Nam Seng Wanton Mee: Is This Singapore's Oldest Hawker Legend?

Mdm Leong, 80, founder, owner and operator of Nam Seng

Usually I would put the photo of a dish as my first picture, but as I started to write this post, I began to feel that this story is more about Madam Leong rather than the Wanton Mee which she has been dishing out since 1959. At 80 years of age, I think she is the oldest working hawker that I have met. Amazingly, she still comes to the stall at 6am in the morning to prepare the ingredients for the day.

You might have heard about this stall, which is the famous Wanton Mee stall at the old National Library. You might also remember that SM Goh recounted his early dating days at the National Library. What you might not have heard is that according to Mdm Leong, besides using the National Library as a dating hotspot, he also went there to get his foodie fix back in the days when he was Minister for Trade and Industry. Aside from SM Goh, Mdm Leong also rattled off a few other Ministers and VIPs who had frequented her stall. I guess, you can say there she is quite a living legend in the hawker scene.

When they moved out of the National Library premises about 14 years ago, they relocated to Joo Chiat where they stayed for a while before being invited to open a stall at Far East Square. It turned out that one of the Directors there is also a fan of the stall and wanted to make sure that this stall's legacy lives on. So, as you can see there are a lot of VIPs who grew up as fans of the stall in their not-yet-so VIP days!


Wanton Mee $4

So if this stall has survived for 41 years, it must be good right?

Right!

If you are a Wanton Mee lover, then this is certainly one stall to add onto your list. Now, my taste for Wanton Mee has been evolving. When I was younger, the Char Siew was the main thing for me. As I got older, I am beginning to appreciate the noodles more and more. But I would say that there are several styles of Wanton Mee and each can be appreciated in its own right. You really cannot compare a KL style Wanton Mee with black sauce with a Singapore style Wanton Mee with tomato ketchup. I think each has its own merits and should be judged in its own category. But of course we can all have our own preference for a certain style.



This Wanton Mee is one where the noodles take centre stage. This is in the same style as the popular and controversial Kok Kee at Lavender Food Centre. When you look at the Wanton Mee, you will not be impressed because the noodles nook quite plain and the fluorescent red charsiew, dry and unappetising. However, when you take your first mouthful of the noodles, you would be rewarded with a great tasting noodle and a secret sauce which will make you stop and wonder. I tried very hard to find out more about her secret sauce, but only managed to guess correctly that there is some dried scallops in it. The noodles and sauce alone deserves a 4.6/5.

I have always rated Wanton Mee based on the whole package and quite often, stalls don't get a 4.5 unless their Char Siew and Wantons are also of a certain standard. The Char Siew here is not the juicy charred type which I like, but I think that traditionally, this type of dry fluorescent red char siew might resonate with some readers. The wontons are very good, but I have tasted better. However, despite the lack of good charsiew, I still find myself thinking of the noodles the day after I ate them and find myself wanting to go back again. So for that I feel that it is justified that they get a 4.5/5.


Venison Hor Fun $4

Besides Wanton Mee, there are two other dishes that are also very famous. The first being the Venison Hor Fun. Now, the sauce for this Hor Fun is really really good. It is quite addictive and very satisfying. However, I was less enthusiastic about the Hor Fun as it lacks the smoky Wok Hei flavour. I highlighted this to Madam Leong but was told that unfortunately, the landlords do not allow them to use a gas stove in the premises and so they have to use an electric hotplate to cook the Hor Fun. I can only imagine what it must have been like previously. Still, it is one of the tastiest Beef (in this case Venison) Hor Fun around. 4.25/5


Fried Rice

Since Madam Leong had been serving their fried rice since 1968, she wasn't going to let a small detail like not having a gas stove to stop her from serving the fried rice for her customers. I felt that the Hor Fun could still make it because the gravy did not really need a hot wok to cook. But for fried rice, a hot stove is essential. So for me the fried rice was quite ordinary. It was a bit dry and not something I would order again. 3.5/5

But, she still has fans who have been eating this rice for the last 50 years who would raise a ruckus if she stopped selling it. And remember what I said before? Some of these guys are now VIPs, so we won't want to dissappoint the VIPs would we?

Conclusion

I reckon Madam Leong is the oldest working hawker around. The 2nd oldest would probably be Mr Liang of Ah Hor Mee Pok Tar. But of course, those are the only ones I know. If you know of any older hawkers who are still selling the same dish for the last 40 or more years, do write in so that I can blog about them! Let's see if we can find Singapore's oldest living Hawker Legend.

Nam Seng Wanton Mee
25 China Street #01-01
Far East Square
Open 8am to 8pm
Closed on Sundays
www.namsengnoodles.com


What to do next:

Pop by next door to try another Hawker Legend: Hock Lam Beef Noodles
Then hop, skip and jump to Nanyang Cafe for some Kopi and Kaya Toast

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Put in Money to see SCS Butter botak!

