A Year Measured in Food

A Year Measured In Food

I still can’t believe I’ve been in Singapore for a year. My blog has suffered from inattention over the last twelve months, as has the cleanliness of my apartment. But I’ve grown a bit, learned a little, and eaten a lot. I mean a LOT. My twelve months here have not made me an expert on food or Singapore, but I can safely say that I’ve eaten my way through hawker centers, restaurants, and kopitiams (like outdoor coffeeshops) from one side of the island to the other. And now that my time in the Little Red Dot is coming to an end, I thought it high time I pay homage to some of the foods that have sustained me through the ups and downs of my first year as a teacher. Note that this is not a particularly representative or balanced list, nor does it cover all of the local foods for which Singapore is justly famous. I simply chose the ten foods that I eat most often (with the lone exception of chili crab, which I would eat more often if it weren’t so darn expensive), and food that I will miss the most when I finally head back to the states. All of these are available in most hawker centers, with certain variations. With that little disclaimer, on to the food!

10) Chicken Rice

Sounds simple, right? Wrong. The nondescript name might fool one into thinking that this is a meal a lazy bachelor like myself could easily reproduce with a pair of chicken breasts and a rice cooker, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. True chicken rice features steamed chicken that has been “blanched,” or dipped into cold water after cooking to give it a particular texture. The chicken is then chopped and laid over rice, but not just any rice; this rice has been infused with the fat from the chicken, making it an unhealthy but addictive indulgence. Serve with long slices of cucumber, bok choy, chili sauce, and dark soy sauce, and you’ve got a meal that will comfort you on your darkest day.

9) Chili Crab

A famous Singaporean dish that costs an arm and a leg, and may take the remaining limb when you start waving around the crab clamps. Nonetheless, I guarantee you’ve never tasted anything like chili crab sauce, which I could eat on rice every day and still be happy. There are a few other famous types of crab, such as black pepper crab, but chili crab is the best in my book. Bring your bib, a full wallet, and a bottle of beer, and you’re in for a fantastic meal.

8) Sliced Fish Soup

A healthier option than most on this list, although you should be wary of the amount of MSG, sodium, and other delicious additives that are common in hawker food. This soup is pretty much what it sounds like, though you can customize with seaweed, tomato, egg, and tofu. If you’re feeling sick or you’ve had a rough day, I recommend swapping fried fish for the sliced fish and adding condensed milk to the broth – fish soup to comfort the soul. It would be perfect to warm you up on a cold day… if Singapore had cold days.

7) Chinese Rice (sometimes known as Economy Rice)

Chinese food in the US (or at least, in my college town) was known for being rather expensive and pretty gosh-darn terrible. In Singapore neither of those things are true. Here you can order Chinese food for a fraction of the US price, and it tastes so good that I can and have eaten it twice in one day. This is an MSG-heavy dish, but when it comes to Singapore hawker food, MSG stands for “MMMM, So Good!!!”

6) Yong Tau Foo

Otherwise known as Choice Paralysis, featuring a variety of vegetables, tofu products, fried dumplings, and various other delights. With six choices minimum and an additional 50 cents a piece, there’s a lot of room for customization. Once you choose your ingredients and your choice of starch (there are three types of noodles to choose from, and rice of course), everything is boiled together in a rich fish-based broth. The meal can be served dry, as a soup, or slathered in a mouth-watering curry gravy. (Challenge for the mathematically minded – if I said that there were 30 different base ingredients and you wanted to order 6, plus one starch, how many unique types of Yong Tau Foo could you create? Hint: More days than I’ve lived in Singapore, that’s for damn certain.)

5) Ayam Penyet

It has been said that the measure of a country’s greatness is the measure of its fried chicken (if it hasn’t been said, I say it now). From my limited experience I can testify to the greatness of America, South Korea, Botswana, and now Indonesia and Singapore. “Ayam Penyet” means “smashed chicken” in Malay, and that’s exactly what it is: chicken breasts that are tenderized in a not-so-tender way (think of the culinary version of Thor’s Hammer), then fried, placed over rice, and served with a sweet soy sauce derivative and a SPICY chili sauce that never fails to clear my sinuses. This is a student (and teacher) favorite at my school’s canteen, where you can get a rib-sticking ayam penyet set for less than four Singaporean dollars.

4) Kaya Toast Set

I can’t really explain kaya, except to say that I think its original name was ambrosia. Buy/steal/smuggle a jar of Hainanese kaya and try it with butter on toast, and you’ll never go back (to jam or marmalade or whatever sad bread spread you used to rely on before I enlightened you). A traditional breakfast in Singapore features kaya toast, two soft-boiled eggs with dark soy sauce, and either kopi or teh (coffee or tea, as you’ve probably guessed, but so unlike their Western counterparts that they deserve their own names). There are many variations on the traditional breakfast, but all of them start your day off with a full stomach and a sugar high.

3) Claypot Rice

Not a single meal so much as a way of life, Claypot stalls boil down different mixtures into a stew-like consistency, then serve them bubbling hot in a traditional claypot with a side of rice to soak in all the deliciousness. My favorite so far is sesame chicken, which has a rich flavor that draws on the sesame oil, onions, and chicken broth to create something truly beautiful. You will get sauce everywhere as you try to consume every last bit of chicken using only chopsticks and a spoon… but it will be worth it. I promise you.

2) Prata

Prata is essentially fried dough, except it can come with a variety of add-ins including eggs, bananas, and chocolate. No matter what the flavor, prata is served with a bowl of curry (either chicken or fish-based), and sometimes sugar on the side. At first I was a little leery of adding curry to what I thought of as a dessert or a decadent sort of fried breakfast, but I got over that before I finished chewing the first bite. Excellent for breakfast, lunch, dinner, a midnight snack, or anything in between, prata is a most versatile (and sinful) food.

1) Murtabak

Murtabak takes the concept of prata to the next level. You have a base of delicious fried dough with a crispy exterior? Great – now wrap it around a simmering mixture of onions and minced meat, eat it with curry and green tea to cut the grease, and wait for your food coma to arrive. I think that beef murtabak is my favorite to date, although I’ve also had chicken and (once) mutton murtabak. Fried dough, grilled meat and onions, and curry – if that’s not a recipe for happiness, I don’t know what is.