Singapore – Page 2 – The Occasional Cook

Devil’s Curry

December 27, 2020March 3, 2021 7shasha7

I first learnt this dish from my maternal aunt who had learnt it from her mother in law. It’s very hot but not in your mouth hot. The heat gets to you from the inside. Very visceral and if you follow the traditional Eurasian recipe, you will then put in all the leftover viscera into the dish.

What makes this different from the usual Southeast Asian curries is the liberal use of mustard seeds in the rempah (spice paste). And what makes this special in this region is also that it’s a dish the Eurasian usually cook for Christmas. And since my aunt had learnt it form her mother in law who grew up in a Christian family then, this makes it the most authentic recipe I can get from a family member.

With any sort of Malay or SEA cooking, there must be the rempah. Here I have 2 onions, a knob of ginger, a knob of fresh turmeric, 8 fresh red chillies, 7 candlenuts, a tablespoon of mustard seeds and about a cup of blended dried chilli paste mixture (dried chillies, garlic, onion). Blend all the above in a blender till very smooth.

As I’ve been making videos, I realise I forgot to take pictures too for the blog. But here is the first process. Fry an additional one tablespoon of mustard seeds in hot oil first and then add sliced onions. Here I just used leftover cubes white onions. Waste not want not. The thing about cooking Asian is that it’s always very forgiving. When the onions have softened add the blended mixture and let that mixture cook over slow fire. You’ve got to constantly mix it and even cover it because boy does it splatter!

And when the spice paste is ready (the oil will rise from the mixture and you can smell that the paste is cooked), it’s time to add the chicken pieces (which I’ve only lightly marinated in light soy sauce and browned) and potatoes. Cover with enough water and let it cook till tender.

After which, add sausages. I added beef frankfurters here. And lastly cauliflower florets.

The seasoning which makes this dish different is vinegar! Yes! Distilled white vinegar. I used about 10 tablespoons in total after constantly tasting till I get the right balance. Salt and sugar of course too.

For garnish I added red bird’s eye chillies. The very brave will actually eat that too!

And here it is. Devil’s Curry. So hot it really is devilish.

Asian Dishes, Malay, Seafood, Singapore

Spiced Sting Ray

November 23, 2020March 3, 2021 7shasha7

We love sting Ray (skate wings) here. Usually, the preferred way of eating in our hawker centers will be grilled on a banana leaf and then topped with a piquant sambal sauce. I’ve made one before and shared it here.

But last Saturday, I made this dish so that it could be mixed together with my other seafood dishes in a shellout day meal (Header Picture).

It’s a sambal dish but I added garam masala and plenty of black pepper. Fry till quite dry and caramelised but make sure not to overcook the fish or it’ll be dry.

This is the type of dried chillies that we use in a lot of Malay and SEAsian cooking. Rehydrate and then blend

These are the Bombay onions, garlic and ginger which I blended separately from the chillies

Mix the blended raw ingredients together

And this is the base for a lot of Malay dishes. Can be stored in the freezer for months.

The next few steps are video recordings of me frying the paste and then adding in the aromatic leaves i.e. curry leaves and lime leaves. And then the stingray pieces, and finally lots of black pepper and of course salt to taste. Fry till fish is cooked and the skins slightly caramelised.

The important part is to make sure the chillies are cooked through, or what we call in Malay ‘pecah minyak’. Basically, the oils from the chillies have surfaced. This ensures that the chillies are not raw. This dish is delicious eaten with hot rice or just on its own.

You can squeeze calamansi lime over before eating for a more uplifting experience!

Asian Dishes, Seafood, Singapore

Prawns in Aromatic Spicy Soy Sauce

November 13, 2020March 3, 2021 7shasha7

This is one of the easiest and my go to recipe whenever I see large prawns. And last Saturday when I went to the market, boy, were there some super HUGE prawns at the regular seafood market stall!

Even though it cost $24 a kilo, I bought it because it looked sooooo tempting! Look how huge these prawns are!

After cleaning the innards and cutting off half of it’s head, I marinated them in white pepper and deep fried all of them till fully cooked.

After frying the prawns, remove them, then discard the oil and replace the wok with fresh cooking oil. Add chopped garlic, three sprigs of curry leaves (from my potted plant 🙂 ) and slices of red bird’s eye chillies.

Once these aromatics are fried fragrant, add the prawns back to the wok and add about 3 tablespoons of Indonesian kecap manis and a squeeze of lime juice from half a lime. Season with a bit of salt and that’s it! I love love love this simple dish of spicy fragrant soy based sauce. Sprinkle with a smattering of coriander leaves (cilantro) and mint (both I got from my potted plants.) 🙂

Asian Dishes, breakfast, Singapore

Singapore Style Breakfast

August 23, 2020March 3, 2021 7shasha7

The teenage girl wanted to eat soft boiled eggs with kaya toast. I’ve posted a few times, mostly not what I made, but in my opinion one of the best kaya toast eateries in Singapore here.

I got only two eggs right out of 6. It’s not easy to make soft boiled eggs because 1. You’ve really got to get the temperature and timing perfect 2. The quality of eggs plays a part too

So I had the first two eggs right but the last four were way undercooked. And so I realised what the problem was. I’ve placed too many eggs in my basket! Or in this case, my pot.

But in the end, it all turned out fine and the girl was happy with her breakfast before her Chemistry tutor arrived for her lesson.

I’ve also started making videos so enjoy the video I’ve made for this post! ☺️

You can also follow me on Instagram at @shasha_cooks

Asian Dishes, Poultry, Sides, Singapore

Singapore Hawker Wings

July 19, 2020March 3, 2021 7shasha7

This is a recipe which is so good that you’ve got to make a big batch of it. I only made 1kg and it wasn’t enough so today, I’m marinating the other half so I can have more wings tonight!

If we ever get to travel again, and if you ever visit Singapore, you have to come down and try the food at our Hawker centres at night. Certain Hawker centres have stalls they sell bbq fare at night. Now, this is not US Texas style bbq we are talking about. Singapore style bbq is a plethora of seafood and satay grilled over charcoal. And there’s got to be wings! Marinated and skewered over a rotisserie like apparatus, these wings are flavourful and crispy and juicy all at the same time!

I managed to make these at home using the grill function of the normal oven. The other trick is to skewer the wings till they are straight using wooden skewers (unless you have the metal skewers). And one last thing is to marinade the wings as Long as you can, preferably overnight.

For the marination which I used for 1kg of wings:

1. 2 tbsp oyster sauce

2. 2 tbsp light soy sauce

3. 1 tbsp gochujang sauce (this is my own twist.)

4. 1 tbsp fish sauce

5. 1 tbsp sesame oil

6. 1 tbsp finely minced garlic

7. 1/2 tbsp finely chopped onions

And that’s it. Marinate as long as you can and then skewer the wings and using the grill setting, grill till the wings are nicely browned and crispy. Serve with homemade sambal and calamansi limes.