Hi All,

I just found out that our dear Makan Kaki, SCS Butter is going to shave off all his hair for the Hair For Hope program organized by the Children's Cancer Foundation this Sunday 5 July 2009. So I made sure I put in some money to pressure him from backing out the last minute. Well, if you are going to donate, you might as well donate to a good cause and at the same time "sabo" a dear friend.



If you would also like to play a part in mowing off that nice little turf of hair on SCS Butter, you can do so by simply clicking here!

SCS Butter was the one who introduced some of the fantastic eats in this blog like Lau Sim Shredded Chicken Noodles and Northen Thai Tom Yum Fish Soup, plus he is just the kind of guy who has "Sabo Me" written on his forehead. After Sunday, we can also write it on the top of his head!

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Ah Seng Eating House: Braised Duck, Teochew Style

My dad used to braise duck when I was a kid. He still does it now occasionally. There are few things that my dad does cook and one of them is braised duck. Unfortunately, I never learnt how to braise duck from him. My cooking skills all come from mom. Maybe its time I asked him to teach me the age old Teochew tradition that has been handed down the Swatow Tay line for generations!

Anyway, as you already know, Braised Duck comes in two different styles. The Teochew style has a braising sauce which has the consistency of water while the Hokkien style sauce is thick and gooey. Being a Teochew, I guess I am obligated to say that I prefer the Teochew version. But you know, gooey loh does taste better with rice....



If you are after a nice Teochew version of Braised Duck, then this is certainly one stall that is quite popular. It is just next to the Bakery which that sells the luncheonmeat buns which I blogged about earlier and I think they are probably the same family. The braising sauce is nice and the duck is tender. Lots of people rave about it. I thought it was good enough to be included in this blog, but difficult to rave about. 4/5

Conclusion

Another place to go if you have the craving for braised duck.

Check out the other places to eat at Serangoon Way Food Centre!
Read about other places for Braised Duck.
Did you realise I have a tag specifically for Teochew stalls?

Ah Seng Braised Duck Rice
Stall No. 44 Serangoon Garden Way FC
Mon to Sat 11am to 9pm
Sunday closed

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East West: Can East really make West if East never go West?

Smoked Salmon on Baguette $5.90

Just imagine that you are in Europe and you sat down at a Chinese restaurant to eat. After the meal you managed to find out that the Chef was Ang Moh (European), would you be surprised? I would. I can't speak for Europe, but at least in Australia, all the Asian food there are cooked by Asians. Somehow you will never imagine an Ang Moh frying your Hor Fun. Not that I doubt they can. I am sure there are some Wok Wielding Ang Moh Chinese Chef just as there are some butt kicking Ang Moh exponents of Kung Fu. But somehow, as far as I can remember, I don't think I have ever seen one before. Now, if you are a Westerner who is trying to make it big in the Singapore food scene, then one surefire way to attract media attention is to open up a Char Kway Teow stall at one of our Hawker Centres and demonstrate some wok hei skills.

However, the converse is quite acceptable in Singapore. You quite often see Asian Chefs cooking European cuisine. This is expecially so in hawker centres. It used to be that a lot of Singaporean Chefs leave the hotel scene to start up their businesses in Hawker Centres serving Western Foods. But now we are seeing a new development.

Now the job of cooking Western dishes are being outsourced to Chinese Chefs from the mainland. Now, I have nothing against this. But I ask this question: Can someone who has never eaten a plate of pasta cooked in a proper restaurant ever be able to cook a good pasta dish?


Seafood Pasta $10.90

Well, the answer seems to be, yes they can.

At least it seems to be for this stall in the newly refurbished coffeeshop along East Coast Road where our favourite Geylang Lor 29 uncle is frying his Hokkien Mee.

I spoke with the two men from China who have basically come to Singapore, been trained to cook pasta and basically left to run the stall. I asked the cook point blank if he had ever eaten pasta anywhere else and the answer was an emphatic no. That being the case, it is hard to imagine that he could have come up with the several pasta dishes which were surprisingly good even compared to those pastas being served up in the more fancy cafes.


Spaghetti Carbonara $7.90 (note the grated parmesan)

So what does that mean? Does it mean that cooking depends more on a person's sense of taste and ability rather than experience? Or does it mean that pasta dishes can simply be put together with a few requisite sauces that have been prepared beforehand? I think probably the latter is true.

