Singapore Food Recipes Options Rating

[londonchinese]

Thanks, San for the chemistry lesson. Although I do cook instant noodles for myself only when I am alone and too lazy to cook, the thought of all these chemical reactions really scare me off. After your detailed explanation, I think I can cook them again instead of throwing whatever stock I have into the dustbin!

My pleasure. Isn't it sad that some people have nothing better to do with their time than to write virus software, send out scare mongering emails and chain letters that are a load of superstitious rubbish?

San

[Amy Kiesgen]

Thanks, San for the chemistry lesson. Although I do cook instant noodles for myself only when I am alone and too lazy to cook, the thought of all these chemical reactions really scare me off. After your detailed explanation, I think I can cook them again instead of throwing whatever stock I have into the dustbin!

[londonchinese]

I received following per e-mail yesterday and wonder whether there is some truth in it:

Sounds like typical scaremongering to me. I spoke with my nephew who teaches chemistry and he said that the item about MSG's molecular structure being altered by boiling is nonsense. For a substance as extensively researched as MSG (including by WHO, the World Health Organisation), any possible harmful side effects such as this would have been exposed a long time ago. However it is true that when MSG is subject to extreme heat (such as burning) one of the by-products would be carbon monoxide, but this is not going to happen with the temperature of boiling water! As for wax, you can do a simple test - just scrape the noodles with your fingernail - any wax that would be on them would come off and be visible. I doubt if you will find any wax this way!

[Amy Kiesgen]

I received following per e-mail yesterday and wonder whether there is some truth in it:

Quote

Instant Noodles Information

Normally, how we cook the instant noodles is to put the noodles into a pot with water, throw in the powder and let it cook for 3 mins around and then it is ready to eat.

This is the WRONG method of cooking the instant noodles. By doing this, when we actually boil the ingredients in the powder, normally with MSG, it will change the molecular structures of the MSG causing it to be toxic. The other thing that you may or may not realized is that, the noodles are coated with wax and it will take around 4 to 5 day for the body to excrete the wax after you have taken the noodles.

So the CORRECT method, which you may or may not know, is to cook the noodles this way :

1. boil the noodles in a pot with water.

2. once the noodles is cooked, take out the noodles, and throw away the water which contains wax.

3. boil another pot of water till boiling and put the noodles into the hot boiling water and then shut the fire.

4. only at this stage when the fire is off, and while the water is very hot, put the ingredient with the powder into the water, to make noodle soup.

5. however, if you need dry noodles, take out the noodles and add the ingredient with the powder and toss it to get dry noodles.

Hope this piece of information is of importance to your health in relation to eating instant noodles and please apply this cooking method with immediate effect.

Unquote

[londonchinese]

San,

I dont see any Thai influence in this latest recipe of yours. The only thing that s not Malay here is the big blob of meat. Malay cooking will ask you to cut meat into bite size as we dont use the knives and forks when eating.
Ah also I spoke with my friend this morning abt the Daging Darat...she said you do not use tomato paste and budu for this dish. Then she handed me a packet of Daging Darat mix. She said budu is not from Utara ( North ...where Kedah is ) but the Pantai Timur ( north east ). I said...okay lah. Oopppss. ..again I forgot to ask abt the sub for budu.

Anyway, do you still want to hunt for that budu?

I guess the Thai influence is the tamarind dip, as Thais seem to be very fond of sour tasting items, which have also influenced the cooking of the Penang nyonyas. However, I guess that the cooking of both Kedah and Kelantan have been influenced by their proximity to Southern Thailand and vice versa - some of the southern Thai curries such as Mussaman are very similar to Malay ones. I have a cookbook From the Tengku's Kitchen, recipes compiled by Tunku Abdul Rahman's niece and daughter, which have dishes that are heavily influenced by both the Malay and Thai sides of his family (since the Tunku had a Thai mother), and it makes fascinating reading.

As for daging darat, the tomato puree was actually my addition as I like a nice red colour for my kuah, so I accept that that is not a traditional ingredient. However the recipe my friend sent most definitely did include budu. I think you would agree that in Asian cooking there is no one recipe for a dish which is 100% representative, often there are just as many recipes as there are cooks (look at rendang, for example). I remember one exchange of correspondence I had with Amy about mee rebus, when I submitted to her 4 quite different recipes, whereupon she replied with a fifth recipe - her mother's! So try both my recipe and your friend's (complete with mix!) and go for the one that you like more, and by all means omit the tomato puree!

