn broth, the hallmark of a quality Singapore Prawn Noodle. Discard what is left of the mashed prawn heads.
5. Shell and devein the prawn bodies. Add as much water as you need so that you end up with five bowls of broth. Bring the broth to a boil and place the prawns into the pot and cook them until they curl up. This will not take too long. Remove the prawns into a bowl and allow them to cool. Reduce the heat to a low simmer.
6. Julienne the top half of your coriander. Tie the stems into a knot and throw them into the pot of broth. Add half of the fried shallot garlic mixture to the pot. Add half the chopped coriander as well. Retain the remaining coriander and fried garlic/shallot as condiments.
7. Add most of the stewing liquid from the pork into the pot followed by 1t of sugar and 2 chicken cubes. Stir and then add salt 1t at a time until the taste is right. Broth that is served with noodles has to be saltier than plain broth, remember this as your are taste testing. Remove the coriander stems at this point.
8. Slice the pork, prawns and fishcake. Keep the sliced pork wet by drenching it with the remaining stewing liquid. Fishcake comes cooked so there is no need to cook it again. Keep the slices covered in the fridge.
9. Boil the bean sprouts in plain water with 1t of salt. When they are limp, drain the water and keep the bean sprouts into a bowl. You can reuse the pot for boiling the noodles.
10. To serve, boil your noodles in a separate pot until they are al dente. At the same time bring your broth to a boil. Divide the noodles into 5 large bowls. Arrange the bean sprouts and various meats over the noodles. For each bowl, pour boiling stock into the bowl and then drain the stock back into the boiling pot – this is to warm up everything. Add broth a second time and garnish with the condiments.

Notes

• Large prawns are quite expensive if bought fresh. It is ok to use frozen prawns. The size of the prawns is important, do not substitute with smaller prawns or the broth will be very weak (soup is not red).
• Most of the greyish stuff in the ‘spine’ of the prawn is roe. When deveining the prawn, you really only want to find and pull out the alimentary canal.
• Besides Ramen, you can use any type of Asian noodles you like, fresh or dried. Do not use pasta or instant noodles.
• I sometimes make chicken stock with chicken feet to add more body to the soup.
• For a more Japanese feel, instead of the stock cubes in step 7, you can use a heaping T of Miso. Japanese Prawn ramen usually has a generous topping of Sakura Shrimp. You can also try adding some to your noodles for that added wow factor. 

 

Singapore Chinese Pork Curry

(serves 6)
Singapore Chinese Curry is a culinary relic of the British colonial era in Singapore. Many of the British officers had previously been stationed in India and developed a taste for curry. The British Army in Singapore however had to rely on Chinese cooks who out of neccesity concocted their own curry recipes. The result was the unique Singapore Chinese Curry which contains many common items of South-east Asian cuisine. In such curries you’ll find strange ingredients such as pork, dried shrimp, bean curd and cabbage. If you are a fan of curry, this is definitely a novel curry variety you must try.  Ingredients

1. Pork Spare Ribs (1 kg)
2. Yeo’s Minced Prawns in Spices (2 x 140g cans)
3. Cabbage (1 small head)
4. Firm Tofu (2 standard blocks)
5. Fried Bean Curd Puffs (2 cups)
6. Fishcake or Fishballs (200g)
7. Glass Vermicelli (50g dry weight)
8. Coconut Milk (300ml)
9. Chinese Wine
10. Five Spice Powder
11. Cumin
12. Chicken Stock Cubes (2)