If you need to have a cheap and quick pasta fix, then you can certainly visit this stall. There have been a proliferation of hawker pasta places recently but this one certainly does stand out in terms of quality and value. The Seafood pasta dish was very good as was the carbonara. Better than average but of course they cannot compare with those served at Italian restaurants which cost maybe two to three times the price. 4/5

Conclusion

Good place for a quick pasta fix. Highly recommended by our makankaki Holydrummer no less. The only problem I have is having to overcome my temptation to order the Hokkien Mee from Geylang Lor 29 Hokkien Mee! If I order both, then it really is pastas from the East and West!

East West
396 East Coast Road
Singapore 428994
91019884
10am to 10pm daily

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Uncle Gen's Hong Kong Cuisine: The latest stall to make it to the Really Must Try list!

Hong Kong Steamed Rice with Chicken and Salted Fish $3.30

As the number of blog posts approaches the one thousand mark, it amazes me that there are still so many new places that are still waiting to be discovered. Indeed, Singapore might be a tiny red dot, but if the world atlas were drawn according to the number of great eats, I reckon we should at least be the size of a one dollar coin. After blogging about hawker food for the last three years, I find that my list of places to visit is still quite long. A lot of this is due to our intrepid group of makan kakis who scour the island for great places to eat and then post their own reviews and pics in the forum. Now that we have another thousand or so members in the facebook group, the to do list will just keep getting longer. So, many thanks to everyone who have written in to recommend their favorite food haunts, you guys really keep the blog going.

This next stall was discovered by Cactuskit whose mouth watering photos in the forum caught my attention immediately. You know, one of the joys of food blogging is finding a stall where the food is really very very good, yet still relatively unknown and best of all, you can eat it everyday and still have money left in your wallet! Cactuskit's post looked like it fit the bill, so it was immediately placed on top of the to do list.


Yam Cake $1.80

I haven't eaten Yam Cake for a long time because I haven't really come across one that was worth the calories. Most of the Yam Cakes I come across are cold, hard and rather dry. Not so with Gen Shu's (Uncle Kum) version. He tells me without hesitation that there are three important criteria when it comes to Yam Cake in Hong Kong. First, its got to be soft, then its got to be moist and finally and most importantly, it has got to be flavoursome. This one fits all three criteria and is one of the tastiest Yam Cakes around and even better than a lot that is being served in classy dim sum restaurants. Well worth the money, the calories and the queue! 4.6/5


Pork Rib and Red Bean Soup $3.30

If you love double boiled soups then you are going to love this place. Gen Shu has 20 different types of soups which he serves here and they are all chock full of ingredients. If Pork Rib and Red Beans doesn't sound exotic enough for you, then you should ask him when he will be serving his Pig trotter with Oyster and Season Gourd soup. Anyway the soup I had that day was excellent. For $3.30, you really can't complain as you get a bowl of flavourful soup with so many pieces of tender soft pork ribs. 4.5/5


Mince Pork with Salted Egg Steamed Rice $3.30

It is not often that I come across a stall that almost everything is good. I say almost because I didn't taste everything but whatever I had that day was good. This is not surprising once you realise that Gen Shu happened to be the Head Chef of Mouth Restaurant for 15 years before he retired. Being a chef of such experience, he is able to call his stall a "Mei Shi She Jia" (Gourmet Kitchen). What that means is that you could give Gen Shu a whole Pig and he will be able to make use of every part of that pig to cook a series of unforgettable dishes for you. But more than that, Gen Shu is one of those Hong Kongers who is simply passionate about Hong Kong cuisine. What that means is that he doesn't stinge on the ingredients. When you eat his steamed rice, just taste the soy sauce that accompanies it and you will know what I mean. There is soy sauce that is concocted in a laboratory and there is soy sauce that has been properly fermented and aged. Gen Shu is just the type of chef who knows his soy sauce as a sommelier knows his wines.


Steamed Rice with Preserved Veg and Pork Belly

If you are going for the steamed rice then I would highly recommend the chicken with salted fish. This is one where the taste of the chicken and the salted fish has really infused into the rice so that each bite is full of the umami goodness of the salted fish. This is really almost as good as it gets. 4.75/5.


Hong Kong Style Congee $3

As with all the other dishes which we tried, the Congee here is really good as well. Full of ingredients and the Congee, in true Hong Kong fashion, is smooth and flavoursome. All this for $3! 4.5/5

Conclusion

It is usually very risky to give a stall such a big endorsement. However, with Gen Shu, I am quite confident that most readers who go there will come away very satisfied that they have found something that is Cheap and Good! No..... Cheap and Very Very Good.

Gen Shu Mei Shi She Jia
Toa Payoh Lor 4
Blk 74 Food Centre #01-03
Opens 6am till sold out around lunch time
Closed on Mondays

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The ieat Makan Session: Cafe de Hong Kong

Notice is hereby given for the ieat makan session at Cafe de Hong Kong.

