Posted by Wan Yan Ling, June 26, 2007 at 2:00 PM
Ladies and gents, before jumping right into things here, allow me to introduce Wan Yan Ling, who will be serving as an intern for Serious Eats during her summer break. Ling, who's based in Southeast Asia at the moment, will be bringing us short reports on the various dishes to be found in the region. Today, kway chap, a Singaporean specialty. Enjoy! —The Serious Eats Team
By Wan Yan Ling | In a March interview with Anthony Bourdain, eater of eyeballs, testicles, and still-beating hearts, the man pegs his rise to "serious eater" rank to “when the Chinese and Singaporeans began to take me seriously."
While we Singaporeans aren’t exactly in the habit of breakfasting on lions (too mafan or hassle-ly to prep), we do take our food, or makan, with utmost gravity. See us put on our "game face" when tackling a steaming bowl of kway chap—spicy, stewed pig innards served alongside silken, slippery rice noodles. Dished up with flavor-packed hard-boiled eggs stained brown from the soy sauce broth, steamed fish-paste cakes flecked with chili and scallions, firm pressed tofu, and fried tofu puffs, it sounds like an omnivore’s delight. But really, it’s all about the offal—with everything on just the right side of chewy. Not forgetting the obligatory vinegar-tinged chili sauce, of course. Those of us who made the hike to Singapore Day know the locals like it mouth-numbingly, chilli padi (think jalepeños) hot.
About the author: Wan Yan Ling, Serious Eats's overseas summer intern, is an impoverished grad student and sourdough finger-crosser living in Singapore. She can usually be found in the kitchen procrastinating on "real work," or online tracking down obscure recipes. Ling thinks eating alone is no fun, and she still believes in hand-mixing.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, May 4, 2007 at 9:15 AM
Lynn of To Short Term Memories made these lovely macarons for herself after teaching a cooking class. One's filled with dulce de leche and the other with kaya, a rich, creamy jam made with coconut milk, eggs and pandan leaf most popular in Singapore and Malaysia and usually served spread on toast. I do not know how I will continue to exist in the world today knowing I cannot have these in my mouth!
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 23, 2007 at 5:30 PM
On Saturday, most of the Serious Eats crew trekked to New York City's Central Park to check out the eats at the inaugural Singapore Day.
By the time we arrived, the place was packed. Long lines of people, mostly Singaporean expats, had queued up in front of the various hawker stalls set up around Wollman Rink, which, in colder months, serves as an ice-skating venue.
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Posted by The Serious Eats Team, April 20, 2007 at 8:00 AM
The crew here at Serious Eats HQ has long been a fan of Aun Koh's food blog. If you don't recognize the name, that's because you might know him as Chubby Hubby. If you don't, now's as good a time as any to meet him. Singapore Day here in New York City had us rereading his site to bone up on the street food we'll be eating tomorrow, so we thought we'd sit down with him for this week's Meet & Eat.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, April 19, 2007 at 7:00 PM
In anticipation of Singapore Day in New York's Central Park, we'll be posting descriptions periodically over the week of the country's signature street food, which is sold there in hawker centers. Here, we give you ...
Nasi Lemak: "This 'rich rice' is cooked in coconut milk with the classic toppings of deep-fried fish; sunnyside up eggs; cucumbers; fried crispy anchovies, or ikan bilis; and a lemony sweet chili sambal. Fried chicken wings and spicy grilled fish paste, or otah, is a must for the die-hard nasi lemak fan."
Photograph from Etereal9 on Flickr
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 18, 2007 at 3:15 PM
In anticipation of Singapore Day in New York's Central Park, we'll be posting descriptions periodically over the week of the country's signature street food, which is sold there in hawker centers. Here, we give you ...
Kaya/Kaya Roti: "Made from eggs, coconut milk, sugar, and pandan leaves for that unmistakable fragrance, kaya can come green in color if you prefer the pandan flavor and fragrance. It can also come brown in color if you prefer the flavor and fragrance of palm sugar or gula melaka. Kaya is great on toast with tea or coffee. It can be especially tantalizing with a couple of runny eggs."