My friend has kindly offered to get me a couple of bottles of the home-grown stuff as he is going back to Malaysia in the summer, so I shall put my search on hold for the time being. However, for the benefit of others reading these messages, it would still be useful to know of possible substitutes. Thanks!

San

[Mrs. C]

San,

I dont see any Thai influence in this latest recipe of yours. The only thing that s not Malay here is the big blob of meat. Malay cooking will ask you to cut meat into bite size as we dont use the knives and forks when eating.


Ah also I spoke with my friend this morning abt the Daging Darat...she said you do not use tomato paste and budu for this dish. Then she handed me a packet of Daging Darat mix. She said budu is not from Utara ( North ...where Kedah is ) but the Pantai Timur ( north east ). I said...okay lah. Oopppss. ..again I forgot to ask abt the sub for budu.

Anyway, do you still want to hunt for that budu?


suds n wick,

Yes yes yes...Smart Balance shd do it. My husband has been using that ever since it came in the market. I havent cooked with it yet...preferring olive oil.

[londonchinese]

Here's yet another beef recipe! This one shows clearly the Thai influence on Northern Malay cooking. Very suitable for summer BBQs in the garden.

Daging bakar air asam (Grilled beef with tamarind dip)

Ingredients
1 kg/2 lbs beef sirloin, in one piece
1 tbsp coarse/sea/kosher salt
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 banana leaf, measuring 30 cm x 30 cm/1 ft x 1 ft

Wash and make several slits on the beef. Rub beef evenly with pepper, soy sauce and coarse salt.

Place beef on grill or wire mesh lined with banana leaf that has been soaked in water.

Grill using charcoal or gas BBQ until beef is cooked. 25 mins rare, 30 mins medium, 40 mins well-done. Watch to make sure the banana leaf does not burn!

Remove from grill and slice as thickly as desired

Serve with tamarind dip (see below)

Air Asam (tamarind dip)

Ingredients
5 green chillies, sliced thinly
10 thai red chillies, sliced thinly
10 shallots, peeled and sliced
Juice of 2 large limes
3 tbsp tamarind pulp mixed with 5 tbsp warm water, squeezed and strained for juice
2 tsp thai palm sugar, pounded, or use ordinary sugar (optional)
1 tsp dry-roasted belacan, crumbled
100 ml/slightly less than half a cup water
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Let sit for about 20 minutes before using.

[londonchinese]

She got her budu from the stores here in Salt Lake. Amazing eh?

BTW I could get all the herbs, leaves, fruits in your Budu Pahang except the Belimbing dan daun kaduk. Sometimes some friends from the US will send me some turmeric leaves but most of the time I will smuggle them from the Spore wet markets. I use turmeric leaves in my rendang that I cook only for Eid.

PS actually I dont really know what daun kaduk is. Heard of them often growing up.

Amazing is right! And encouraging as well, because it means that it may be possible to get it in London with a bit of footwork!

You can probably substitute another sour fruit (cooking apple or unripe mango) for the belimbing.

As for daun kaduk, it is translated as pepper leaves. The Vietnamese use it as well, they call it la-lot and they have a dish where they wrap beef in it. You can ask if you have a Vietnamese store local to where you live. We cannot get daun kaduk in London, but Vietnamese friends of mine here use vine leaves as a substitute - maybe you can do the same there! Daun kesum (laksa leaves) shouldn't be a problem for you, and as you said, you do have a supply of daun kunyit!

San

[suds n wicks]

The tilapia has SOME butter in it...my husband is a health freak so I have to be careful.

Mrs C, you could try subbing Smart Balance for the butter. I've done that before with good results. Not to bake a cake, but for things like this it works.

[Mrs. C]

San,

Thanks for the two recipes. The tilapia has SOME butter in it...my husband is a health freak so I have to be careful. I might choose to bake or steam instead of fry. Whenever I fry, I use very little oil. So some modification is possible there. BTW I made this really fabulous tilapia dish last Sunday. A real winner - Spice-rubbed Tilapia with Tomatillo, Black bean and Mango Salad.