Date: 25 July 2009
Time: 7pm
Venue: Cafe de Hong Kong
Address: 586 Balestier Road, #01-01 Eastpac Building
Parking: Jalan Dusun or HDB car park at Blk 101-103
Price: $30/adult (Kids can order ala carte food at menu price)
Seating Capacity: 70 pax

Menu:

1. Spare Rib and Old Cucumber Soup
2. Deep Fried Fish Skin and Fortune Seafood Roll
3. Egg White Treasure Bag
4. Stir Fried Red Grouper Slices with Roast Sauce
5. Supreme Tofu with Broccoli
6. Crispy Roasted Chicken
7. Coffee Flavoured Spare Rib
8. Fried Salted Egg Prawn
9. Stewed Lamb Brisket in Claypot
10. Diced Seafood Fried Rice
11. Chin Chow with Aloe Vera

Requirements:

In order to come you have to fulfill the following requirements:

1. Have a mouth to feed

But seriously, you don't need to be any sort of foodie or know anything about food to come! So don't be intimidated. Everyone here just loves to eat.

How to register

Invitations have already been sent out to all the members of the facebook group. If you are already a member, you should get an invitation already. If not, please join up and let us know that you would like to come.

The registration details are found here.

Check out the Cafe de Hong Kong review here

Thanks for your enthusiastic support for the event.
The registration is officially closed!

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Ieat Durian Degustation III - the Aftermath! Burrrp!

A very warm welcome to our new kakis who signed up for the Durian Degustation session from the ieatishootipost Facebook group! It is great to put a face to some familiar nicknames as well as to get to meet some lurkers!

I think we all can say that we really got our money's worth that night. Ah Loon gave us much more than a tasting menu and I saw many kakis had to tapau durians home!

The evening started off with the Hong Xia from JB which was excellent, followed by the D13 which looked quite similar the the Hong Xia but the taste was less complex. This was followed by the less common Penang Hong Xia which is usually quite sought after, but I think the batch that night was not really at its prime. This was followed by the Black Pearl which I thought was the best of the lot that evening. The bitterness in the Black Pearl was excellent. Then we had the Hulu, named because of its violin like shape like the gourd of the same name, followed by the petite Golden Phoenix and finally, we finished with the prized Mao Shan Wang or Butter Durian which is again excellent.

We are smack in the Durian Season, so prices are great. The Hong Xia is $7 per kg and Mao Shan Wang is $12 per kg. If you are looking for a reliable, honest Durian Seller, then you should visit Ah Loon and Ah Teck. They are at 231 East Coast Road (Opp Jago Close). You can contact him for your durian needs by calling 97514828.If you mention ieatisihootipost, you will get the special ieatishootipost price!

We might organize another degustation soon if there is enough interest but we will at least 50 pax to be able to get the same deal. So if you are interested to attend another one please let me know.

Link to the last Durian Degustation
Link to watch video on how to choose durian
Learn about other Durian cultivars

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Canon-ieat Food Photography Workshop for Home Econs Teachers

I was invited to conduct a photography workshop for the Association of Home Economics Teachers last Friday and managed to visit NIE for the first time. Gosh it looks a lot like army barracks as it is situated right at the periphery of Singapore where there is no HDB housing between it and the sea!

Anyway it was good to see that the Home Econs teachers are now teaching photography as part of the course. I guess if you are a Home Economist, then taking photos of the family might be a pre-requisite skill nowadays, together to use of the PDA to do your supermarket shopping, Excel worksheets to do up the family finances etc.

Speaking of Home Econs, don't you all think it is about time that this course be renamed to something that reflects a more modern age? Like, Home Econs is soooooo yesterday. They were using Home Econs in the days when moms were called Housewives. Nowadays we call them Homemakers. In some households they might even be known as Chief Operating Officers or in the case of my household, Prime Minister. (I of course am the President - all show, no power except for Veto powers in the more dire of consequences). I reckon Home Economics should be renamed "Family Life Sciences" or "Home Integration Technologies" or something more sexy so that we can have more students choosing the course.

Anyway, we should all appreciate the fact that our Home Econs teachers are so motivated that they would travel all the way to NIE to attend a course during their holidays so that they can be better teachers for our students. Three cheers for our Home Econs Teachers! It has been a pleasure to conduct the course for such an attentive batch of students!

If your organization would like to conduct photography workshops, you can do so by contacting the EOS Academy. More details can be found at their website: goto.canon.com.sg/eosacademy/

So what do you think about renaming Home Econs to something more sexy? Any suggestions?

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Chatterbox Chicken Rice: Signature Singapore Dishes

The famous Chatterbox Chicken Rice $22

There are several dishes which Singapore is famous for and Chatterbox Chicken Rice is one of them. When I say famous, I mean really famous, like Singapore Sling famous or Merlion famous. You know, famous until it gets into every tourist guide, famous.