Photograph from daxiang on Flickr
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 18, 2007 at 12:30 PM
In anticipation of Singapore Day in New York's Central Park, we'll be posting descriptions of the country's signature street food, which is sold there in hawker centers. Here, we give you ...
Fried hokkien mee: "A favorite among Singaporeans, fried hokkien mee is served with fresh and delicious slices of squid, prawns, slices of fish cake, vegetables and strips of pork. For the best eating experience, this hokkien mee is served wet and not too dry, and you may want to squeeze the lime juice into your spoon first, remove the lime seeds, and pour it onto your hokkien mee. For added enjoyment, sambal chili and lime juice must be mixed together with the noodles."
Photograph from Intensify on Flickr
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 17, 2007 at 1:45 PM
In anticipation of Singapore Day in New York's Central Park, we'll be posting descriptions of the country's signature street food, which is sold there in hawker centers. Here, we give you ...
Chili Crab: "With a hearty gravy made from fresh red chiles, tomato sauce, fresh eggs, and spring onions, it's best eaten with your fingers. Don't bother to try looking genteel—use your teeth to crack the shells, suck out the succulent meat, and if you have to, hit the extra-hard shell on the table top to break it. Let the gravy run down your arm, clean it up with cubes of French bread or Chinese buns (known as mantou) that are served as a side dish. All in a chili crab meal's work."
Photograph from Daxiang on Flickr
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 17, 2007 at 6:00 AM
In anticipation of Singapore Day in New York's Central Park, we'll be posting descriptions of the country's signature street food, which is sold there in hawker centers. Here, we give you ...
Char Kway Teow: This comes especially in savory and sweet soy sauce with or without chilli whichever your taste buds prefer. Hardcore Char Kway Teow lovers can also insist on raw or half cooked see hum or cockles for the extra flavor and texture.
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 16, 2007 at 7:00 PM
In anticipation of Singapore Day in New York's Central Park, we'll be posting descriptions of the country's signature street food, which is sold there in hawker centers. First up, we give you ...
Bak kut teh: Pork bones, herbs, and other ingredients are simmered to make a big pot of stock. The result is a delightful light peppery soup with a subtle flavor of Chinese herbs. Served with deep-fried you char kueh (dough fritters) as condiments to add extra texture. As you are finishing the last drop of the soup, you can see whole garlic cloves and lots of crushed peppercorns left behind.
Photograph by Indradi Soemardjan
Posted by Ed Levine, April 16, 2007 at 5:30 PM
According to the late, great Johnny Apple, Singapore has the best street food in the world. I salivated after reading Johnny's piece about it in the New York Times:
But Singapore already has gastronomic attractions aplenty. Start with its unmatched street food — chili crabs and chicken rice, laksa and satay and fish head curry — served in hundreds of hawkers’ stalls. Fast, cheap and delicious, its hygiene is certified by the ever-vigilant Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. (K. F. Seetoh’s exhaustive guidebook, Makansutra, will lead you to the top practitioners.)
Sounds good, don't you think? Sadly, I knew I wasn't headed to Singapore any time soon, so I had given up hope of trying what sounded like mouthwatering stuff. Until now.
On Saturday, April 21, the inaugural Singapore Day event will take place in Central Park here in New York. A hawker center with street stalls will be set up, offering some seriously delicious sounding dishes. (We'll be highlighting these dishes in anticipation as the week goes by here on the site.)
The Serious Eats team plans on attending the fair, which begins at 10:30 a.m.. If you live in the New York City area or plan on visiting, you can "chope" your reservation here.
For more on Singapore eats, the blog Chubby Hubby is an excellent, hunger-inducing resource.
Update: Unfortunately, it appears that between this morning and just recently, Singapore Day reservations have all been spoken for. We'll call the Overseas Singaporean Unit tomorrow and find out if it really is full.
