Singapore Signature Dishes

[kitchencapers]

Hi everyone,
If you ever had the chance to visit sunny island Singapore, you must try these few dishes that made Singapore famous (in terms of food).
Singapore Fried Hokkien Mee
Hokkien is a dialect group of the chinese community. Mee is a local word for yellow noodles.

Recipe yields for 6 persons
Ingredients:
500g of yellow noodles
500g of thick bee hoon(Rice Vermicelli)
500 g tiger prawns(remove head, and body shell, leaving tail behind)
3 squids(remove eyes, ink sac, skin, cut into rings)
200 g green leafy vegetables
100 g lean pork, optional(sliced)
fresh limes, sambal belachan chilli
1 tsp chopped garlic
500 ml water
salt to taste
Method:
1. Boil the 500 ml water to make prawn stock using prawn head/shells.
2. Drain and discard shells. Set aside the prawn stock.
3. In a wok, add 2 tbsp corn oil, and stir fry chopped garlic
4. Add prawns, squid rings and stir fry till cooked(about 2 mins)
5. Add pork slices and vegetables.
6. Add noodles and prawn stock.
7. cover wok to simmer over low heat for 5 mins.
8. season with salt to taste(usually 1.5 tsp only).
9. Serve hot, garnish with a cut lime and a tsp of sambal belachan.
This recipe was from Auntie Gayle(my client's mom, side track a bit..I fixed their home computers!). Auntie Gayle has a big garden surrounding her house and she grows all kinds of herbs and spices. She shared with me her family recipe of traditional Nonya Sambal Belachan.
Ingredients:(to make 100 grams)
50g dried chilli
50g chilli padi(bird's eye chilli)
1 cm thick belachan
2 tbsp sugar
2 pcs Kaffir Lime Leaves
juice of 3 pcs of small limes
Method:
1. Soak dried chilli in a bowl of warm water till soft.
2. In a blender, blend chillies, belachan into a smooth paste.
3. Add sugar to mix.
4. shred lime leaves into fine shreds.
5. add shredded limes and juice.
Serve as it is. Unfinished sambal belachan can be kept in the fridge for upto 1 week. If you prefer it less spicy, don't add chilli padi.
Goes great with rice dishes and steamed seafood like steamed prawns or Crabs.

[kitchencapers]

For step by step pic, go to http://gchoong.fotopages.com and look for the entry of Hainanese Chicken Rice set

another heirloom recipe


Serves 4 persons
Ingredients:
1 large chicken(1.5 kg)
1 inch young ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 litres water

Method:
1. Clean, wash the chicken. Do not cut off the neck or head.
2. Tie a string to the head. set aside.
3. In a large sauce pot, add water and ginger to boil.
4. Once boiling, slowly slide in the chicken. making sure that water covers the chicken.
5. cook over low heat for 20 mins..uncovered.
6. After 20 mins, turn off the fire. And leave the chicken inside the pot for another 10 mins.
7. Remove the chicken and let it cool completely.
8. Once cooled, add sesame oil and salt on your palm and rub the chicken inside out.
9. Chop/cut chicken to serve on a plate.
10. Drizzle 2 tbsp of chicken stock over chicken.

Notes:
If you discover that the chicken is not cook thru, just add hot boiling chicken stock to it and drained the stock back to the big pot. Do this 3 to 4 times and the chicken will not have bloody parts.

If you do this, you must mixed 1 tbsp of sesame oil, 1 tsp salt and drizzle over the cut chicken before serving again.

Chicken Rice:



Note that rice is cooked using a Microwave Oven.

Recipe yields for 6 persons
Ingredients:
4 cups of rice(washed, cleaned, drained)
5 cups rich chicken stock(from stock used for cooking the chicken)
1.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp sliced old ginger
10 pcs pandan leaves
30 ml chicken stock plus oil
2 tbsp corn oil

Method:
1. In a wok, add corn oil to heat.
2. Add sliced ginger to stir fry till fragant.
3. Add washed rice, salt and 30ml chicken stock and stir fry for 5 mins.
4. Put pandan leaves and rest of stock in a deep casserole dish.
5. Put fried rice in the dish and microwave on HIGH for 22 mins.
6. Remove and toss rice to fluff up.
7. Serve immediately.