But like many famous things in Singapore, a lot of us locals never even bother to experience it ourselves. It's that kind of backyard syndrome where you never even been to the Cze Char at the bottom of your HDB flat whereas people are travelling across the island just to eat there.

For me, Chatterbox Chicken Rice is somewhat like that. I first heard of them back in my Secondary School days when my more well heeled friends would talk about eating at the Chatterbox. I could only dream about it since I have to save up just to eat a plate of Hor Fun. Of course, when I started working, eating at Chatterbox became affordable but I hesitate going to eat there since I have to justify paying three to four times the price of normal chicken rice. So it became one of those things that I know I have to do someday but was really in no big hurry.


You get a choice of thigh or breast meat

Now, everyone must have heard of the Chicken Rice Chef who left Chatterbox several years back and started his own Chicken Rice stall over at Downtown East. Such was the reputation of Chatterbox Chicken Rice that he was an overnight success at his own stall as everyone wanted to get a taste of the famous Chicken Rice at a fraction of the price. I have actually blogged about them before back in 2006 but was not overly impressed by it. Perhaps eating at Chatterbox is more than just the Chicken Rice itself.

The history of Chatterbox really goes back quite a long way, back to the sixties when the Mandarin Hotel just opened its doors. Back then, the Chicken Rice set was $4.50. A similar set at the legendary Swee Kee would have cost $1.50 then and I guess the normal hawker might have sold his at around $1. Nowadays, the Chicken Rice set is $22 whereas a similar set with the same about of meat would cost around $8 at Boon Tong Kee. So really it still costs around three times to dine at the Chatterbox.

So I guess the question an everyone's mind must be if it is really worth paying three times the price just to eat this Chicken Rice? Well, it depends. For me, I thought the rice and chilli was excellent as were the soy sauce and minced ginger. The chicken was not as tender and fat as I would have liked but the soy sauce was very good. Overall, I would say it would be up there with the top chicken rice in Singapore. But are you going to get three times the taste out of this chicken rice? Probably not. However, what you are really paying for the opportunity to experience a part of Singapore history as well as the ability to say that you have finally "Been there, done that!" 4.25/5


Big Prawn Noodles $22

Now, aside from the Chicken Rice, the other dish that I managed to try that day was the Prawn noodle soup. Again, it is around three times the price of similar bowl at any of your big prawn noodle shop. The soup was excellent and is on par or even slightly better than the famous prawn noodles around. Well, when you use excellent prawns, you are going to get excellent soup. If you are looking for a fancy place to bring your overseas friends to eat prawn noodles, then this is it! 4.5/5

Conclusion

It is said that the English speaking world is divided into those who have read the Lord of the Rings and those who are going to read it. Do you think we might be able to say the same of Chatterbox Chicken Rice?

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How do you hold your chopsticks poll results

Thanks to all 1,420 people who polled!

It looks like the majority of people 64.7% hold their chopsticks properly while 35.2% still hold it crossed. However there are 14.4% of readers who will be training themselves to hold it correctly, so there should be more people holding chopsticks nicely the next time we poll.

If you are training yourself to hold chopsticks properly, keep at it and don't give up. Soon you will be catching flies with your chopsticks!

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Zespri Kiwifruit: Original Recipes by Ieatishootipost!

The Zespri Kiwifruit Season is now well and truly underway and I have been asked to be Zespri Ambassador for the 2009 Season. As part of my duties, I had to come up with three original Kiwifruit recipes for the media launch which I am posting here for everyone to try at home. As I am more of a home chef rather than a professional chef, you will find that these are really simple recipes that anyone can do at home with ingredients that are easily available from the supermarket.

I hope you can try them at home and let us know what you think.


Zespri Green Kiwifruit, Surimi and Avocado Salad in Beancurd Skin

The first recipe is basically a salad which is presented in finger food form. The inspiration for this dish really came from my mom who introduced me to avocado and crabmeat salad with thousand island dressing years ago. The zesty green Kiwifruit goes very well with seafood such as crabs, prawns and lobster and I felt that the Kiwifruit would add a nice contrast to the creamy Avocado which can be a little heavy by itself. To give it a bit of Japanese twist, Goma dressing (Japanese Sesame dressing) was added to the mashed avocado as well as a dash of wasabi to give it a bit of kick. The idea of using inari skin actually came about because I was initially experimenting with the idea of a Kiwifruit rojak which is presented in a toasted Tau Pok Skin. But that didn't taste too nice, so I ended up using inari skin with avocado instead.