Preparation

1. Begin by pressing the tofu as explained here. You cannot use soft tofu as it will completely disintegrate and disappear.
2. Open two cans of minced prawns in spices into a large pot. Add 1kg of raw pork ribs and allow to marinate for at least an hour.
3. Dissolve 2 chicken stock cubes and 1 t sugar in 2 cups of hot water. Add the stock, coconut milk and fish balls/cake to the pot and heat to a low simmer.
4. Sprinkle in 1T of five spice powder and 1T of cumin and simmer for 90 minutes. Top up with water as necessary.
5. Cut your cabbage into quadrants and manually break the quadrants into individual leaves. Cut the pressed tofu into large cubes, about 8 per block.
6. Add the cabbage, fried bean curd puffs and pressed tofu cubes and simmer for about 15 minutes before turning off the heat.
7. Before serving, soak the vermicelli in cold water for 7 minutes and then drain away the water. Bring the pot of curry to a simmer again add the vermicelli and 3T Chinese wine. Simmer for 10 minutes before serving.
8. This dish is best served with steamed rice or egg noodles.

Bean Curd Puffs and Dried Vermicelli

 Notes

• This recipe is pretty easy if you can get all the semi-prepared ingredients as they are listed. If not….
• The spiced minced prawn a.k.a. prawn sambal is a key ingredient but unfortunately its not that easy to find in some parts of the world. You can order Yeo’s Minced Prawn in Spices from Amazon. One other option is to make your own. If you have access to a Chinese food store, buy some dried shrimp. Soak a cup of the shrimp in cold water for half an hour before mixing in half a chopped onion, 4T chili paste, 2T Oil, 1T Five Spice Powder and 1t sugar. Put the mixture in the blender for a few seconds and then finish off by frying in a pan.   
• The other uncommon ingredient is fried bean curd (aka tofu) puffs, also known as Tau Pok in some Asian countries. If you can’t find any bean curd puffs in your local supermarket, you can
  

  Yeo’s Minced Prawns in Spices

  make some yourself. Freeze then defrost 2 blocks of silken (i.e. not firm) tofu. Next dry and cube the resulting spongy tofu and then deep fry them as you would French fries.

• Take note that the vermicelli to be used is the glass type (white when raw and transparent when cooked) which doesn’t get mushy even if it is cooked for quite a while. When in doubt, the ones to get are those made in Thailand.
• Sometimes I also add some baby corn. Its a very flexible dish so experiment with any extra ingredients you fancy.
• There is another similar style of Singapore curry known as Nonya Curry. That is a fusion of Chinese and Malay cuisine while this is a fusion of Chinese and Indian cuisine. The two should not be confused. 

 

 

What is Kaya?

 

         1. Hainanese Kaya        2. Nonya Kaya(Home)      3. Nonya Kaya(Store)        4. Hybrid Kaya

Kaya is a custard made with coconut milk that is popular in Singapore and Malaysia. Like regular jam, it is most often used as a bread spread (its technically not a jam since it is not made from fruit) at breakfast and afternoon tea. Because of its sweet taste, Kaya is also used as an ingredient is various local desserts in Southeast Asia from Thailand to Indonesian. If you are from outside the region, think of it as something like creme brulee in a bottle.

The recipe for making kaya varies from household to household but typically involves cooking a mixture of 10 eggs, 500g of sugar and 500 ml of coconut milk over a double boiler, stirring frequently. Its pretty much the same as making a sabayon or custard, except you stand there cooking and stirring for a very, very long time.

There are two main types of Kaya. The more original variety is Hainanese Kaya (bottle No.1), Hainan being a large island of China. Many Hainanese ventured into Southeast Asia during the hey day of the British Empire. A lot of them worked as cooks (and tailors) in commonwealth cities and aboard British merchant ships where they encounted a thing called jam on toast. Over time, they invented their own ‘jam’, which became Kaya. That’s the reason you won’t find Kaya (or Hainanese Chicken Rice or Hainanese Pork Chop to name a few more examples) anywhere in Hainan today, they were invented by overseas Hainanese. The term Kaya was probably coined by the Malays, who refer to it as Seri Kaya. Hainanese Kaya is made with brown sugar which results in its distinct orangy colour. Some modern commercial formulations use honey instead.

