Satay Beehoon

Everytime I order this dish, I will think of my late grandfather. He was the person who first introduced me to "satay beehoon" when I was very young. In fact, probably too young for spicy food!

We used to order from a then-famous stall in a huge hawker centre in the Ang Mo Kio estate. There are two stalls, selling exactly the same thing, side by side, but it seems like there were little rivalry between them. The stall owners appear friendly and cordial. Quite odd, I must say. When I was a young girl, I often wondered why there is a need for 2 stalls just beside each other, selling the same thing! But at that time, I didnt need to worry about ordering from the "wrong" stall, as my grandfather would always do the ordering for me.

Satay beehoon is quite hard to find in Singapore - not all foodcourts or hawker centres would have this dish. The more common and of cos more well-known dish is the Satay, where kebabs of meat are marinated, grilled and served with satay sauce.

I believe that this dish of cooked beehoon, prawns, pork slices, kang kong vegetables, etc with satay sauce drizzled over is a dish developed in Singapore, but inspired by Indonesian cuisine. But in Singapore, satay sauce is slightly more spicy than the satay sauce served in Indonesia. The satay sauce in Indonesia has larger peanut chunks and the sauce tends to be sweeter and stickier.

Don't try this if you are allergic to peanuts, please!

Pig's organ soup

Want to dine like the CE of Hong Kong when in Singapore?

Then you gotta head down to this place called Cheng Mun Chee Kee Pig's Organ Soup King:

(There's 2 outlets now, but i still prefer the original store near Lavender at Foch Rd)

Anyway, here's what Cheng Mun Chee Kee Pig's Organ Soup King looks like:


If the name "pig organ soup" already turns you off just by hearing it - dont worry!!! You can always opt for a less intimidating alternative: "Pork meatballs soup", which is basically just 10 meatballs floating in the bowl of soup. Actually that's what I ordered cos I didnt feel like having pig's stomach, pork slices, tofu, pig's liver etc... But the lady got my order wrong, and we were in a hurry, so I decided to just accept my soup as it is! Not a big issue actually, cos if i want to eat this, i can do so easily, as this soup is very readily available in most food centres all around the island!

What's nice about the soup is that although u are eating pork, you wont be able to taste that "porky" smell, cos its being masked away by preserved salty vegetables in the soup. The combination is very clever - kudos to the inventor of this soup!

What to do in Singapore when your husband is here on a business trip

Spouses of APEC ministers take part in 2—day visit programme
Channel NewsAsia - Thursday, November 12

SINGAPORE: Spouses of ministers attending the APEC Ministerial Meeting are taking part in a two—day visit programme.

They are hosted by Mrs George Yeo, spouse of Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister, and Mrs Lim Hng Kiang, wife of Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister.

The ministers’ spouses visited the National Library Building on Wednesday, where they were given a tour of the Central Public Library. They saw highlights of the Singapore, South East Asian and Donor Collections.

In addition, they were treated to a poetry session, as well as art and dance performances.

They also had lunch at the library building’s top floor — which offered them a panoramic view of Singapore’s city skyline.

— CNA/sc

a Chinese wedding dinner

Recently I attended a very dear friend's wedding. It was a simple - no frills Chinese wedding dinner. There were no fanciful first-dish-presentations (think: a dance item from waiters), no toasting of alcohol to the groom till he is drunk, no pretentious speeches...

Yet this wedding was the sweetest, most romantic and most sincere I've ever attended. The bride, Sue-Ann was so pretty in her classic gown - her eyes were filled with true contentment and joy. I feel so happy for her!

In this wedding, it seems like everyone whom attended the dinner WANTS to be there.

The food served was typical - just like any other Chinese dinner, but I enjoyed myself thoroughly - thanks to my table of witty ex-classmates.

Here's how the setting was like:


(Photo courtesy of Noel; but this photo was taken professionally by the wonderful photographer of the night, our senior Louis!)