Ingredients:

1 ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit
6 sticks of Surimi
1 Ripe avocado
1 teaspoon lime juice
2 tablespoons Japanese Goma Dressing
6 sheets of prepared Inari Beancurd skin
Wasabi paste

Mash avocado with Goma Dressing and lime juice and half fill the Inari Beancurd skin. Add two peasized portion of Wasabi on top of the mashed avocado. Cut ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit and Surimi sticks and set on top of the avocado.

Serves 6


Video Clip of Recipe


Zespri Green Kiwifruit on ice with Oolong Jelly and Wolfberries

I have been drinking a lot more Chinese Tea lately, in particular Oolong and Pu Erh tea as they are great for lowering cholesterol levels. Hey, when you are eating stuff like Char Kway Teow, you really want to try balance it out with something that will help negate the ill effects of all that lard. One of those things I have been doing was to chill the tea in the fridge and drink it cold. When I got my supply of Kiwifruit, I thought that adding a few slices of Kiwifruit into the chilled tea might make it even more refreshing, and was quite surprised that the combination worked really well!

So rather than having just chilled Oolong with Kiwifruit, I thought it would be great to make a jelly using Oolong. With Konnyaku, people often add flavours, colours and sugar to make the jelly. But I just tried using just Oolong Tea with Konnyaku powder and found that it actually tastes quite refreshing without the addition of sugar. The Konnyaku powder does have a bit of sugar in it already, so the jelly is slightly sweet. With the sugar syrup, I originally used pandan flavoured syrup, but I felt that using wolfberries would give it some colour as well as flavour. Assemble all the ingredients in an ornate Chinese Tea cup and you have a dish that celebrates the Chinese origin of the Kiwifruit accompanied by the other Chinese ingredients of Oolong and wolfberries. It's a light, thirst quenching dessert for a hot day and you can make a big bowl of it like how we do with almond jelly with longan if you are serving at home.

Ingredients:

2 ZESPRI Green Kiwifruit
150mg Konnyaku powder
750ml brewed Oolong Tea
Half Cup wolfberries
2 Cup sugar
1 Cup water

Mix Konnyaku powder with brewed Oolong Tea and bring to boil. Pour into mould and set in the fridge. Dissolve sugar in the water and add wolfberries and bring to boil. Simmer for half and hour till wolfberries are soft and plump and chill in the fridge. To serve, shave or crush ice, top with cubed Oolong Konnyaku and Kiwifruit. Add wolfberries and syrup to taste.

Serves 4 to 6

Video Clip of this Recipe

Gold Kiwi Pudding with Sago

The idea for this final dish comes from the popular Mango Pudding dessert that we often get at Dim Sum restaurants. But it is difficult for gelatine to set with Kiwifruit because the Kiwifruit contains actinidine, an enzyme that breaks down protein. This is why if you marinade a tough cut of beef with Kiwifruit for half an hour, your meat is going to be nice and tender. Also you really don't want to cook the Kiwifruit as it would destroy the Vitamins. So in the end I just pureed the Kiwifruit and mixed it with the custard and was pleasantly surprised that it worked really well.

You can blend the Kiwifruit if you like but I find that if you use a blender, the seeds get cut and you get a grainy texture with your pudding. So after trying out a few ways of making pureed Kiwifruit, I suddenly realise that you can simply crush it by hand which is where the ziploc bag idea came it. With the ziploc bag, you can puree the kiwifruit, mix it with the custard and leave the whole bag in the fridge to chill. When you are ready to serve, cut off the corner of the bag and it turns instantly into a piping bag! The sago adds a local touch to the dessert as well as some texture to contrast with the smooth pudding.

Ingredients:

6 ZESPRI Gold Kiwifruit
Half Cup Pearl Sago
400ml milk or alternatively skim milk may be used
200ml Evaporated milk
4 Tablespoon Bird’s Custard Powder
4 Tablespoon sugar (adjust to taste)
Vanilla essence

To make Sago:

Rinse sago and add to pot of boiling water. Bring to boil then turn off heat and leave for 20 minutes. Bring water to boil again and cook until sago is transparent. Rinse in cold water and set in fridge.

To make custard:

Add 50ml of milk to custard powder and sugar and dissolve. Bring the rest of the milk and evaporated milk to boil. Slowly whisk the custard powder mixture into the hot milk and bring to boil. Add a few drops of vanilla essence to taste. Chill in fridge.

To assemble:

Cube the Gold Kiwifruit. Save some of the Kiwifruit for the topping and place the rest in a Ziploc bag. Use your hands to crush the kiwifruit into a puree. You can also use a blender if you wish, but the seeds will get cut and it will not taste as nice. Add equal amounts of the chilled Custard into the Ziploc bag and mix. You can now leave the bag of Custard in the fridge to chill.
When ready to serve, spoon the sago into a Martini glass. Cut the corner off the Ziploc bag and pipe the Kiwifruit Custard into the glass. Top with cubed Gold Kiwifruit and garnish with a slice of Green Kiwifruit.