There is another version of Kaya that is green; this is called Nonya Kaya (bottle No.2). How did this originate? Its another complicated story, also related to the Chinese migrants. When early Chinese migrants inter-married with the locals in Malaysia, they formed a sub-community called the Nonya. The Nonya add pandan leaves to a lot of their cuisine and when they learnt to make Kaya, they also added pandan to that. Their varierty of Kaya uses white sugar, but compensates for the loss of the caramelized taste by adding the juice from pandan leaves. This gives Nonya Kaya its unique flavour and fragrance. Commercially, food dye is added to Nonya Kaya (bottle No.3) to give it a darker green colour. Nowadays you can also get a hybrid Kaya (bottle No.4) that is made with both brown sugar and pandan leaves.

Besides spreading it on toast, how else can Kaya be used? Being very sweet, Kaya goes very well with salted butter and you can use it in place of syrup or icing sugar on pancakes, waffles and french toast. Kaya also works well as a filling in a Danish type pastry (for example you could replace the sesame paste of my Sesame Swirl Puffs with Kaya). Finally you can experiment with Kaya in those savoury dishes that require a touch of sweetness, such as in pan fried foie gras.

 

Chicken Nasi Briyani

(serves 3)
Biryani is an aromatic rice dish that originates from India and is one of the most popular rice dishes in Singapore and Malaysia, where it is known as known as Nasi Briyani. Regardless of whether spelt ‘Bir’ or ‘Bri’, you first cook meat curry and rice separately and then again together. In this version of Nasi Briyani, I employ the fried rice method for the together part. This way the rice is moist on the outside, yet remains fluffy on the inside. The perfect comfort food.    

Ingredients

1. Curry Sauce (1.25 cups)
2. Meat from the Curry (1 cup)
3. Raw Basmati Rice (3/4 cup)
4. Coriander (1 cup, chopped)
5. Ginger (2 inches)
6. Turmeric
7. Cardamom
8. Cloves (6)
9. Raisins (1 small box)
10. Coriander Seed Powder
11. Cherry Tomatoes (4 – 6)

Pre-Preparation (Curry) 

1. You will first need to prepare some curry ahead of time, for instance my Singapore Curry Chicken recipe. Besides chicken curry, the other type of curry typically used in Briyani is lamb curry.  You can also just use some takeout or leftover curry from a restaurant.
2. I find the Southern curries work best. Many Nothern Indian curries are unsuitable because they use yoghurt as an ingredient. Also in the north they have a habit of cooking the curry and the meat (in a tandoori oven) separately.
3. You’ll need to skim 5T of chili oil from the top of your chicken curry and keep this in reserve. Add oil to the curry when you are cooking it or reheating it if it doesn’t have enough oil. Needless to say, you shouldn’t use skinless chicken.
4. Cut into chunks the equivalent of 2 chicken legs from the curry. Also measure 1.25 cups of curry sauce and pour this over the shredded meat. Use only the meat and sauce, and leave out all the other stuff in the curry like the potatoes if there are any.

Pre-Preparation (Rice)

1. You will also need to boil some turmeric flavoured rice, also ahead of time. If you don’t know how boil rice, refer to my White Rice Page.
2. Start with 3/4 cup of raw rice rice. You should use Basmati rice, and if you really can’t find any, at least make sure you use a long grain variety –  you don’t want the whole thing to turn to mush.
3. After you have rinsed the rice and before you start cooking it (e.g. in a rice cooker), add 1/2 t of turmeric and 6 cloves to the water. The turmeric is what makes the rice yellow.
4. After the rice is cooked, allow it to cool in the open for an hour so it dries up. Alternatively you can just use a bit less water than usual so the rice is slightly hard.