So everyone will have a set of porcelain in front of them, consisting of a small plate, a small bowl with a Chinese soup spoon in it, a pair of chopsticks, a small saucer filled with soya sauce and a cup of jasmine tea.

And then when the communal dish comes, you help yourselves to it! Of cos there are sharing spoons, don't worry. For some dishes like fish, noodles, or dessert the waiters will actually portion the food into 10 mini portions, then serve to you.

So, there are usually 8-9 dishes served at a Chinese wedding dinner. The first would usually be a starter/appetizer consisting of roast meat, cold sashimi or seafood etc.

Next up would be a thick soup, usually sharks' fins or fish maw. The next few dishes to come are like stir-fried prawns, abalone cooked with vegetables and mushrooms, roasted chicken, steamed fish, etc... All sorts of variations on the style of cooking, but you get the idea.

Lastly, when you think that you've already had your fill, the noodles or rice dish will follow. My favourite part will be the dessert where "it ends all sweet".

When you go to one next - pls dont forget to give a red packet filled with "goodness"!

sick :S

Over the weekend on sat i wanted to eat hairy crab for lunch. we even made reservations! unfortunately - on fri night i was out watching a movie and my stomach decided to act funny. I started puking in the middle of the show... (had to run all the way to the toilet but luckily i was in time!)

then in the car on the way back, i started puking again. glad that adrian had a spare plastic bag in the car. else i will really feel very bad if i really vomitted all over in the car. YUCKS! the funniest part of the whole thing was actually adrian's priceless look on his face after i turned around to look at him when i was done puking. HAHA, it was so funny that i couldnt stop laughing after i came out of the car to rinse my mouth clean. u know that look - trying to control your own puke when u see someone puking right in front of u. oh my, poor him! HAHA!

so i guessed i either had gastric flu, or a mild food poisoning.

and there goes the hairy crab lunch. had to eat porridge instead!

saving my hairy crab lunch for next weekend!!!

PS: Happy Birthday to my dad! Heard from my brother that they had Chinese food for celebration! :)

Scissor(s)-cut curry rice

If you've never seen or tasted this before, you surely won't be able to guess what this is.

What is this "Scissor-cut curry rice" all about?!?!?! Ok, actually it should be "Scissors-cut". Think of the word "cut" in past tense. Does it make a bit more sense now?

BEACH ROAD SCISSOR-CUT CURRY RICE

should be dissected into:

BEACH ROAD; SCISSOR-CUT; CURRY RICE

Beach Road is the name of this old old street named by Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore. Raffles Hotel is situated on Beach Road. And yes, it is called Beach Road cos Raffles Hotel used to be a beach-side hotel!

Although Raffles Hotel never moved, but the beach moved. Now it is no longer a beach-side hotel as the beach has already "moved" to Marina Bay, cos of massive land reclamation in that area. I am assuming that this food stall originally started out in Beach Road, then later moved to this new location along Syed Alwi Road, which is pretty near the famous-for-cheap-buys-opened-24-hrs-a-day shopping mall Mustafa.

Ok so back to the curry rice. What's so special about this curry rice is that the uncle preparing your food will use a super-sharp pair of scissors to cut your food into bite sized before serving it to you.

You just have to join the queue, then choose whatever dishes you want, then he will snip snip snip and then place the food in the most disorderly manner onto a plate of rice. But I'm not complaining. Seems like the messier it is, the nicer it will be - cos when the food is mixed, it's so flavourful!

Here, I've chosen braised pork and chicken wings which the uncle have already snipped up. He's really fast! I didnt even have enough time to take a pic of him snipping away!

So after he placed all the snipped food and he is happy with the portions that he's giving you, he'll pass the plate to another guy and this guy will top the plate with cabbage, then pour (yes, pour!) curry gravy and dark gravy onto the same already-overflowing plate.

The end product?

Here it goes... Dont be too shocked by the way it looks!

PS: Are you able to find the stewed pork on the left and the chicken drumlet on the right near the fork, as well as the cabbage on top of the pile? ;)

Hairy crab

Sorry for the lack of updates recently!

by the way - talking about "recently"... do you know that "recently" is the season for hairy crabs?!