Notes:
If you are using a rice cooker, just measure enough chicken stock to cook the rice.

This is usually made to eat with Chicken Rice.



for step by step pics, go to http://gchoong.fotopages.com and look for the entry of Hainanese Chicken Rice Set

Recipe yields 100g of chilli sauce
Ingredients:
1 inch of old ginger
10 pcs red chilli
30ml warmed Rich Chicken stock(from cooking the chicken)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp Rice Wine

Method:
1. Blend chilli, ginger and seasonings except chicken stock in a food processor till fine/smooth.
2. Add chicken stock and stir to mix.
3. Ready to eat, dip!

Notes:
1. Best to eat this freshly made.
2. Leftover chilli sauce can be kept in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. After which it may turn bad.

[kitchencapers]

I 'married' 2 recipes i had..one of my mom and the other of my later Father-in-law and did this Teochew Stewed Duck. The meat is very tender and literally breaks away from the bone. the skin is soft and supple. The sauce is most heavenly..! sweet and aromatic.

Teochew is a dialect group of the chinese community.

Boiling the duck in the sauce:


Turn it over every 10 mins


Steaming it in a large deep dish


Sliced and ready to indulge!


Serves 6 persons
Ingredients:
1 large duck(2 kg)
6 chicken eggs(hard boiled)
2 pcs of firm bean curd(cut into smaller pieces)

Sauce:
500ml Dark Soya sauce
300ml Light Soya sauce
50g 5 spiced powder
3 pcs cinnamon stick
1 tsp cloves
5 pcs star aniseed
1 pc dried orange peel
3 pcs dried Bay leaves
300g Rock Sugar(about 3 to 4 pcs)

Method:
1. using a large sauce pot, add everything in to boil.
2. Boil at medium heat for 10 mins.
3. Pour boiling sauce into a large wok.
4. Set the fire to medium fire.
5. Slowly slide the washed/cleaned duck into the wok.
6. Cook over low heat for 40 mins, turning duck over every 10 mins.
7. Remove and put into a large deep dish.
8. Pour sauce into this dish with the duck till halfway.
9. Steam over high heat for another 20 mins.
10. Remove to cool before slicing.
11. Add hardboiled eggs(removed shells) and sliced bean curd into the sauce pot to cook.
12. Cook over low heat for 15 to 20 mins till everything is well coated(dark coloured).
13. Serve with plain rice or with porridge.

Important Notes:
Do not discard the sauce. Store it in plastic container and labelled it with date created. And leave it in the freezer. Each time you feel like eating this again, just remove to thaw and add the sauce to the wok again to heat up.

You can use this sauce to do stewed chicken, pork, duck, eggs, tau pok(dried bean curd). Just add more water to it as each time when you used it to cook, water evaporates from the sauce.

And with each time you cook, just add cinnamon stick, cloves, star aniseeds and bay leaves again.

The sauce can last in the freezer for years. This process is very much like the starter dough for making Sour dough bread. The thick and concentrated sauce is your "starter sauce".

My mom told me that the hawkers who sell Stewed ducks, do not sell the sauce. To them, its more precious than gold.

[kitchencapers]

Laksa is Noodles in Coconut milk..a very popular local favourite here in Singapore. A bowl like this costs US$1.20 only
Ready to eat:

Frying the rempah..the whole kitchen smells !

Cooked..ready to use.

Recipe yields for 6 persons
Ingredients:
600g thick beehoon
1 kg tiger prawns(remove shells, heads, set aside)
500ml rich prawn stock
1 litre coconut milk
Salt to taste
Garnishing, toppings:
300g bean sprouts(remove the roots, blanched quickly to cook)
100g laksa leaves(chopped finely)
10 pcs tau pok(cut into long strips)
8 hardboiled eggs(sliced)
3 pcs deep fried fish cakes, sliced (get from wet markets)
200g fresh cockle meat(optional)
20 pcs of fresh fish balls(steamed to cook it)
Blend together:
15 pcs fresh red chillies
300 g dried shrimps(soften in water, discard water)
1 inch belachan
10 pcs chilli padi(bird's eye chilli)
20 pcs shallots
4 cloves of garlic
1 inch galangal(blue ginger)
2 stalks Lemon grass(do not blend with the rest)