Preparation

1. Julienne your coriander in two portions. Cut the bottom one third (i.e. the stem part) of the coriander first. Then do the rest (i.e. the leafy part) and keep them seperate.
2. Remove the skin from a two inch long piece of ginger root.  Cut the ginger lengthwise into long strips, as fine as you can possibly manage. Cut the cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters depending on their size.
3. In a large non-stick pan, heat up the chili oil you skimmed earlier. Pan fry the coriander stems, ginger on high heat till there is a strong aroma of ginger coming from the pan.
4. Add the tomatoes and raisins to the pan. Stir fry for a further minute.
5. Add the turmeric rice to the pan. Break up the clumps by pressing down on them gently with a flat implement.  Sprinkle in 1/2 of cardamom and 1t of coriander seed powder over the rice. Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes, until you see a bit of the rice browning.
6. Pour in the meat and curry. Continue to stir-fry to make sure every grain of rice comes into contact with the curry. When the curry begins to dry up, add most of the leafy coriander, and turn the heat down. Continue to fry for a further minute and then remove from the flame.
7. Taste and then sprinkle on salt to your satisfaction. Plate your Nasi Briyani and then garnish with the remaining coriander.

Notes

• This is the maximum amount you can cook at one go on a normal flat 12 inch pan. If you try to cook more, you won’t have enough of a cooking surface to dry the curry. If you want to do a double portion, use a paella pan, wok or something of similar size.
• Alternatively the traditional way to cook Briyani is to pour the curry over three quarters of your cooked rice, top up with the rest of the rice and reheat until the whole pot is dry.
• Some recipes also add cashew nuts. You can consider adding these together with the tomatoes and raisins.
• I find the best way to extract the chili oil from curry is to put it in the fridge to let the oil harden into lard.

 

Singapore Curry Chicken

(serves 4)
Singapore Curry is of the heavy meaty variety. It is medium in terms of spiciness and uses only a modest amount of coconut milk. This combination reflects the influence of Chinese cooking. My recipe is a fast way to make the curry, as it makes use of a canned curry sauce in combination with fresh meat and vegetables. It may sound like cheating but unless you want to spend days finding and then pounding, chopping, grinding dozens of uncommon ingredients, this is the best way. Besides, curry is one of those things which doesn’t get a metallic taste from being in a can.  

 

Ingredients

1. Chicken (800g)
2. Curry Gravy (2 x 400ml cans)
3. Potato (2)
4. Onion (1)
5. Cardamon
6. Cumin
7. Chicken Cube

Preparation

1. The first thing to do is pour a third of your curry gravy into a pot and place your chicken meat in. Then pour the rest of the curry sauce over the chicken and allow it to marinate for at least an hour, but overnight for best results. I normally use dark meat but white meat will do as well.
2. This recipe has this particular Curry Gravy in mind, but you can use another brand to your liking if you wish.
3. While the chicken is marinating, peel your potatoes. These must be of a variety that is yellow inside. Cut them into pieces the size of half a kiwi fruit. Place them in a large bowl and pour boiling water in, followed by 2 minutes of microwave on high (or you can also just boil them in a pot for 5 minutes if you want).
4. Cut the onion into 8 equal wedges.
5. In a cup of hot water, smash a chicken cube. Stir in 1t of cardamon, 4t of cumin and 1t of sugar.
6. When you chicken is done marinating, put it on a low simmer uncovered and add the cup of stock, and the onions and potatoes. You won’t have to stir that much at the beginning but after the onion falls to pieces, it will tend to get stuck at the bottom of the pot, then you’ll need to stir more often.
7. Some of the surface of the potatos will disintegrate and you should end up with a thick flavoursome curry sauce. You shouldn’t need to add water but use your judgement. Cooking time is about 45 minutes, and a tell-tale sign of when it is done is when red oil from the chicken forms on the surface.

Notes

• This chicken curry is ideal for making Chicken Nasi Briyani which can be found in this recipe.
• This curry in my opinion is best served with rice, which is the way it is usually served in South-East Asian (and Japan for that matter). So prepare some ahead of time if you are in the habbit of cooking rice and possess a rice cooker.  
• As a second choice I would pick roti or naan, which is what you’d do in Indian. You can buy frozen ones at most supermarkets. 
•  As a last resort, french loaf is also an option, this is popular in Vietnam.