Yeah yeah, hurray, looking forward to eat a "da-zha-xie" (name in Chinese). These crabs are eaten just plain steamed so as not to mask the natural flavours of the fresh, juicy crab. Usually "da-zha-xie" is eaten for its roe. Very high cholesterol, i know!

These hairy crustaceans come from a well-known lake (Yangcheng lake) in the Suzhou province in China and they are flown in all the way by air to Singapore! Suzhou is near to the other place that is famous for another lake, i.e. Hangzhou (West lake). The latter is famous too cos they produce the famous Dragonwell (Longjing) Tea.

There is a saying in Chinese that goes... "In the skies there's heaven; but on earth there's Suzhou and Hangzhou." Basically telling you how beautifully these 2 places are. So obviously a beautiful place will grow wonderful food right?

Alright... i'll post photos when i go eat the crabs soon!

BBQ pork

This morning I was off to meet with my boss and I brought her a SG's famous local snack, BAH KWA! These - I mean, are BBQ-ed pork.


It's similar to pork/beef jerky that you can get off the shelves from the supermarket, just that this bah kwa from "Bee Cheng Hiang" is juicier and tastier and sweeter.


Here's how it looks like:
(From www.bch.com.sg)

Basically pork (or whatever type of meat) is minced or sliced thinly then marinated with a sweet (secret) mix. After a period of time after marination, it is placed on the BBQ grill until charred at the edges. By the way, my fav is the burnt sides, ha! Unhealthy, I know! But...TASTILICIOUS! (you get the idea!) ok so we eat this with our fingers during Chinese New Year and I always end up licking my fingers. I think i can finish a whole box on my own at one go... no kidding. then lots of cooling herbal tea after that!

HOWEVER.... I didnt manage to pass the 2 packs to my boss. That's cos I didn't managed to "smuggle" these thru the Australian customs, sob sob. I thought that it was allowed cos its 100% vacuumed pack but the quarantine officer said that "meat" is HIGH-RISK item, so... its been confiscated (alongside with the NEW bottle of bacon bits that was in my luggage bag). Anyway a lesson learnt - thanks to bah-kwa!

Soya beancurd + Soya bean drink + Fried doughstick = Perfect match

The other day I met up with Janet, someone whom I always address as "The Stock Guru".

We've only known each other for about a year... but she is really a cool girl as we can discuss things on a deeper level comfortably and also trust each other with our secrets!

We had soya bean drink, soya beancurd and shared a fried doughstick. We're on diet lah, haha!

Soya bean drink = Tau Huay Ziu 豆花水 ("Ziu" means water or liquid in Hokkien; "Shui" in Mandarin)

Soya beancurd = Tau Huay 豆花

Fried doughstick = You tiao 油条 (literally translated to "oily stick")


So you see, you are supposed to dip the warm, crispy doughstick into the soya bean drink. When you put it in your mouth, you will first experience the cold exterior of the doughstick that was soaked up with soya bean drink, then you will bite into the warm, crispy interior! Yeaaaaaah, that's why i love you-tiao and soya bean drink so much!!!

Just like my friendship with Janet, the beancurd that I ate was fresh, smooth, sweet... Everytime we sat down to chat, it was refreshing and enjoyable!


Hee hee, my soft and silky tau-huay tastes real good over some tips, gossip, lies and jokes... haha, NICE...

Hokkien mee

Hokkien mee is one famous dish that is also synonymously linked with my country.

Yellow egg noodles mixed with white thick noodles, stir-fried in prawn stock first, then with prawns, squid rings, pork and egg added in later. This is commonly sold in most of the hawker centers in Singapore. Because the noodles are cooked first, they soak up all the goodness of the prawn stock, giving the noodles a rich, tasty flavour.

Hokkien stands for "Fujian", which is the province that is on the southeast coast of China. ("Mee" stands for noodles, by the way.)