Serves 4 to 6


Video Clip of this Recipe

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Canon-ieat Food Photography Workshop III Winners

Thanks to all the participants who came to the Photography workshop. I think we all managed pick up some tips as well as to eat some quite unique Dim Sum. This particular workshop was slightly different as our participants were also given the opportunity to practise their photography skills in taking photos of people as well as food, not to mention landscape photos since we were at the top of UOB Plaza.

As always, we held a competition at the end of the workshop in order to let our participants showcase some of their work. Here then are the winners of the competition.



1st prize goes to Alvin Kok. I think Alvin is one of those professional photographers who joined our class just for fun.



2nd prize goes to Peter Tan. I like the way he used the bamboo steamer to frame the shot as well as tilting the camera to give it a sense of dynamism.



Third Prize goes to Fang Ci Hui who despite having a half eaten Spring Roll in the foreground and the messy chopped shallots, still managed to capture a pretty nice shot!

Congratulations to all the winners and I hope the rest of the participants will continue take more photos of food!

Thanks to Linda from the Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant for helping us to host the event.

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Yong Huat revisited: Fried Mee Sua and Fried Bee Hoon!

Fried Mee Sua with extra ingredients $5

It is heartening to find that some hawkers don't yet seem to have heard the Health Promotion Board's plea for less oil and more vegetables. Now, please, if you have a cholesterol problem, do cut down on all the lard and oily stuff and please stop reading this post as it will lead you to temptation. But if you can afford it and wish to pamper yourself every now and again, then here is where you can find a hawker who doesn't prioritise health over taste.

I have blogged about the Hokkien Mee at Yong Huat previously, but I did not realise that they had a few other interesting dishes until our Makan Kaki Cactuskit alerted me to it. Basically, this stall tries to do everything. From Mee Pok to Hokkien Mee to Char Kway Teow, they seem to have it all, and even some more. The one ingredient that all the food seems to involve around is pork lard which seems to be in plentiful supply at the stall.


Sinfully Shiok!

I guess pork lard is one of those things that you go "How can something that feels so good be soooooo bad?" As with all things, it is because it tastes good that you tend to eat too much of it that it becomes bad for you. The problem with pork lard is that it is cheap. If pork lard was expensive, you won't be able to afford to eat it often enough for it to be bad for you. Just take Foie Gras for example. If it were cheap, then it would have the same reputation as pork lard. But because it is so expensive, you never really get to eat it often enough to push up your cholesterol levels.

But there is no doubt about it that pork fat (or any other fat really) is tasty. Whether it is in a Tonkatsu, Bacon, Satay or simply used to fry noodles, pork fat is tasty. The reason it is tasty is because we are all programmed to enjoy it. From the perspective of survival, fats are high in calories, so in the good old days when we were still going around in animal skin loincloths, being able to find enough calories was a matter of survival. Fat is a great source of energy and when you have a layer of it under the skin, it keeps you warm as well.

So because we need fats, we were created with the ability to enjoy it so that we will want to instinctively crave for it. But when you consider that we have the five senses of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami, you would wonder where the sense of taste in fat actually comes from. Each of these senses are there in order to make sure the body gets its source of essential nutrients. So you have a sweet receptor to make sure you get enough carbohydrates and an umami receptor so you get enough proteins. These receptors get triggered on your tongue and sends a message to the pleasure centre of your brain so that when you eat the food, it signals "Shiok!". But what of fat? We often say fat is what makes food tasty, but fat does not really trigger off the umami receptors because they are programmed to recognize glutamate, which is an amino acid (protein). Neither is it sweet or salty or sour or bitter. So why do we find fat so enticing?

The answer to that problem lies in the fact that we are not as clever as we think we are. We only discovered the possiblity of an umami receptor at the turn of the century and it wasn't until a few years ago that scientists confirmed its existence. So now there is a lot of research going on to find out if there is a fat receptor. The evidence seems to be there because some scientists managed to breed some mice without a specific protein called CD36 and found that these mice do not like fat at all! Other scientists have found that the sensation of fat is indeed found in the oral cavity. So putting these evidence together, it seems that out of the 10,000 taste receptors that we have on our tongue, there should be some of them that are specifically triggered off by fat. I do hope some Singaporean scientist can discover it so that we can call it the "Shiok" receptor.


Fried Bee Hoon with sweet black sauce $4

Coming back to this stall. As I mentioned earlier, they basically fry Hokkien Mee and Char Kway Teow plus any sort of permutation and combination that you like using these basic two flavours. Of course the one flavour that predominates is the pork lard, which makes anything taste good because of its effect on the "Shiok receptor". So you can ask them to fry Mee Sua, Hokkien Mee Style or Bee Hoon, Char Kway Teow style and it can all be done for you.