Method for the paste:
1. In a wok, add 30ml corn oil to heat.
2. Add rempah paste and lemon grass to fry till fragrant.(about 10 mins over medium heat)
3. Remove and set aside.
Method for the stock:
1. Boil 200ml of water in a pot. Add prawns shells to cook for 10 mins.
2. Drain and discard prawn shells.
3. Add prawn meat into prawn stock to cook for 2 mins. Drain and set aside.
4. Add rempah paste into prawn stock to cook. Stir to mix.
5. Add coconut milk and stir over low heat.
6. Add sliced tau pok to cook.
7. Add salt to taste.
Method to serve:
1. Add desire amounts of beehoon in a bowl.
2. Scoop enough laksa gravy over it.
3. Garnish with all the toppings.
4. Sprinkle a pinch of laksa leaves over it.
Notes:
Fresh cockle meat is usually sold in supermarkets here in Singapore, where the shell is removed and its often packed in a bloody mess of 200g. If not, can omit it.
If you are having that, add 1 tbsp ful of it with the noodles and scoop very hot gravy over it to cook it. If not, you can omit it altogether.

[kitchencapers]

This is hand-me-down recipe from my late grandfather to my mom and now to me.





Ingredients:
500g Beef shin(cut into big cubes 1 inch thickness)
500g Oxtripe(cooked and cut into stripes..sold in most supermarkets)
500g Beef Tendon
1 packet of Beef balls
1 packet of Beef Tendon Balls
3 large onions(cut into quarters)
1 cup Dark Soya Sauce
1 cup Light Soya Sauce
2 cinnamon sticks
5 pcs aniseeds
10 pcs of cloves
2 tbsp white peppercorns
Salt to taste
Chinese parsley
Bean sprouts

Method:
1. in a large pot, add tap water to half full. Boil till water is boiling, bubbling.
2. add in all the ingredients except peppercorns, beef balls and salt
3. Partially cover the pot and cook over low heat for 2 hours.
4. Check after 1 hour to ensure water has not dried up. Stir to mix it.
5. Add peppercorns and beef balls after the 1st hour.
6. After 2 hours, add salt to taste.

To serve with noodles(hawker style)
in a bowl, add noodles, beansprouts(uncooked). Scoop beef soup plus meat over it. Garnish with parsley.

To make the dry version:
Separate the soup in another sauce pot. Add potatoe starch mixed with water and stir into the hot soup sauce pot till it thickens. the amount of potatoe starch to use depends on how much soup you have.

Note:
You can have this as a soup dish with just plain rice. Its better to use Beef shin as the meat is tough and with slow cooking, it makes it tender. You can also use a Crockpot to do this. Just add half of everything as most crockpot is not large enough to contain all the beef and water.

[Eileen]

Run down to the Red House on Upper East Coast Road (?) and get the recipe for the green leaf dish and the recipe for their chili crab.

[IcyMist]

Gina, its breakfast time and I haven't had anything to eat. You are a cruel lady!!! Those recipes looked wonderful and when I have more time am going to look at them and see which ones I can make.

[kitchencapers]

eileen

what is the green leaf dish?

you want Chilli crab recipe..I have..!

[Eileen]

That's my problem. I don't know what the "green leaf dish" is. It's an arrow shaped green that they cooked with a sauce that has dried red pepper flakes in it. I always had the same waiter when I went there and never did learn what it really was. The Crab is just this side of heaven. Do you know the Red House Restaurant?

[kitchencapers]

Eileen
I do not a close up picture. But a group photo. The chilli crab was cooked by me at my student's home last Dec 2004. All the dishes you see on the table were cooked by me. The cooking lesson we had last year spreads 2 whole days. 1st day, it was DIY for my students. 2nd day, I cook and they watch..and I get to eat too.

From the picture..each type of crab dish had 5 medium crabs.