Like I mentioned, many SG dishes have a strong fujian influence, as most of the Chinese in SG would be descendants of Fujian migrants. Recently on TV, a local celebrity travelled to Fujian province, hoping to find the "ORIGINAL" hokkien mee. Unfortunately, he was unable to find anything that is similar to the SG hokkien mee. Another case of the "Singapore fried noodles"?!?! Thus, we are all guessing that hokkien mee probably was "invented" by a hokkien migrant hawker in Singapore. In early days, they probably used all sorts of ingredients that they can find and mix them together to form a "dish".

One-dish meals were popular then because you wont have the impression that there are too little ingredients in comparison to the staple carbo like noodles or rice! One-dish meals are STILL popular nowadays, i think because people prefer not to cook and wash more dishes at home!

my breakfast last saturday

What's a breakfast to you? Rush to Starbucks or Tim Hortons for a coffee? Grab half a dozen donuts from Krispy Kreme? Or some Hotcakes from McD? Toast and eggs with grilled tomatoes?

Doesnt sound too exciting, yeah?

Don't get me wrong, cos i LOVE starbucks (Green Tea Latte and mocha) and i LOVE the original glazed donut from Krispy Kreme. Just that I feel the breakfast options are pretty limited when living in Canada. In Singapore, you get a variety of options ranging from Chinese food, to Malay food to Western food...

So over the weekend i ate chwee-kueh for breakfast. Adrian's mum bought it for me, hee hee... Arent u envious that I have such a sweet future mother-in-law?

There's six here, as you can see, topped with preserved turnip and lots of chilli at the top left corner in the form of a paste.

Chwee-kueh is made from rice flour, then steamed in a mini metal cup and it takes the shape like a small, cute cupcake. The hawker will usually use a toothpick to scrape the in-sides of the metal cup, so that the "kueh" will fall off nicely from the mould onto the plate. He or she will then scoop a teaspoonful worth of preserved turnip that has been simmering in the pot nearby for the past few hours.

Chwee stands for "water" and "kueh" which you'll see this word pretty often and it means cake/pastry. Chwee-kueh is pretty tasteless on its own. But if you eat it with the preserved turnip aka "chai-por", the taste is heavenly. Because the "kueh" itself is tasteless and soft yet the chai-por tastes savoury and crunchy. It's the perfect match! I didnt manage to eat all the 6 here. By the time i finished the 5th one, i was pretty full already.

Hmmm, but now as I am looking at this pic... I wanna eat this again!!!

How lucky are we?

this morning i read a startling piece of info news from the Straits Times. Here I am, spoilt for choices for food; always thinking of what to eat next...

Yet, today i learnt that more than one billion people are suffering from starvation. I always knew that starvation is a pertinent problem around the world, but it seems like city dwellers like us never actually REALISED it. I mean, we just know its there, and that's it. I am guilty of not recognising this problem and still wasting food on my plate. My motto was "Let the food go to waste, not to your waist." I guess its time to ask for smaller portions of food since I always cant finish the serving size.

Ok so here's what Straits Times gathered:
- 1.02 billion people across the world are hungry
- On average, 1 person dies every second as a result of starvation
- 1 billion people live on less than US$1 a day
- An estimated 3.5 million people die annually from malnutrition
- Lack of Vitamin A kills 1 million infants a year
- 21 countries already have very high levels of acute and chronic undernutrition
- More than 60% of chronically hungry people are women

And guess what... I just logged into youtube.com and I saw this World Food Program link right at the top of the main page!

I guess all the facts are coherent. And to put things in OUR perspective, Youtube.com did a great video. It is really powerful.

