Singapore – Page 4 – The Occasional Cook

Asian Dishes, Bread and Batter, Malay, Meat, Singapore

Roti John

June 2, 2018March 3, 2021 7shasha7

Essentially a minced beef french toast on a batard. Who invented this nobody really knows but definitely in Singapore/Malaysia during Colonial rule.

Buy baguette or batard or what we locals simply call the French Loaf (Roti Perancis). Cut in half and then slice open but don’t cut all the way through.

Prepare seasoning ingredients. Curry powder, ground chillies, chopped coriander, minced beef. Crack five small eggs and whisk till smooth.

Pour two to three tablespoons of oil, and then add a teaspoon of ground chilli paste. Fry till chilli is cooked then add minced beef. Mine is already precooked but it’s ok to use raw ones too, just cook longer till beef is thoroughly cooked through. Add 1/8 teaspoon of curry powder and salt and black pepper. Add one teaspoon of chopped coriander.

Now this is the tricky bit. Form and spread meat mixture in the hot pan to roughly cover the area of the bread. Quickly pour just enough whisked egg to cover the meat mixture and the spread the bread on top of it. Use your fingers to manipulate and get all the egg and meat mixture into the bread. Press down and cook till browned. Flip over and cook the other side so both sides are crispy.

Above is the non-chilli version. Suitable for kids and those who don’t like it too spicy.

To serve, fold the bread and then slice into roughly one inch portions. Make a mixture of ketchup, chilli sauce, water and lime juice to dip the bread with.

Try it! It’s a hawker favourite, especially back in the 80s.

Asian Dishes, Noodles and Pasta, Singapore

Fried Bee Hoon

December 25, 2017March 3, 2021 7shasha7

Or apparently, Singapore noodles they are called. That is how popular fried bee hoon is in Singapore that the world calls it Singapore noodles, haha. Every family has a variation of it. The Malays will put lots of ingredients and white pepper, the Chinese for breakfast keep it plain with just soy sauce, and the Indians here have it red and fiery. It even has a nickname here called ‘Mee Birthday’ because at every birthday event, these noodles are always served. The reason being, it’s easy to cook and delicious to eat.

So we were tickled again when we went to M&S in London and saw this…

So today, since I had bought a packet of brown rice vermicelli noodles (bee hoon, essentially thin rice noodles), I decided to fry them. Usually, prawns, sawi (Chinese leafy greens), tomatoes, squid, fishcakes, chicken or beef are added. I kept mine simple and healthier with more vegetables.

First, in oil, fry minced garlic. Then add slices of beef. Season with soy sauce and white pepper.

Once the beef is cooked, add in vegetables and all the other ingredients. This is the best dish to get rid of leftovers! I added carrots, red capsicum, fishcake slices and broccoli. Oh, and some cherry tomatoes. Once everything is cooked, add in the boiled bee hoon, rice noodles and season with soy sauce, oyster sauce and lots of white pepper. Don’t forget to season with salt too!

The Malays love to eat this with picked sliced green chillies and fried shallots. Yums! It can be a very healthy dish if you use brown rice noodles, add lots more vegetables and use lean meat.

The Singapore noodles, momscancook style.

Chinese, Places, Singapore

TFF Chicken Rice

July 30, 2017March 3, 2021 7shasha7

Singapore’s national dish of the people’s choice. Haha. When you get really good halal chicken rice, you hardly go anywhere else. Fragrant oily chickeny goodness. And you know it’s gotta be good when there’s not only a long queue for it but there are non-Muslims Chinese in the queue. Yup, this place is the bomb for us! Many likes!

Asian Dishes, Poultry, Singapore

Salted egg yolk chicken

March 18, 2016March 3, 2021 7shasha7

This salted egg yolk sauce has been taking over singapore and the region by storm. Strangely, I don’t see this in the Western culinary scene. I’ve tried salted egg yolk sauce even with doublghnuts at a cace last year.

A few days ago, a good friend came over to teach me how fo cook salted egg yolk chicken. We cheated on the chicken part by buying the frozen chicken pieces and frying them first. For the sauce, we boiled egg salted eggs and scooped out the yolks. Mash the yolks and then eat a pan fry curry leaves, birds eye chillies and garlic. After that in goes the mashed yolks with some water to make a nice consistent paste. To this, pour in some cream. And then season with salt. Voila! A local specialty that has taken the island by storm. 😋

Cakes and Cookies, Desserts, Malay, Singapore

Durian fritters

February 20, 2014March 3, 2021 7shasha7

An easy tea time staple in Malay homes will be the jemput–jemput pisang or banana fritters. I remember an aunt who married an American and then moved to Wyoming. She told me she made these for her neighbours and they loved them. They were also tickled by the literal translated name. Jemput means invite and so she’d tell them ‘banana invite-invite.’ When I got older, I learnt that jemput also means to take a small amount of something. So basically it means small amounts of batter.

That afternoon I decided to make a variation using durian. The Southeast Asian king of fruits so despised by Westerners (and some locals too!)

I took the flesh out from its seed and added some plain flour, a tiny bit of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Then fry small amounts of the batter in hot oil. It was a success!