Ingredients:
4 Sri Lankan crabs(wash, clean, chopped to break claw shell)
1 clove garlic(chopped)

Seasonings to mix together in a bowl:
100 ml tomato sauce
80 ml chilli sauce
60 ml water
2 tbsp Chilli powder
60ml Chinese Rice Vinegar
3.5 tbsp sugar

3 eggs(beaten)

Method:
1. In a wok, add 3 tbsp of cooking oil to heat.
2. Add garlic to stir fry till fragrant.
3. Add crabs and stir fry quickly for 2 to 3 mins on HIGH Fire.
4. Pour seasonings in and stir fry to mix/coat crabs with sauce.
5. cover the wok and let it simmer over medium heat for 10 mins.
6. At 5 min intervals, remove the cover to stir the crabs. Cover again.
7. Remove the cover to check if sauce has thicken.
8. Pour beaten eggs over the crabs. cover for another 2 mins.
9. turn off the fire, leave the cover on for another 3 mins.
10. Remove, serve on a plate. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Notes:
Chilli powder is optional. If you like it very spicy, add more chilli powder. If not, can omit.

My hubby likes it to be like Sweet and Sour pork, so sometimes I add fresh lime juice just before serving.

You can substitute Chinese Rice Vinegar with Apple Cider Vinegar.

[kitchencapers]

eileen

I think I know what you are talking about..


Ingredients:
400 g kang kong vegetable, washed, cut(Water Spinach)
2 pcs chilli padi(chopped)
1 tsp sugar
30ml water

sambal to blend together:
100 dried shrimps(soften in water)
3 red chilli
1 shallot
1 garlic
1 tsp belachan(toasted)

Method:
1. Blend sambal ingredients together.
2. Heat up wok with 3 tbsp cooking oil.
3. Add sambal to stir fry till fragant.
4. Add vegetables and rest of seasonings.
5. Stir fry quickly for 1 to 2 mins.
6. Turn off stove and serve immediately.

Notes:
Kang Kong often get overcooked too easily. So its best to stir fry for only 1 minute, the most. So it will stay crunchy.

Belachan is the local word for Dried Prawn Paste. Its very pungent and must be toasted then pounded before use.

[kitchencapers]

Eileen

yes, I know of that place. the food is expensive but I guess for the ambience, most locals bring their foreign friends there to eat.

But there are now many good seafood restaurants in Singapore and you do not need to go to Red House to get them.

Even this green leaf dish you talked about, you can order this at any chinese restaurant. Just tell the waiter you want

Sambal Kang Kong

pronounced as Sum Bile (sambal)

[Eileen]

I think you are dead on with the "green leaf dish". The only problem I have now is to find the "green leaves". I really miss Singapore. I lived in Jakarta for 10 years and traveled to Singapore once or twice a month for a few days. I really miss it. Thank you so much for the recipes.

[kitchencapers]

my own creation some years ago.



Ingredients
4 Sri Lankan Crabs(large)
half cup tomatoe sauce
2 tbsp Chilli Powder
1 can of Beer(any brand)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 3 tbsp water
1 onion(chopped)
2 eggs(beaten)

Method:
1. Wash, clean crabs. And chopped into half. Knock to break the claws hard shells.
2. In a wok, add olive oil and onions and stir fry till fragrant.
3. Add crabs, including the top shell.
4. Add all ingredients EXCEPT Beer, and Egg
5. Stir fry for 2 mins.
6. Add beer and covered wok to simmer for 5 to 7 mins.
7. Add beaten egg, and cover again for 2 mins.
8. Turn off fire. Leave to stand and covered in the wok for another 5 mins.
9. Remove and serve on large plate. Garnish with spring onions.

[kitchencapers]

My uncle cooks the best Black Pepper crabs ever! All of us(his nieces, nephews, grand nieces/nephews) swears by it. Whenever any one of my cousins who are living abroad returns for a home visit, our uncle never fails to cook this for family gatherings.

There isn't any great secret formula or recipe he had. But we felt that he cooked it with lots of love.

Ingredients:
4 medium crabs(washed, clean, cut into half)
100 g black pepper corns(gently pounded to break it)
50 g white pepper corns(gently pounded to break it)
100 g buttter
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp coarse sugar

Method:
1. In a wok, heat up butter and add all the peppercorns to stir fry.
2. Add crabs and salt/sugar.
3. Stir fry for 5 mins.
4. Cover the wok for 10 mins.
5. Remove cover and stir fry to mix evenly.
6. Serve hot.