ROJAK
A tossed salad of vegetable and fruit in a sweet tangy prawn paste-tamarind dressing, Rojak has its roots in Java, Indonesia. Rojak means “mixed” in Malay slang, with hawkers in the past selling it on their pushcarts all over the city. Today each ethnic group in Singapore has its own exciting version of rojak.
Serves 4
1 wedge peeled and sliced pineapple
1 cucumber, seeded and sliced
Handful of peeled and sliced jicama
Handful of bean sprouts, blanched
2 tofu square puffs, toasted and sliced
2 strips Chinese crullers (you tiao), toasted and sliced
ROJAK DRESSING
A good dressing has a nice balance of sweet and tangy
1 teaspoon finely minced ginger bud flower
1 tbsp prawn paste
2 tbsp tamarind paste
1 teasp sugar
1 teasp gula melaka
1 tbsp calamansi lime juice
1 teasp unsweetened chilli paste
2 tbsp ground dry toasted peanut
In a large bowl, mix the Rojak Dressing ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. Loosen it with a little preboiled cooled water if necessary. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. Toss in the other ingredients and mix well. Feel free to add other fruit that you like such as guava, water apple (jambu ayer) and apple. Garnish with a sprinkle of crushed peanuts and serve.
HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE
Serves 5-6
CHICKEN
1 large chicken (1.2kg)
Enough water to submerge chicken in large pot
Large bowl of ice and water to hold cooked chicken
4 slices ginger
2 pandan leaves, knotted
2 spring onion
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Pinch of salt
Mix sauce, oils and wine together, and rub all over chicken – inside and out. Rub salt. Stuff chicken cavity with pandan, ginger and spring onion. Set aside to marinade for 30 minutes.
Poaching the chicken:
In a large pot of tap water submerge chicken. Bring to boil and turn chicken over. Reduce to low simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Switch off heat, cover pot and keep chicken submerged for another 20 minutes. Reserve chicken stock for cooking rice, for garnish and for chilli sauce. Lift out chicken and place into ice water bath for about 15 minutes. Pat dry cooked chicken and rub all over with a little sesame oil and light soy sauce. Let rest for about 20 minutes till ready to serve and cut into portions.
RICE
3 cups uncooked jasmine rice, washed
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon raw chicken fat from chicken
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
2 garlic, chopped
3 slices ginger
2 pandan leaves, knotted
Pinch of salt
In a little oil, fry garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add this together with the other ingredients in a rice cooker and cook. Discard pandan, ginger after cooking.
CHILLI SAUCE
5 red chilli
2 cloves garlic
2 slices ginger
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp chicken stock
Pinch of Salt
Pound or blend chilli, garlic and ginger together – not too fine. Mix together with other ingredients until sugar dissolves.
GARNISH
2 Japanese cucumbers, sliced
2 stalks coriander, cut 3cm
2 stalks spring onion, cut 3cm
Sauce:
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
2 tbsp chicken stock
Spread out sliced cucumbers on serving platter, cut chicken into portions and lay out on top of cucumber. Drizzle over sauce mixture. Garnish with coriander and spring onion.
ACCOMPANIMENT
Thick dark caramelised soy sauce to serve along side chilli sauce.
CHAR KWAY TEOW
Serves 4
Have all the ingredients ready and easily grabbable beside your wok
4 tablespoons lard oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
400g flat rice noodles (kway teow)
200g egg noodles (mee)
Handful of beansprouts
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons shelled cockles
1 Chinese sausage, steamed and thinly sliced
1 fishcake, sliced
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark, sweet soy sauce
Chilli sauce (optional)
Stock or water to prevent drying out.
Heat a wok until smoking hot over high heat. Add lard oil and fry garlic till fragrant. Add noodles and sautee with light soy sauce for a couple of minutes. Drop in the Chinese sausage and fishcake. Lower heat if it gets too hot. Keep the noodles moving and infusing with all the ingredients. Make a well in centre and mix in the eggs. Add a dash of stock or water for steam. Add dark soy sauce, chilli sauce and beansprouts. Finally add the cockles. Sautee all for a few more seconds. Dish out and serve immediately.
GORENG PISANG
Banana Fritters
Serves 4 to 6
8 bananas
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
Oil for deep frying
1 teaspoon rum
1 cup sparkling water
Mix the flour, rice flour, baking powder and salt well in a bowl. Beat the sparkling water, rum and egg into the flour mixture until batter is smooth. Set batter aside to rest for 15 minutes.
Heat the oil in a deep skillet. Dip the bananas in the batter and gently drop them into the hot oil. Turn bananas so that they colour to a rich golden brown on all sides. Remove and drain on paper towels.
The secret to a light, crispy batter is sparkling water and a dash of alcohol.
CHAI TOW KWAY
Fried Radish Cake
Make the Radish Cake, which has the texture of moist compacted rice – this makes 4 portions:
1 small radish, peeled, grated and steamed till cooked
Pinch of salt
1 cup rice flour
1 cup water
1 teasp oil
Combine the ingredients, and pour into a cake tin. Cover with tin foil with a few holes poked in and steam for 45 minutes. Use half the portion and store the other half in the refrigerator for another day. If you’re feeling lazy you can buy the ready-made radish cake at supermarkets.
