Happy New Year! Commercially Available Homemade Pineapple Tarts

Happy New Year Everyone!

Pineapple tarts have been my favourite CNY tidbit since I was a kid. I remember how mom used to make her very own Pineapple Tarts every New Year. But soon commercially made ones became available and she stopped making her own. In fact, it would seem that lots of other mothers also stopped making their own since it was so much easier just to buy them ready made.

After a while people realized that the commercial ones are not that great, so the cottage industry emerged with Aunties making their own pineapple tarts for sale. Soon everyone had "homemade" pineapple tarts that were made by their Aunty to serve during CNY. As their orders got bigger, the Aunties started getting their maids to make the tarts while they inspect their manicures.

When they first started, the Aunties made their pineapple tarts from scratch. Each pineapple was carefully selected, the flesh was chopped up and caramalized into the pineapple paste. Soon, some enterprising Thai businessman saw the opportunity to provide ready made pineapple paste for the Aunties which would save them a lot of trouble having to do it themselves. This freed the Aunties from having to soak their hands into the acidic pineapple puree and so ruin their manicures.

Another CNY went by and another enterprising businessman whose Aunty is making the pineapple tarts thought that his Aunty's pastry was so good that every other Aunty should actually use his Aunty's dough. So, he set up a factory to produce his Aunty's pineapple tart dough and made it available to all the other Aunties.

So now, our Aunties don't have to make their pineapple paste or the dough. All they have to do is to sit down, inspect their manicures and direct their Indonesian maids, to put the Thai pineapple paste onto the commercial dough base and bake the tarts.

Guess what? The next thing that will happen is that someone will make commercially available pre-baked pineapple tarts so that all the Aunty needs to do is to direct the maid to put it in the oven to bake. Soon, this Aunty might start a small factory to do this and start to market her "Aunty's very own, commercially homemade pineapple tarts".

Well, happy New Year to all our Aunties out there, but please keep our pineapple tarts homemade and do continue to use SCS butter as it really does make it taste better!

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

PS: So what is everyone's favourite CNY tidbit? Mine is Pineapple Tarts and Bak Kwa!

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Simpang Yong Tau Foo: Not Ampang......Simpang

With smart and PK


One of the good things about retirement is that you get to go around looking for good things to eat without the pressure of exams, loans, bills, kids and other stuff that add stress to your life. Not that I am speaking from personal experience of course, (still a long way from retirement) but more from the point of view of my two esteemed makankakis that afternoon who also happen to be old boys from my alma mater.

Anyway, both smart and PK have been friends since school days and it would seem to me that the baby boomers tend to keep their schoolday friendships better then us Gen Xers. Smart, PK and a whole bunch of their school friends still get together at least every month to makan together. Perhaps it was the days of playing catching, marbles and pretending to be Tarzan with the Banyan Tree rather then playing gameboys and computer games that made the big difference? Or maybe it is just me.

Anyway, this Yong Tau Foo place was recommended to me by smart who, being semi retired, makes it his hobby to walk around food centres scouring for good (and interesting) things to eat. He chanced upon this stall on one of his recce trips and it is just the kind of stall that makes one go "Phwa, must at least go and try leh!"

Yes, this is our very own SIMPANG Yong Tau Foo. You heard it right, not AMPANG but SIMPANG. The difference might not be as stark as the difference between Phua Chu Kang and Chua Chu Kang, but there is a difference.

The homemade Yong Tau Foo is fried first and then doused with the soy based sauce. But the similarity ends there. The sauce here is quite unique. It is sweet, a little tangy and mildly punchillie hot. Perhaps the right adjective is "piquant". Quite shiok actually and definitely unique. 4.25/5


Crispy Pork Knuckle $16

And if you feel that eating deep fried Yong Tau Foo doesn't do enough to clog up your arteries, you might opt for the Deep Fried Crispy Skin Pork Leg. Oh yes, Pork Knuckle or Ter Kah definitely ranks up there as one of those sinfully bad food that you would only eat if you wanted to reward yourself for scoring well on your latest cholesterol report.

The Ter Kah here is stewed first then deep fried just before serving. The skin is super duper crispy and went well with the Thai style chilli sauce. The flesh was however, a little on the dry side. Actually if you ask me, this seems to be more like the German version of the Pork Knuckle rather than the Chinese version. Not bad, but this really is a Gu Gu Jip Pai (once in a long while) type of dish for me. 3.75/5

Conclusion

Our very own Simpang Yong Tau Foo! It is the sauce that makes this particular Yong Tau Foo stand out from the rest. Casual and cheaper alternative to your German Restaurant if you wish to get your Crispy Fried Ter Kah fix.


Simpang Yong Tau Foo
Bedok Market Place
348 Bedok Road
#02-05/06
64449986
9.30am to 7pm
Recommended by smart

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