The video says:

- In the next 60 seconds,
- 145,833,233 emails will be sent (wow, this must be a working day, not a weekend)
- 2,777,731 videos will be watched on YouTube (ok, this must be a weekend)
- $43,681 will be spent on eBay
- 83,273 people will log on to Facebook
- The word LOVE will be Googled 4,260 times
- 2,083 tweets will be tweeted
and
- 10 children will die from hunger
- It could be Maria from Tanzania
- or Ekhbal in Sudan
- or Selina in Bangladesh
- For the first time in humanity over 1 billion people are chronically hungry
- There are also over 1 billion people online who can help
- Just 25 cents can fill this cup with food
- You are one of the online billion
- You can turn this around
- If you tell all your friends online to help and they tell all their friends and all their friends tell others...
- just imagine what the online billion could achieve.
- Let's get the online billion to help the hungry billion

Think this must be the most powerful video I ever saw on YouTube. I am making a difference here: https://www.wfp.org/donate/1billion.

A difference so small to me that it doesnt affect my life, but a difference so huge to a hungry person.

Pandan Chiffon cake

Hmm, it seems like everytime someone from HK is here in SG, they will ask for a particular "green" cake! This "green" cake seems really popular with Hong Kongers... Honestly, I dont know why its just this cake, and why its just with Hong Kongers... I will have to find out!

The famous shop (Bengawan Solo) that sells this cake had displayed a recent newspaper article featuring Jaycee Chan (Jackie Chan's son) praising this cake. And I was reading some news online regarding Coco Lee's tweets and read about her saying that she has just landed in Singapore and wanted to try some of the "green" cake (but after she manages to find some chicken rice and char kuay teow). And previously when I boarded a plane headed for HK, I saw this guy in front of me carrying about 5-6 red Bengawan Solo boxes... It had to be this cake in those boxes!

Well, I'm talking about this well-known cake that doesnt seem so popular with us locals:

(from http://www.bengawansolo.com.sg)

Bengawan Solo's Pandan Chiffon cake

I think people identify it as "green cake" cos ... not many cakes are green in colour! This cake has its own "branding", and its definitely positive. The colour is from the pandan juice from the pandan leaf, but I am sure the colour here in this cake is "enhanced", haha. This cake is spongy, fragrant and not overly sweet... and it goes well with a cup of kopi (coffee) or teh (tea) for your afternoon tea! Sink your teeth into it and it "fights" back, because it is so springy!


Anyway I don't think there is a big issue bringing this cake up onto the plane, so if you gotta buy it, its available all over the island in major shopping centres or neighbourhood malls.


You know, actually in Singapore, we dont really dig this. Maybe its too plain for us? Maybe we have plenty of other cake choices? I dont know! I remember my mum would buy this cake and place it on the dining table... and I will go like "Huh, pandan cake for breakfast again ah..." I'm sure my mum must be laughing now, because I dont think she will forget about the many instances that she bought pandan cake for us!

There is another local specialty product made from pandan leaf that is more popular with Singaporeans. It is... kaya!

Kaya is a popular jam spread made from eggs, sugar, pandan leaves and coconut milk. It's a sweet and thick and goes well with toast. I gave a few bottles to my Shanghainese friends, and they told me that they like it alot! I think the reason is also because the Shanghainese love their food sweet, haha! You will see many locals like me eating kaya+butter toast in local coffee shops on a slow idyllic morning for breakfast. Hmm, since i am on the topic of breakfast, let me share with you more on what we usually have for breakfast in SG in my next posting!

Seafood aglio olio

I received a call from a friend who works in the civil service. She said that she is hosting a guest from overseas and apparently that guest is craving for some comfort food!

Friend: Where can I bring him for some nice comfort food?

Me: Oh, Subway lor! What were you thinking, u wanna look for a hotdog stand?

Friend: (laughs)

Ok seriously - I strongly suggested that she bring him to TCC. I am not sure of this cafe's full name, but it goes by the abbrevation "TCC". There are many outlets all around in Singapore, but I frequent the one at Centrepoint and Novena Square.

My favourite dish at TCC is this:

Seafood aglio olio pasta

It's spaghetti cooked in aglio olio style with juicy prawns and scallops... garnished with a lime wedge, chilli powder and spring onion.

This has been Adrian's #1 favourite pasta ever since I introduced this to him about 2 years ago. The other day when we ate this, he was upset that I made him finish the chocolate dessert, as he wanted the aglio olio taste to linger around longer in his mouth!


