THE KOEL wakes you up in the early mornings with its loud call, beckoning you to the breakfast table. Here, our food stories begin.
Singapore is a port city in Southeast Asia with a vibrant food culture that spans mainly Chinese, Malay, Indian, Peranakan and Eurasian ethnicities.
Features
Pink!
Discover delicious food of dramatic fuschia colour from Indian Muslim braised mutton bones to sticky sauce for wu xiang
Favourite coconut dishes
From laksa to cendol, Singapore is rich with dishes made with the many forms of coconut
Indian breakfast
There's an element of ayurvedic goodness in all ingredients and cooking styles
Recipe of the week
Appom
Appom is a traditional fermented pancake of India made with blended rice. It looks like a flying saucer because of it’s spongy dome-like centre and frilly, crispy edges. In Singapore appom is served with orange sugar and fresh grated coconut
Traditional appom is made with toddy. Toddy is an alcoholic wine made from the fermented sap of palm trees. Kerala is famous for its quality toddy.
Recipes
Chicken rice
Chicken rice has origins in Hainan, China. The Singapore version is served with rice cooked in chicken broth that is flavoured with pandan, garlic and ginger. Accompaniments include chilli sauce and caramelised soy sauce. The meat is less oily than the Hainan original, and is usually poached.
Roti prata
Roti prata is a flaky Indian flat bread from southern India. It is one of the favourite foods in Singapore and Malaysia. You'll find it at Indian Muslim stalls.
Epok epok
Epok epok is a Malay deep fried curry puff with assorted fillings such as potato, minced meat and sardine.
The cats
Mama Rusty and Little Boy Rory on the neighbour's roof
SHE'S MAKING ROTI JOHN
THIS SPLIT French loaf fried with spicy eggy omelette is found at Malay stalls at the hawker centre. Its name translates to “John’s Bread” and may have its beginnings with the Malay and Indian locals in Malaysia and Singapore adapting this western fare to suit their own palates.
Time for a cocktail
Ashey Boy fancies an aperol spritz
A spritz is an Italian bubbly cocktail consisting of prosceco, Aperol bitter aperitif and soda. Aperol is an orange-hued botanical liquor invented by the Barbieri brothers in Padova, Italy in 1919. Its bitter notes come from sweet and bitter oranges, rhubarb and gentian root.
Aperol Spritz
Fill a wine glass with ice
2 parts Aperol
3 parts prosceco
1 part soda
Stir well and garnish with a slice of orange
Singapore Sling
Shake together with ice 1oz gin, dash Angostura bitters, 1/4oz cherry liqueur, 1oz pineapple juice, 1/2oz lime juice, 1/4oz Benedictine. Strain into highball glass with ice, top with soda, garnish with orange slice and cherry skewer.
Negroni
1oz gin, 1oz campari, 1oz sweet red vermouth. Stir into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with orange peel.
Gin Tonic
2oz gin, 4oz tonic, ice. Stir into a glass, and garnish with lime or other citrus slices. Photograph courtesy of Atlas Bar.
My bookshelf
Lala-Land
SINGAPORE'S SEAFOOD HERITAGE. By Anthony D Medrano (editor), Epigram Books, $44.90. This food book is packed with interesting information about how the seafood that we enjoy makes its journey from waters around us to our plates. We discover sustainable resources and how seafood impacts our society. There are popular recipes with beautiful photos that include favourites such as sambal stingray, laksa, char kway teow, dare-to-eat pufferfish sashimi and more.
The Food of the Malays
GASTRONOMIC TRAVELS THROUGH THE ARCHIPELAGO. By Khir Johari. $70.11 on Amazon SG. Writer and Food historian Khir Johari spent 11 years researching, travelling, writing, eating and discovering food of the Malay Archipelago, which spans Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. The many photographs, illustrations, essays and observations that enrich the 621-page hardback are a joy to discover. Well-deserved award of "Best of the Best Book in the World" at the 2023 Umea Food Symposium in Sweden, the Oscars of gastronomy literature.
Heritage Food of the Peranakan Indians
IN A CHITTY MELAKA KITCHEN. By Peranakan Indian (Chitty Melaka) Association published by National Heritage Board , Peranakan Indian (Chitty Melaka) Association $71.56. This book is a collection of nearly 100 recipes lovingly created by the Chitty Melaka community, ranging from everyday dishes to festive fare. The Chitty Melaka or Peranakan Indians are the descendants of the intermarriages between early South Indian settlers and the Malay, Chinese and other local communities in the port cities of Melaka, penang and Singapore from as early as the 15th century. In addition to the usual Indian spices used in cooking, the Chitty Melaka use herbs such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf and galangal, and favour coconut milk instead of yoghurt. A rice dish that the Indian Peranakans use for offerings (parachu) is nasi lemak kukus, a steamed nasi lemak dish.