Before I forget, I will ask my friend whether you could soak ikan bilis in a thai fish sauce. I saw her today but we were both into work...so didnt have the opportunity to talk food.

She got her budu from the stores here in Salt Lake. Amazing eh?

BTW I could get all the herbs, leaves, fruits in your Budu Pahang except the Belimbing dan daun kaduk. Sometimes some friends from the US will send me some turmeric leaves but most of the time I will smuggle them from the Spore wet markets. I use turmeric leaves in my rendang that I cook only for Eid.

PS actually I dont really know what daun kaduk is. Heard of them often growing up.

[londonchinese]

San, this Daging Api-api recipe really sounds very pedas and sedap. If I am to reduce the amount of chillies, do you think the end product is going to be as good as the original taste, minus the pedas of course?

Of course you can reduce the number of chillies - I think that there was a certain bravado in the recipe as sent by my friend - maybe he was trying to impress me! I would never use that amount of chillies myself - maybe reduce it to 15 dried and 10 finger red or 5 thai? Of course, people like Daud and Riza will probably go the whole way, they have asbestos mouths!!

San

[Amy Kiesgen]

San, this Daging Api-api recipe really sounds very pedas and sedap. If I am to reduce the amount of chillies, do you think the end product is going to be as good as the original taste, minus the pedas of course?

[londonchinese]

Returning to the Malay theme, here's a dish for all you chilli-heads out there. I think the name says it all!

Daging api-api (Hot and spicy beef)

Ingredients
1 kg/2 lbs rump or topside beef, sliced into 2 x 4 cm (1 x 2 inches) and boiled until tender
125 ml/1/2 cup cooking oil
2 tbsp sugar or gula melaka
350 ml/1.5 cups water or stock from boiling beef
1 tbsp tamarind pulp, mixed with 2 tbsp warm water, squeezed and strained
3 tbps kecap manis (thick sweet soy sauce)
Salt to taste
2 tsp coarsely ground black peppercorns

Coarsely ground seasoning ingredients
30 dried chillies, soaked in hot water to soften (retain seeds)
10 red finger chillies or thai red chillies
1 tsp belacan
4 buah keras
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp black peppercorns

Heat oil in a pot. Fry ground ingredients until fragrant (watch out for chilli fumes which can be quite choking!). Add sugar and continue to stir until mixture takes on a glossy appearance. Add boiled beef slices and turn them until all pieces are coated, then add water or stock, tamarind juice, kecap manis and salt to taste. Cook until gravy thickens. Remove from heat.

Sprinkle with coarsely ground black pepper before serving with rice.

[londonchinese]

Hi Mrs C, I've found some more recipes that may be of interest to you!

Ikan Tilapia goreng bersos Mentega Limau (Fried Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce) - since you like tilapia!

This is a Western dish despite its Malay name. Very high fat!!! Most certainly NOT a dish to be eaten on a regular basis!

Ingredients
1 kg/2 lbs tilapia, cleaned with salt water and filleted
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
80 ml/1/4 cup + 1 tbsp cooking oil
80 gm butter
160 gm plain flour
40 gm parsley, chopped

Lemon Butter Sauce
160 gm (slightly more than 1 stick) unsalted butter
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt to taste

Marinate fish with salt and white pepper for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Heat cooking oil and butter in a pan.

Coat marinated fish in flour and fry in hot oil until done, but not too crispy. remove fish and drain on kitchen paper.

Arrange fish on a serving dish and keep warm.

To prepare sauce: melt butter in a pot over low heat. Add lemon juice and salt and stir until well-combined.

Pour butter sauce over prepared fish and garnish with parsley before serving.

Budu Pahang (Budu Fish Sauce and Ulam leaves dip Pahang style) - only trouble with this recipe is that the ulam leaves may be difficult to obtain where you are! So maybe just for curiosity value! Or you can try other herbs, such as coriander, mint, Asian basil, which are easier to obtain.

