Sajis Indian Food: Indian Rojak: Singapore's very own
With Tag (He has eaten this since school days!)
I don't remember the last time that I was so excited about an Indian Rojak! I guess its been a while since I have come across one that is truly exceptional. When you come across one that has the credentials of Sajis it is hard to keep your saliva in your mouth!
For me it was the sight of the beautiful prawn fritters that really sealed the deal. Have you seen anything so magnificent before? It was really a feast for the eyes and a tease for the palate.
This stall traces its roots all the way back to the 60's when current stallowner, Sabeek's Grandfather started working for his Great Granduncle in the Sarabat stalls at Waterloo St near the old SJI. I was told that in those days (I was not even an idea then) that was where all the greatest Indian Food and Sarabat stalls could be found.
Here's an interesting bit of history that I learnt from Sabeek. Indian Rojak is a dish that was invented by the early migrants to Singapore. In those days, the Malays were selling all sorts of Kuehs by the roadside and the Indians wanted to get a piece of the action. So they also started to make their own Kuehs to sell. Instead of offering the usual chilli and tomato sauces, they developed their own sauce which has a unique combination of sweet, sour, savoury and spiciness.
The rojak here was really fantabulous. So good that we went for a second round of rojak even when we were so full from eating the chicken rice next door. All the stuff were fresh and the sauce was just perfect. Amongst my favourite was the Vadai. The quality was a little different from what I was used to. The Vadai here is really crumbly and very very pang (savoury). When you put it in your mouth, it just breaks apart, releasing the Umami flavours of the lentils and spices. Shiokalingam Nah! 4.75/5
The other stuff that got me real excited was the Mee Siam. I got there too late and the bee hoon was sold out. However, Tag managed to persuade the owner to give us a bowl of the mee siam gravy. He said that it was something I die die must try.
Now Indian Mee Siam is something I have not tasted for 20 years. The Indian Mee Siam that has been indelibly etched into my psyche is the one that I ate for 10 years in the St Andrew's School tuckshop. Oh yeah, for 30 cents the Indian Uncle throws some bee hoon into a small orange plastic plate and pours the sweet mee siam gravy over it. Then he cuts the egg with a string that is tied to the handle of the big aluminum pot. You know, I have eaten it for 10 years and I suspect that he has never ever changed the string!
Anyway after I left school I never came across another Indian Mee Siam again until last week. I always assumed that it was just a peculiar Tuckshop food. The first taste of the sauce brought back all the fond memories of my days at the old St Andrew's School. Back in the days when the highlight of school was playing football at recess time and marvelling at the tadpoles in the big puddle in front of the goal posts.
I don't know what was your experience with Tuckshop food, but St Andrew's Tuckshop in the 70s and 80s had some really shiok stuff. Aside from the Mee Siam, there was the Char Kway Teow which still tastes better than most of the Char Kway Teow we eat now. I would have given it a 4.5. I also remember the Chai Png stall where students used to scoop their own gravy to put on the rice. The curry gravy was really shiok and we used to fish out all the chicken wing tips from the bottom of the pot.
So was it just nostalgia or was the food really that great? Maybe you can share your own experience with Tuckshop food?
Conclusion
Seriously shiok Indian rojak! Is this the best or is there another?
Sajis Indian Food
Blk 262 Waterloo St
#01-29 Nan Tai Eating House
9am - 7pm
Closed: Last Monday of the month
Sabeek 81395647
31 comments:
it's located just opposite of my apartment! and yea it really tastes good... sad thing i'll be moving out soon... :(
In the old days the stalls were near SJI. The old RI was a few hundred metres down the road where Raffles City now stands.
Thanks for the correction happy889! Have updated the blog
Yes it bring back the good old time as a school boy having Indian rojak and sarabat teh in the 50s n 60s. Bras Basah Road is famous for many shops selling school text books and sport shops. Also the Library (now gone)is within walking distance.
Left St. Andrew's in 1966 and still remeber the 'cheap' good foods served there. The CKT is one stall we fought for.The mee pok damn shiok with free flow of chilli sauce. I can vaguely remember having the mee siam too.
By the way the 'tuck shop' next to the old National Library is the St. Andrew's tuck shop!.
ieat, what is vadai?
mummum, Vadai - A Fried Lentil Donut. Sometimes served with green chilli to give a bit of an edge.
Used to get my haircut at Raffles Hotel by hainanese barbers there, they then moved to Aldelphi Hotel....the rojak was just walking distance...mee siam and mee rebus also my favs...that was 30 years ago!!...ooo must go revisit the stall...
hey ieat, been reading your blog for some time now and it's really amazing! thanks for all the fooding you do so that we lazy armchair foodies don't have to move a muscle. anyway, your post on tuckshop food really brought back the memories. the old rgps tuckshop had a noodle stall that sold prawn noodles for 30 cts, and also this shredded fishcake in a little plastic bag that was PHENOMENAL with the chilli sauce. have never had fishcake like that since, and still have dreams about it once in a while. :) singapore primary school canteens - where the best and cheapest food can be found!
ahhh... talking abt fishcake during tuckshop days..
yes, i remembered in my old primary school at CCPS selling tis thin slices of deep fried fishcakes at 10 cents each n everyone loves it sooo much!! =) great for snacks or as a side dish for ur rice!
hmmm... e tuckshop food were really nice.. come to think of it! ;)
one of the best school tuck shops has to be St nicholas girl's school. Even though I have left many years ago, the popiah, fish slice soup, chicken rice, pancake, mee rebus, mee pok, beehoon soup and teh terik is something that i will not forget for a long time.
Were we just young and impressionable or was Tuckshop food really that great? My son is at the new St Andrew's Junior School and the Tuckshop food there is not nice. I wonder though if 30 years from now, my son would be raving about Tuckshop food like I am now. Nostalgia adds an extra point or 2 to the rating scales, you think?