Photo by Seet Ying Lai
2 eggs, beaten
2 teasp fish sauce
1 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce (for the black version)
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp lard oil
2 tbsp chai poh, preserved turnip
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 spring onion, sliced
Slice portions of the radish cake for 2 persons. Heat oil and lard in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and fry radish cake till golden brown and crisp on both sides – about 3 minutes. Use 2 spatulas and break into smaller pieces. Add the garlic and fry until fragrant. Add the fish sauce, chai poh and salt to taste. Fry and combine well. Make a well in the centre of the frying ingredients and pour in the beaten egg. Combine all well. Sprinkle spring onion on top and dish out to serve.
TULANG MERAH
Red Mutton Bones
Serves 4
MUTTON INGREDIENTS
8 mutton leg bones (with marrow inside)
3 star anise
4 cloves
1 3cm ginger, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
2 cups water
ONION BLEND
2 onions, quartered
8 dried chilli, deseeded and softened in hot water
1 3cm ginger, sliced
3 cloves garlic
3 shallots
BRAISING INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 boiled potato, mashed
3 tablespoons beef curry powder
4 tomatoes, quartered
1 cinnamon stick
2 onions, quartered
4 cardamom pods
2 star anise
3 cloves
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Salt to taste
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon red food colouring (optional)
Oil for frying
1 1/2 cups water
GARNISH
1/2 cup finely sliced raw cabbage
Now for the Braising Ingredients: In a large wok or pot over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons oil and sautee cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom and cloves together till fragrant. Add the Onion Blend together with the onions and beef curry powder, tomato puree and ketchup and fry all gently for about 8 minutes till the oil has split. Add a little water if necessary. Put in tomatoes, mashed potato and the boiled mutton bones and mix all well together, frying gently. Add 1 1/2 cups water, soy sauce, sugar and salt. Cover the pot and gently cook for about 1 hour. Remove cover and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the red colouring if using. Adjust seasoning. Dish out to serving plate and garnish with cabbage. Serve with sliced baguette.
WONTON MEE
Serves 2
2 bundles wonton egg noodles
1 tbsp pork lard oil
2 tbsp crispy lard bits
6 stalks Chinese flowering cabbage (chye sim), cut and blanched
1 teasp oyster sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 teasp sesame oil
10 slices char siew (barbecued roasted pork)
WONTON DUMPLINGS
10 round wonton wrappers
Wonton dumplings filling:
3 prawns, cleaned and minced
250g minced pork
1 stalk spring onion, sliced
1 teasp ginger juice
Dash of sesame oil
2 teasp Shaoxing wine
Salt to taste
1 teasp sugar
2 teasp light soya sauce
Mix filling ingredients together well. Pinch a ping pong ball size of this mix and encase in wonton wrapper. Cook wonton dumplings in simmering water until they float – about 5 minutes. Remove to a dry oiled plate and set aside.
ACCOMPANIMENT FOR DISH
2 tbsp unsweetened chilli sauce
2 tbsp pickled sliced green chilli
4 tbsp light soy sauce
Remaining chicken broth, and wonton dumplings portioned in 2 bowls
MAIN PREPARATION
Prepare a large pot of simmering water. Fill another pot with ice cold water. In a bowl mix the lard oil, sesame oil, 4 tablespoons of chicken broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce and stock together. Divide into 2 portions and put each onto a serving plate. Place one bundle of wonton noodles onto a sieve spatula and plunge into the simmering water. Cook till al dente, about 2 minutes. Immediately plunge the noodles into the ice cold water. Plunge it back into the simmering water for 2 seconds and place onto serving plate with the sauce mix, tossing well. Top with one portion char siew slices, crispy pork lard bits and chye sim. Repeat process with second wonton bundle. Serve immediately with wonton dumplings in remaining chicken stock as a side soup, and accompaniments of chilli sauce, light soy sauce and pickled green chilli.
FRIED BEE HOON FOR WU XIANG XIA BING
Serves 4
400g rice noodle stick bee hoon
Handful of bean sprouts
3 shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
Oil for frying
½ cup chicken stock
2 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 teasp Sugar
Salt to taste
2 tbsp lard oil for frying
Soak bee hoon in water for 1 hour or until soft. Drain off water
Mix sauces and sugar together and set aside. Heat a large wok over high heat. Add lard oil and fry shallots and garlic till aromatic – about 1 minute. Add the pre-soaked bee hoon and sauces. Stir fast and furious to mix everything. Pour in chicken stock and continue to stirfry until stock has dried out. Taste and adjust seasonings. Fry for a few seconds more and serve. Beehoon should be al dente and not soggy.
The SWEET STICKY PINK SAUCE is made of pandan, sugar, water, egg white, pink colouring and corn starch. It balances the overall saltiness of the items in the dish.