Ingredients
60 ml/1/4 cup cooking oil
250 ml/1 cup budu
600 ml/3.5 cups coconut milk

Seasoning Ingredients (slice all thinly)
15 thai red chillies
5 red finger chillies
10 belimbi fruits (belimbing buluh)
10 shallots
5 cloves garlic, peeled
5 cm/2 inch knob of ginger
4 stalks lemon grass, trimmed

Ulam leaves (finely sliced)
2 daun kunyit (turmeric leaves)
2 daun kaduk (wild pepper leaves)
4 sprigs daun kesum (laksa leaves)

Heat cooking oil in a pan over medium heat and fry sliced seasoning ingredients until soft. Add budu and coconut milk and stir until well-combined and starting to simmer.

Add ulam leaves and continue to stir until almost dry.

Serve with grilled fish.


San

[londonchinese]

San,

I spoke with my Kelantan friend today and she said you cannot sub the budu with cincalok bec budu is so black while cincalok is pinkish. The taste is also different due to different main ingredients. An acquired taste, she hastened to add. I got scared. So I am going to give the recipe to her...actually she asked for it. She might cook it for me if I am brave enough to sample. BTW she has budu in her kitchen!!!
Another thing, before I forget ..thanks again for the Sweet Sour recipe. Yes. ...we do get whole fish here..bones and heads and all. Actually we get all kinds of fish. I might try it with our Rainbow trouts some day but I like tilapia a lot too. So I will use tilapia. What say you San, approve?
I like your other Chinese dishes too...will try. The Shandong chicken and the prawns...hm...I'll change it to shrimp in case some ppl here say, " Huh?"

I love Chinese food but I need to do it myself or make sure that it is halal...sans alcohol, you know. I like to ask anyone whom I think is good at chinese cooking. In the past I used to ask my Chinese friends who are either Chinese Muslims or Malays who are married to Chinese. And whenever I see someone who is good at it, I wont pass the chance.

Hi Mrs C

Until I can get hold of of genuine budu, maybe I can compromise by soaking some ikan bilis in Thai fish sauce - can you ask your friend if that's a possibility? Thai fish sauce is made from anchovies after all, so would have a resemblance to budu. Where does your friend get hers from, from Kelantan? She must have a store of the stuff, it is hardly something one picks up at your local supermarket!

Tilapia is fine for the S/S recipe, although I find the flesh a little bit soft compared with fish like grouper or snapper which we use back home. As for trout, I often use that for ikan panggang or ikan sumbat. I realise that Muslims do not use alcohol for cooking which is why in all my recipes I have put Shaoxing wine as an optional ingredient. I'll put up more Chinese recipes from time to time, which I consider suitable for Muslims. Some of our pork recipes can be easily adapted to chicken, and I will stipulate that when it is possible.

San

[Mrs. C]

San,

I spoke with my Kelantan friend today and she said you cannot sub the budu with cincalok bec budu is so black while cincalok is pinkish. The taste is also different due to different main ingredients. An acquired taste, she hastened to add. I got scared. So I am going to give the recipe to her...actually she asked for it. She might cook it for me if I am brave enough to sample. BTW she has budu in her kitchen!!!


Another thing, before I forget ..thanks again for the Sweet Sour recipe. Yes. ...we do get whole fish here..bones and heads and all. Actually we get all kinds of fish. I might try it with our Rainbow trouts some day but I like tilapia a lot too. So I will use tilapia. What say you San, approve?


I like your other Chinese dishes too...will try. The Shandong chicken and the prawns...hm...I'll change it to shrimp in case some ppl here say, " Huh?"

I love Chinese food but I need to do it myself or make sure that it is halal...sans alcohol, you know. I like to ask anyone whom I think is good at chinese cooking. In the past I used to ask my Chinese friends who are either Chinese Muslims or Malays who are married to Chinese. And whenever I see someone who is good at it, I wont pass the chance.

[Mrs. C]

I wonder whether anyone is interested in putting up their favourite family recipes in this website for other fellow Singaporeans. What do you all think of this idea?

[londonchinese]

San, remember about your reply to make Air Bandong from the "Gathering in London" yesterday, went to the Pakistani store, I can't find this gingelly oil. But I saw pomegranates juice. What is the difference between juice and syrup?

From this store, I bought Pakistani meat stew (sauce is thick and dry), it is more like our "Daging masak berempah" execpt that it is hotter and spicy.