It should be called Singapore Indian Rojak because Malaysian Indian Rojak is rather different. Both are local inventions of the same name.
I don't remember much from secondary school. So, that's really saying something. LOL. But somehow i remember the fried rice from my primary at CHIJ (TP), it's not the best fried rice i've tasted but i enjoyed it.
It had peas, small cubes of luncheon meat, carrots and bits of egg. May not be the best but one of the first and most times I have eaten fried rice. Gosh, now i miss eating it!
Is the sauce the Peanut kind? If so, peanut allergans like me...can forget about it...sigh..been a long time since I've had Indian rojak!
Yes, this is THE best Indian rojak stall. My favourite!
i totally agree with you abt the St Andrew's School tuckshop.
the char kway teow was only 40 cents, and if you wanted an egg, it was 20 cents extra.
and who can forget the drink stall, where you could get a 5 cent drink, or 10 cent drink by the cup! I used to save money by doing that.. or the 35 cent bottled drinks!
Ah nostalgia....
How do you eat the fritter when the prawn still has his shell on? Do you chew and spit or pick off the shell first??
Hi Garang01, During my days we paid 40 cents for 2 ppl.To save $ we brought 1 egg from home, hehe dont tell my parents.
I went there once and never again. The guy spilt rojak sauce on the table and swept it back into the bowl to recycle with his hand... -__-"
... food tasted pretty alrite tho.
u dun expect him to swipe the spilled sauce onto e floor, do u?
i think if it's me spilling an amt of sauce onto e table, common sense for me would be to swipe e sauce into e bowl before pouring a whole content n washing e bowl..
You just swallow the whole prawn - head included.
Used to patronize the stall every evening during our scouts camp at SJI and my favourite was the white longish dough with coconut.
Standard still pretty similar when i was there a month ago.
The nasi padang stall next to it pretty popular too.
lol. yep. st nix has the bestestest canteen food ever! :D the orange bowl noodles (aka fish ball noodles) are simply to die for. :P" but pity the stall uncle's retiring this year. :( hehheh gna chiong back tmr to eat! ;)
I have followed ur blog for so long and never posted any comment. But the SAS canteen just bring back the memories. Oh i remembered the charkwayteow! Always paid another 20cents to have an extra egg and the uncle will throw in some hums. Sedap!!! And the chicken wing tips... thats how i saved money too. A small plate of rice with some veg and lots of curry gravy and chicken wing tips! Super bendable fork and spoon!
There are so many others that I did not write about. Like the twenty cent curry puffs that you bite one end and fill up with that yummy chilli sauce and the 10 cent Kachang Putih stall! But yeah, everyone loves the Char Kway Teow man, he is the only one working on a Saturday when we all were doing our ECA!
YES! I think only SAS boys eat curry puffs that way! I missed the old couple selling drinks, they were still working despite their age and were very nice folks although i buy the 10cents drink from the other stall more often. Unfortunately none of those nice stalls went to the new school when we shifted in 1985.
Talking about nostalgia, I was in Ngee Ann Primary and I recall that after my mother stopped providing the packed box of sandwich and gave me money to buy food myself sometime in Primary 3, I started with Mee Rebus from the Muslim store. I had that for the next 3 years. Daily like clockwork, I would turn up and the mak cik would give me my plate of Mee Rebus for 40cents. Progressively through the years, I got more and more stuff added to my plate like a whole egg and some mutton stired into the sauce so no one else noticed but she knew and I knew. The quantity of noodles always remained the same but the thick sauce hid secrets and surprises for me each day.
I even wrote her a card when I left Primary school as she was almost like a foster mother to me. She'd give me special fried chicken and other stuff she'd bring from home and I even got to go to her place for dinner once which was a real treat for me! The way she did her fried mackerels with hidden chilli sauce hidden inside the fish was amazing.
Till today, the nostalgia I get from having a plate of mee rebus is unmatched.
sylv, you said something about the stall moving out soon (where to?).
Went there today, signboard is the same except it is an old man manning the stall. The rojak- lets say wild horses will not drag me there again. It was a relief when I arose from the table. My jaw is still aching away as I write.
About tuckshop food, the school next to mine, Balestier Mixed, had an Indian rojak stall that was (dare I say) out of this world. I would sneak in to eat the rojak and mee siam once in a while. I had been following mamak since then as he moved around from St Michael Est to Haig Road. My other half and children love it. Sadly, mamak switched to selling fruit juices as age caught up with him and his sons did not want to carry on the trade. A real loss, his rojak is the standard I use to compare other stalls'.
I remember the Indian rojak from back in the 70s at Waterloo Street but they also had an Indian version of Mee Rebus with lots of potatoes to thicken the delicious gravy. Does anyone know if that's been relocated anywhere?
Ah the ol' SAS tuckshop! Used to love the Mee Rebus there as well and those triangle curry puffs. Great memories of schooldays. Thanks!
I read a comment or 2 that said that today's school food is not that nice.
I think it is true. Back in the old days, there were few regulations on canteen food, so anything and everything could be sold. Now, there are regulations on whether the food is healthy, and so on. I believe that some of the ingredients or types of food that used to be commonplace have been banned. Especially at primary level. This is quite saddening
I had been eating his indian rojak every time I am in the area. However, during the last 2 visit in Nov and Dec 08, the cuttlefish had a rotten taste. I don't think I want to eat the rojak again. The mee siam was a disappointing trip down memory lane. It was ordinary as I prefer to be more sourish.
I think their standard has crashed. Try it 2 weeks' ago. The gravy was watery and not fragrant as I've remembered them. Variety was also limited and tasted mediocre.
I will be giving them a miss until better review of improved standard.
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