Tastewise, the Mee Sua we had that day was very tasty but I felt it lacked enough time in the wok to develop the wok hei flavour. Same goes with the fried bee hoon. Still as already mentioned, pork lard will make anything taste good, so you will still go back to the office very satisfied.

Conclusion

Your boss getting you down? Depressed over the state of the fish in your fishbowl? Pamper yourself with a plate of freshly fried fragrant noodles with pork lard. Then diet for the rest of the week.

Yong Huat
125/127 East Coast Road
Jn of Joo Chiat Rd
96301370
8am to 8pm daily




Read my previous post on Yong Huat

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Clementi Brothers Rojak: Rojak is so... Rojak!

Unlike the Thais and the Vietnamese, we Singaporeans don't really eat a lot of salads. In fact, the only local salad that we eat is Rojak. There is of course Lou Hei, (raw fish salad) but that is really a festive rather than a regular dish.

If there is one dish that I am usually very apprehensive to take photos of, it is rojak. I find it very difficult to make the dish appealing. It is just a mess of different items all mixed up with this gooey dark sauce and peanuts on top. It is, as its name implies... Rojak.

It might not look good, but if you get a Rojak with freshly toasted You Char Kway, really flavoursome prawn paste and freshly roasted and ground peanuts, it is just heavenly!



The one ingredient that sets rojak apart though is Hei Gor (Prawn Paste). It might seem improbable that a paste made from decomposing prawns can be considered a dessert, but somehow it just seems to work. In case you still don't know, Hei Gor is made from Belachan which is essentially shrimps that have been left out to rot. The rotting process degrades the protein and releases lots of glutamates which is what makes the paste such an excellent ingredient for so many dishes. It essentially does what Parmesan cheese does, ie gives it a boost of naturally occuring glutamates (MSG).

Anyway, whoever thought of Hei Gor with sugar and tamarind juice is quite a genious because the combination works really well. But of course, you have to start with a good quality Hei Gor and for that there is only one undisputed source and that is Penang. So this stall proudly shows off its Penang Hei Gor with the words "Best Quality" on it to assure you that you are getting the best rotting prawns there is.

Well, the rojak sauce here is good, but I don't like the peanuts which were commercially bought, so it was too dry. The you char kway were toasted and let to cool too long so they were not crispy, but this should not be a problem during peak hours. Overall, a better than average rojak that is worth eating when you are at this Food Centre. 4/5

Conclusion

After you have eaten rojak from Penang, it is really hard to find something here that can compare! But if you are in Zion Road Food Centre, this one is certainly worth ordering to accompany your other dishes. I wonder how it compares with the original stall at Clementi. Anyone can comment?

Clementi Brothers Rojak (Branch)
Riverside Food Centre Stall 21
12pm to 10pm
Closed on Mondays
91853737

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Garden Kway Chap: At least this Famous stall is going to last another generation

The hawker scene in Singapore is undergoing a change much like the rest of our society. Not enough Singaporeans want to clean tables and serve food anymore, so we have to hire people from China to help us. Not enough Singaporeans want to work in retail, so we have to hire people from the Philippines to help us. The same thing is happening in our hawker centres. Not many people want to carry on their parent's stall and you really can't blame them. Being a hawker is hard work and only a handful of stalls achieve that status where IRAS would come knocking at the door.

So in twenty years' time, you would be hard pressed to find stalls like this one where there is a proud family tradition of cooking and serving good hearty hawker fare. One way that hawker tradition is going to be preserved is if the stalls go the way of places like Beach Road Prawn Mee or Kim's Hokkien Mee. That means that we have to recognize and reward good hawkers by allowing them to charge more for a better bowl of noodles. Then they will expand, take over a whole coffeeshop and make it like a restaurant. The younger generation would then find that being the CEO of a the restaurant attractive enough to want to carry on the family recipe.



Fortunately, for this stall at least, there will be Kway Chap for us to enjoy for one more generation as the son has taken over from the dad. I think this might be the most famous stall at this particular food centre and perhaps it is the father's legendary status that makes it attractive enough for the son to continue the family business. But I can only postulate.

Anyway, the Kway Chap here is very good, but I did not find it to be that exceptional. Then again, I have not found any Kway Chap to be exceptional. The braising sauce was good, the kway was smooth, no one item stood out, but everything was above average. I wonder if the 6 chopsticks awarded by Makansutra was given when the Dad was still selling the Kway Chap? 4/5

Conclusion

So are there any fans of this stall who think that my rating is too low?

Garden Street Kway Chap
Serangoon Gardens Food Centre
8am to 3pm
Closed on Mondays

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