I've brought a staff from a partner company to TCC before. She's from the UK. Her comments? She said its the best pasta she's ever tasted!


I've also brought a colleague who now lives in Australia to TCC before and she also said that their pasta is really nice and commendable!

My recommendations are getting more and more credible, yeah?!

Letter from KF Seetoh to Malaysian minister

KF Seetoh is a real famous Singaporean foodie!

His job? He goes around hunting for good food in Singapore and gives his most honest reviews about them. How famous? He brought Anthony Bourdain around Singapore... and... He taught Martha Stewart how to cook laksa on her show before!

So anyway Seetoh apparently was also intrigued by Malaysian Tourism Minister's claim on Chilli crab, Chicken rice etc being "Malaysian"... So, he wrote a well researched letter to her!

And he mentioned about the other "Truly" Malaysian dishes like Satay Celup, Kolo-mee etc which I feel are really "sedap" (Malay word for delicious) too, so... actually the Minister should really just stake her claim on these dishes instead!

I saw the copy of his letter here: http://www.makansutra.com/reviews/2009_0922/index.html

A Letter To Dear Minister
By K.F.Seetoh

Dear Minister Yen Yen,
I just cannot fathom why so many in the media and the food loving public is getting their hair all tangled up in sticky chilli crab sauce over your comments on claims over food in the region. I feel I have to come to your rescue should they jam a door-stop interview to your face later today.
Some Singapore credit card company once had actor Lim Kay Tong portray chilli crabs as from Chile in a television advertisement. You should send your media statement there too, and while you are at it, claim chilli padi as well and slip in the chilli corn carne and sambal chilli too, if space and time permits. Don’t the media know that when Madam Cher first sold sea food by the Bedok sea shore in the 50s’ and created chilli crabs in 1953 at her then Palm Beach Restaurant, Bedok was part of Malaysia, or was in the late 50s, aiya, just say “once upon a time la”. And, remind them all, those who have failing memory and the ignorant Tweeter generation, that any dish in Singapore which uses water, is a Malaysian dish too. Deliver the “where do you think the water came from” punchline should they feign “blur” about history. But if the old fogeys press you with a “ but the makan lost the original flavours these days leh”- re-educate them with a “that’s because you use Newater nowadays”. Also, tell them that chilli crabs is so popular in Malaysia that it is literally the second name of states and cities like _______ (can you help me help you fill in the blanks, I am not good at that part, your PR team should know. I suspect it is somewhere in Kelantan which is about the only place in Malaysia I have not visited yet. I think you know that too because that was where you were born and you owe no fools any explanation.) Regale the story about the first dish that many returning Malaysians (after a short holiday away in Batam), hanker for, is chilli crabs ( I have to tell you now that the many Malaysian friends I know, are a bit abnormal here, many never even eaten it before and think it’s from Chile).

Also, reiterate the fact that while so many folks, especially from Singapore, which accounts for the biggest chunk of visitors to your charming country, enjoy your Johor Laksa, Malacca Satay Celup, Seremban Beef Noodles, KL Hokkien Mee, Ipoh Hor Fun, Penang Lok Lok and of course your Sarawak kolo mee (which I sometimes wash down with Ipoh white coffee), can’t even understand why you are not making claims to these uniquely Malaysian dishes, roll your eyes slowly…and then take a deep breath. Now, exhale fire with a “ allo, we are not about uniquely this or uniquely that, we are Malaysia, Truly Asia, hor”. And cite that incident where the Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang was snubbed by the Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh people, is technically is a Truly Asia phenomenon. Tell them the shop is located at Rangoon Road, which is named after Myanmar’s capital (and guess which continent it is truly in). So what if Mr Ng’s father was credited with creating this Teochew peppery version so unlike your Klang herbal rendition, way before even SIT public housing flats were introduced in Singapore (just say it was way before HDB).

