PrintSnapshots from Asia: Not Exactly Mom's Cooking, But Close
Photograph by Shimin Wong
It's late. You've had a long day. You trudge home, glad to leave the city's noise, grit, smells, and people behind. You wonder if you should have picked up something for dinner. A wrap, a salad, a protein shake, something swimming in oil?
You're in no mood to cook. And, if you're Asian, you probably need rice. More specifically, rice and three sides. And somehow, it's not the same if you head to the Chinese-y takeaway—only vaguely Chinese with its "leftover graveyard" offering of chop suey and mystery soup, and not in the least Singaporean with "Singapore noodles" that no local has ever encountered at home nor would, while sober, order.
What you really want is the ubiquitous cai fan (vegetable rice) stall that dots the island (memories of which wake you up in the middle of the night with hunger pangs).
It's here where you can press your weary nose against the glass display and ask the hawker's wife (the hawker's still busy wokking in the back) for your staples—because every cai fan stall on the island will stay true to the "official menu" of stir-fried sambal kangkong (water convolvulus), sautéed soy sauce potatoes, silken steamed egg with minced pork, fried-then-braised coins of egg tofu, and sayur lodeh (curried vegetables). Once these "regulars" are taken care of, the stall can get creative, with xia jiang ji, a shocking red, crisp-fried chicken slathered in an addictive, lip-smackingly good fermented prawn paste, and hae bee hiam, a blisteringly-hot chili redolent with pounded, dried shrimp, arguably the most welcome sight to hungry bellies.
Nothing beats the sheer variety—the picture above captures perhaps a fifth of what's generally offered, and surprisingly, with no great loss of quality, too. For the exhausted, it's simple relief to point at what looks good and not be obliged to utter anything beyond "I would like some gravy from the bok choy dish, please." Then, to tuck in.
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4 Comments:
Kangkong belacan, steamed egg, assam fish, please! Isn't this also called "economic rice"?
Oh, what I wouldn't do to get a place like this in London.... :(
sulin at 12:51PM on 07/31/07
I want one in NYC too! :(
roboppy at 1:18PM on 07/31/07
I know what you mean about needing this in London! I ate at a place like this in Singapore, and actually all throughout Malaysia! Although I have no idea what half the stuff was called, I still find myself dreaming about it.
mmmmm rice mystery goodness!
B
Hand to Mouth
Making Stock of the Situation
A blog for the penniless gourmet
handtomouth at 5:17PM on 07/31/07
The "economic" or "economy" tag was slapped on during (if my memory serves me ) the Asian Financial Crisis of '97. Everyone was tightening their belts, eating at restaurants was a no-no, and even the business at hawker centers (with their already low prices) took a beating -- it was cheaper to survive on 50 cents instant ramen at home! Hawkers had to come up with ways to boost their business, and this tag was one of them (along with a reduction in prices, of course!)
onedaylingers at 3:37AM on 08/02/07