SINGAPORE: THE FOOD

I had been looking forward to going to the Scottish festival because over the past couple of years, I had really gotten more interested in my own family histories. I had also been trying to learn German to cover the other side of my family (mostly because German seemed easier than Gaelic, which is a near-impossible language to learn). But yesterday was one of those days where the rain lasted nearly the entire day and into the night. So, I stayed home and drank coffee and read. (I mean, I’m not mad.) 

My not-so-marbled cake. Mer ner.

But to make up for some foiled plans, I’m made food from Singapore. The first thing I’m made was Singaporean Marble Cake. At first glance, it doesn’t seem Singaporean at all. In fact, marble cakes are German in origin, I believe. But they are popular throughout Malaysia and Singapore. I read a couple posts from Singaporean women who talked about often buying marble cake from local bakeries. And I’ve never made a marble cake, so I was intrigued. In a bowl, I mixed together my butter and sugar. When it was all mashed together, I added in 4 eggs one at a time and mixed it well. Then I folded in the flour, milk, and vanilla extra and stirred until it was smooth. I poured half of this batter into a separate bowl, adding in some cocoa powder and stirring it together. Now comes the fun part. And by fun, I mean, not as easy as I thought. I greased a cake pan and laid parchment paper in the bottom. I though I was going to alternate a chocolate layer with a vanilla layer, but when I poured my batter, I realized my cake pan was too big. So, it ended up being only one layer of chocolate and one layer of vanilla. And even though I tried to marble it, you can’t tell AT ALL. In a 350ºF oven, I put my cake in to bake for 45 minutes, and it was just too long. I took it out and let it sit, and it just got hard on top and was kind of dense in the middle. But it might be really good to have with coffee or tea. 

You can smell this from a half-mile away. Mmm, oysters.

The next dish I made was Or Luak, or oyster omelette. First, I beat my eggs with soy sauce and set aside. Then I mixed in 3 Tbsp of rice flour and a pinch of salt in 125 mL of water to make a watery batter of sorts. In a hot skillet, I heated a little oil and poured in my batter and let it set up for a bit. Then I poured my eggs over that, and when it was almost set, I mixed it altogether and pushed everything to the side to make a well in the center. I added in some more oil and stirred the minced garlic in and added in some chili paste and oysters, seasoning with some salt and pepper. I stirred to make sure it was all mixed and cooked together. I served this warm, garnished with cilantro and some extra chili sauce. I liked this dish, but then again, I like oysters. I think the combination of the eggs and the flour mixture gave it a dense, almost sticky texture. But it was still good. 

I wasn't as much as a fan of this, but my husband liked it.

The next dish I made was Sayur Masak Lemak, or curry vegetables. I left out the shrimp paste because I couldn’t find it where I was shopping, so I hope it doesn’t make a huge difference. Instead, I mixed a little bit of salmon roe furikake with some water and mashed it together, hoping it would do the trick. I mixed that with some diced onion, and chili paste in a bowl and pounded with a mortar until it was like a paste. I chose cooked salad shrimp in lieu of prawns and let them thaw and sprinkled them with sugar, setting them aside. In a small saucepan, I heated some oil and sautéed the chili paste I just made and then added in my shrimp and shredded cabbage (I used a pre-made cole slaw mix, so it had some bits of carrot in it too). I let it cook down until the cabbage was almost done. Then I poured in 180mL of water along with 120mL of coconut milk and a touch of salt, letting it boil for several minutes before removing it from the heat. I served this with some white rice. I thought this was moderately bland in flavor, and the shrimp got tough when I heated everything up. But it wasn’t bad. I always expect anything labeled as “curry” to be spicy, but it’s not really.

I think I'm the only one who liked this.

Finally, I made Steamed Tofu. I had eaten some similar dishes when I was in Japan. In a pot, I mixed together some minced chicken with some mushrooms, onion, minced garlic, ginger, corn flour, soy sauce, sesame oil, a little wine, and a little bit of pepper. I let this mixture cook for about a 10 minutes because I was using canned chicken, stirring occasionally. While that was cooking, I cut my tofu into nine squares. In each square, I used a teaspoon and scooped out a hole in the middle of it. Then I took a little of the chicken mixture and filled it in the hole, topping it with a couple of dried cranberries. I actually had forgotten to steam it. But I ended up just garnishing them with parsley and drizzling them with a sauce made of a little water, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and a dash of wine. I liked this: the combination of the cranberries with the chicken and the parsley was fantastic. The kids had a hard time with the texture, and I remember my first time eating tofu. It was certainly an experience.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good meal, but with some minor changes. 

I enjoyed this meal, but then again, I like Asian food. I realized this meal was heavy on the seafood, but that’s ok. I also found out that canned oysters aren’t as expensive as I thought they were going to be. I loved fried oysters, but whenever I order them from a restaurant, I get like five of them. Granted, they are usually larger than what was in the can, but I can get two or three cans of smaller ones, and that would make for a good meal. I’m so excited about this roundabout way of making my favorite foods. And I was finally able to use that can of coconut milk that had been in my cabinet for months.

Up next: Slovakia