It will shut them up and no one will dare breath that thought of why no claims from you for Kelantan Nasi Kerabu, Penang Pasembor or even the almost-impossible-to-find-in-Singapore, Nasi Kandar. Oh, before it slips me, now that you have MCCurry, and sent the McDonald folks scuttling, draw your long distance crossbow and fire off your claims on hamburgers (just whisper “hey, we have McRamly Burger, so we own all burgers too la.”, and repeat the roll-eye, heavy sigh action for effect.

Should then they bring up the contentious Katong Laksa theory – like about how it was documented that the late Janggot was the first to sell it on a kandar (shoulder food cart) yonks ago and his family have now carried on this legacy at Marine Parade Janggot Laksa at East Coast Road, just softly repeat the Bedok story- and tell them how geographically close Bedok is to East Coast Road. Tell them Katong Laksa is so popular in Malaysian states like ___________ (please help me help you here again, as I’ve never seen Katong Laksa in Malaysia, yet).

And finally, chicken rice. Just because the Hainanese once ate boiled chicken with plain-jane rice and recreated that now famous version in old Hainan Street (Middle Road) way before Syonan To (the Japanese occupier’s name for old Singapura), does not mean it came from Middle Road. Smile and remind them where fresh chickens in Singapore come from.

I have not spotted Bak Chor Mee, Mee Kuah, Sup Tulang Merah, Satay Beehoon, Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee and definitely not the Hainanese Scissor Cut Curry Rice in Malaysia, yet. But should they ask about it, just cite the Truly Asia act.

All the best and good luck. Let me know if you need more of my help.

Sincerely
KF Seetoh

Singapore cuisine showcased at Selfridges Foodhall in London

Channel NewsAsia - Sunday, October 4

SINGAPORE: International Enterprise (IE) Singapore is leading eleven companies from the food and beverage industry here to showcase local fare in London.
Over the next week, Londoners will be able to sample and view demonstrations of the preparation of popular Singaporean fare like char kuay teow, chilli prawns and Nonya curry.
This will be at an event named "Tastes of Singapore" which will be held till October 7 at the Selfridges Foodhall on Oxford Street.
The aim is to allow British consumers to savour a wide variety of Singaporean dishes in an effort to secure a "sweet spot" on their taste buds.
This marks the first time that Singapore is attempting to promote local cuisine among the mainstream public in the United Kingdom.
According to IE Singapore, food and beverage exports to the United Kingdom stood at S$43.9 million in 2008 — a figure they hope to grow, moving forward.

Mid-autumn festival

It's the mid-autumn festival tomorrow, finally!



Here's a recap on all the different types of mooncakes I ate:

Medley of mooncakes

On the top row - there's the mini durian mooncake and the next is black sesame+white chocolate truffle mooncake.

On the bottom row - there's bird's nest mooncake (how decadent!) and another type of durian mooncake which is bigger and richer in the durian puree filling.

Notice I didnt eat any of the traditional "baked" mooncakes... That's because when I was very young my grandfather gave me a piece and I think I wasnt feeling well that day, and I puked! After that, I never dared to touch the traditional mooncake. :(

Another popular activity to be done tomorrow apart from eating mooncakes and sipping Chinese tea, will be the lighting of lanterns. So the children can play with their lanterns while the adults enjoy the wonderful evening.

Wishing everyone a happy mid-autumn festival on 3rd Oct!

Fish-head curry

You know - I have this constant craving for a particular dish. Even though I've just eaten it like in 2-3 weeks ago, I would still want to eat it again!

And that is... Fish curry! There is a HUGE difference between fish curry and all other types of curries! Or rather, there is a huge difference between all sorts of curries.

Chicken curry is thick and tends to have a tinge of sweetness in the spicyness... Mutton curry has a heavy, musky taste... Vegetable curry is lighter, milder and easy for curry beginners... But to me, my favourite is fish curry as it is always cooked with "assam" that makes the curry have this mild, sour taste that is so appetizing.