Gingelly oil (or cold-pressed sesame oil) is sometimes sold under the name of til oil, so ask for that next time you are in the shop. Pomegranate juice is like other juices, probably water mixed with concentrate, and makes a refreshing drink but is no good for cooking, but there are two types of pomegranate syrup - a thick dark and very sticky liquid that is also marketed as pomegranate molasses - this is more sour than sweet, and is used extensively by Iranians and Iraqis in their cooking. Do not buy this, we do not use it in any of our cuisines back in Singapore. Then there is grenadine or pomegranate syrup proper, very sweet and needs to be diluted with water. For those who are interested, it is one of the components of our "Singapore Sling" from back home. This is the one that I have suggested as a possible replacement for rose syrup. I take it you have had no success in tracking down rose syrup then?

By the way, talking about meat stews, try one of the Northern (Kelantan) beef recipes I have posted on this message board sometime!

San

[I.M. Shilah]

If you can find grenadine syrup (syrup of pomegranates) it can be a substitute, although grenadine is a little bit sour unlike rose syrup which is all sugar and fragrance! Here we go again, talking about food (and drink)!!

San, remember about your reply to make Air Bandong from the "Gathering in London" yesterday, went to the Pakistani store, I can't find this gingelly oil. But I saw pomegranates juice. What is the difference between juice and syrup?

From this store, I bought Pakistani meat stew (sauce is thick and dry), it is more like our "Daging masak berempah" execpt that it is hotter and spicy.

[londonchinese]

Here are two Chinese recipes on the "sweet and sour" theme - in case people think that I cook nothing but hot spicy Malay dishes all the time, from my postings on this and other forum message boards!

Sweet and Sour Shandong chicken - this dish is from Northern China (the province of Shandong) and features a sweet garlicky sauce (garlic and leeks are heavily used in Shandong cuisine) with a subtle hot and sour flavour. No tomato ketchup is used!

Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 kg/2 lbs chicken breast fillet, cut into bite-size pieces, dusted with cornstarch
1-2 leeks, white parts only, cut into slivers

Sauce ingredients
1-2 red finger chillies, de-seeded and sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp chilli paste (sambal ulek or cili boh are fine)
250 ml/1 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine (optional)
60 ml/1/4 cup white rice vinegar
3 tbsp sugar, honey or corn/golden syrup

2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water

Combine sauce ingredients (except cornstarch mixture) in a saucepan and bring to a boil slowly over medium heat. Simmer for 2 minutes, turn off the heat and set aside.

Heat oil in a wok. When oil is hot, add garlic and stir fry over medium heat until brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. Make sure the garlic does not burn and acquire a bitter taste! Remove garlic and set aside.

Increase heat to high, add half the chicken pieces and stir fry for about 5 minutes until browned and cooked through. Remove from wok and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with remaining chicken.

Return sauce to the wok and heat until it starts to bubble. Thicken with cornstarch mixture, adjust for taste, then add chicken pieces, stirring to ensure that they are evenly coated. Serve on a platter garnished with the crispy fried garlic and slivered leeks.


Sweet and Sour Plum Sauce Prawns

Ingredients
1 kg/2 lbs medium-large prawns, de-veined and feelers trimmed but shells left on
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
Oil for deep frying
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 pc ginger, 2.5 cm/1 inch in length, peeled and finely chopped
1 onion, diced
3 tbsp chilli sauce
3 tbsp tomato ketchup or puree
1 tbsp Hoisin sauce
2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water
1 egg white, beaten
Cucumber and tomato slices, chopped coriander leaves, for garnish

Sauce ingredients
400 ml/1.5 cups anchovy stock or water (make from scratch with ikan bilis or use an anchovy stock cube)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp white rice or distilled vinegar
2 tbsp Chinese plum sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine (optional)
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp white pepper

Season prawns with salt and pepper and set aside for 15 minutes. Combine sauce ingredients.

Heat oil in a wok and deep-fry prawns for 30 seconds. Remove and set aside.

Drain oil, leaving approximately 3 tbsp. Heat wok and saute garlic, shallots and ginger until fragrant. Stir in combined chilli, tomato and Hoisin sauces.

Pour in sauce ingredients and bring to the boil. Add prawns and stir-fry until prawns are cooked through.

Thicken with cornstarch mixture and stir in beaten egg white.

Transfer to serving dish and garnish with cucumber and tomato slices and coriander leaves.