Fish-head curry is the more popular type of fish curry in Singapore. You can find fish-head curry in most of the good Chinese, Indian and Peranakan restaurants.

Large fish head cooked in curry gravy with lady's fingers, pineapples, long beans and brinjals

No one can claim to cook the "perfect" curry fish head, as everyone's tastesbuds will be looking out for something different. Some may find this too spicy, some may find this too sour!

For me, just plain rice and fish curry is enough for a satisfying dinner!

Ban-mian

If you walk around a local hawker centre, you will find different stores selling all sorts of different local specialities... Many that we can think of are either stir-fried, deep fried or BBQ-ed. Even our favourite "chicken rice" is full of oil and not advisable to be eaten late at night!

But there is one soup dish that the health conscious will give THUMBS UP to. In fact, you can see the stamp of approval by our Health Promotion Board on the panel of the hawker's stall.

This dish is more commonly known as "ban-mian".

Ban-mian is made from mixing flour and water, then rolled out and cut into long strips with a noodle cutter. Its just like how you would make your pasta!

The soup is derived from cooking anchovies, then with other ingredients like prawns, egg, vegetables, tomatoes and minced pork balls added in - so you can imagine how healthy it is!



Here, I have a variation of ban-mian. It is called "mee-hoon-kuay" which is simply rolled dough pressed into different flat but round shapes (instead of long shapes)! This is nice too cos you dont need chopsticks! There is also another variation called "you-mian" which you can order. You can say that the original ban-mian resembles fettuccine and the you-mian resembles spaghetti in size.

Chicken rice

There's another dish that is a must-try in Singapore, which is just as famous as the chilli crab. Everytime someone thinks of Singapore, they will associate us with... Chicken rice!

So rice is cooked with garlic, ginger + chicken stock absorbing all the wonderful flavours; chicken is steamed or roasted then chopped up, sprinkled with light soy sauce + sesame oil; finally the dish is ready to be served with chilli sauce, ginger sauce and dark soy sauce.

Chicken rice probably has its origins traced back to China in Hainan Island, cos everyone calls it "Hainanese Chicken rice". Or it could be invented by someone in Singapore who is of Hainanese origin... Or it could just be a then-popular way of marketing (to associate food with a province).

So I say that Singapore has got to be the land of CHICKEN RICE! Why do I say so....???

Because in Singapore, there is the $2 Chicken rice:

Roasted chicken with beansprouts, cucumber and rice

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And there's the $22 Chicken rice!

Meritus Mandarin hotel's famous "Chatterbox" steamed chicken rice

So, what do you think... Isn't Singapore the land of "Chicken rice"?

Had the "Chatterbox" cafe Chicken rice with my friend for lunch. It's the first time she had this chicken rice! We went up to the 37th storey of the hotel, and phew, the view up there from the restaurant was really breathtaking! Ok, I admit I was a little apprehensive when I stepped into the lift... Quite scary, this "express lift" where you zoom up 30 storeys in less than 5 seconds! Hee hee... I was holding the handrail all the while. HAHA! Wondered if my friend noticed. So anyway we had a nice lunch - the food was good, the view was good and most imptly, the company was great.

Personally I like the roasted version of the chicken better as the chicken is not so oily and somehow the roasting process just packs in all the flavour of the chicken and its marinate. Adrian, on the other hand prefers the steamed chicken, cos he loves the oily, fatty chicken skin! Ugh, too unhealthy! So if we feel like having chicken rice, either one of us will have to compromise!

If you feel like having these 2 types of chicken (roasted or steamed) rice in one day, there is one street in Singapore that:
1) is very near the city area,
2) has food available 24 hours round-the-clock
3) has 2 very famous restaurants serving roasted and steamed chicken rice respectively

Make a guess! Well, it is Balestier Road. On one side there is the Boon Toon Kee restaurant where they serve steamed chicken rice, and just across the road about 100m away, there is the Loy Kee restaurant that serves roasted chicken rice. Both are just as famous!

Anyway all these talk has made me really hungry! This is totally spoiling my diet plans! :(