Maya & Kay’s Kitchen
Presents
A Night in Singapore
Singapore cuisine is a fusion of food found in many countries from a far a field as Northern China to European countries such as Holland. Truly Singaporean cuisine evolved from these places to become known as ‘Nonya’. The food primarily from the Straits Chinese women.
Long before the large-scale immigration of the Chinese towards the end of the 19th century a number of Chinese traders settled in places such as Singapore and married Malay women. The children from these mixed marriages were known as Strait Chinese. Male offspring married other strait Chinese women and female offspring married men who came ‘straight’ from China. Thus today the Straits Chinese are almost pure Chinese except their cooking.
Nonya food uses basically Malay methods of preparation and is therefore often time consuming. So much of this style of cooking is disappearing with other demands on our time.
However, tonight it lives in a little Bistro in the heart of Istanbul.
Tonight’s Menu is dedicated to my father who is without doubt the best, most brilliant cook to have ever taken on Asian food.
We begin our journey with Laksa Lemak
A rich noodle soup with seafood.
This recipe I owe to two people. The first is the mother of my childhood best friend Lily. Lily & I met at school when we were both 7. Her father was a minister in Government and her uncle was the President of Singapore. Her upbringing was humble and very family orientated. Her mother did a lot of the family cooking. Her father sat around in a singlet and sarong telling funny jokes and I would often eat at Lily’s Muslim Malay household. One day I watched her mother prepare Laksa Lemak as we talked in the kitchen (buttering up the family before Lily presented her report card). When I tasted the soup later I placed it among my favourite dishes of all time. When I went to England my father’s need of Singapore food drove him to constant experimentation which involved me as his commi chef: grinding coconuts; chilies and prawn shells for hours. He did manage to produce an exceptional Laksa Lemak from scribbled notes and memory.
Lily and I are still friends today. She lives in Sydney and lectures at the university on Economics (she never passed a Maths exam when we were at school together). She writes historical political books on Singapore and will be in Singapore this summer to meet me for a reunion where we will, no doubt beg her mother to make Laksa Lemak.
AYAM LEMAK
Chicken leg pieces in rich coconut gravy. A very typical Nonya recipe which is often cooked with Nasi Lemak (coconut rice) but I figured we might be coconuted out by the end of the evening as it features in every course.
CUCUMBER PICKLE
In sweet & sour vinegar
TAHAU GORENG
Fried bean curd in sour peanut sauce. This was one of my father and my favourites that we bought from the hawker across the road from our house. Before my father left Singapore to live in England he went over to the guy and asked him for his recipe. The man extracted a promise from him that he would never reveal this to anyone since it was his only source of income. Tonight we have a chance to remember this man who shared his secrets with my father. Today this hawker station no longer exists.
BLACHAN CABBAGE GORENG
Cooked in the unique dried shrimp paste. The Amah (Malay word for servant) took care of our household and used to buy the fresh blachan from the market and I learned to love the smell of it as she dried it in the sun. Everyone who smells it in it’s uncooked state hates it. In fact, Maya won’t let me cook it in the restaurant when she is around. My Amah is no longer alive. She came to live with our family when my father was 2 and returned to her native China when I was 16. She died there 18 years later.
HAWKER STYLE CURRY PUFFS
Beef and Potato. Every hawker had his own particular recipe. My favourite curry puff was made from this Indian type of pastry using Malay curry ingredients for the filling. It has taken me years and several experiments to have found this combination outside Singapore.
***
There are hundreds of other recipes I would have liked to have shared with you tonight but I hope the few I picked delight you.
Maybe plied with drink again and given ingredients we can’t find here I might do ‘A night in Singapore Part II’.
Presents
A Night in Singapore
Singapore cuisine is a fusion of food found in many countries from a far a field as Northern China to European countries such as Holland. Truly Singaporean cuisine evolved from these places to become known as ‘Nonya’. The food primarily from the Straits Chinese women.
Long before the large-scale immigration of the Chinese towards the end of the 19th century a number of Chinese traders settled in places such as Singapore and married Malay women. The children from these mixed marriages were known as Strait Chinese. Male offspring married other strait Chinese women and female offspring married men who came ‘straight’ from China. Thus today the Straits Chinese are almost pure Chinese except their cooking.
Nonya food uses basically Malay methods of preparation and is therefore often time consuming. So much of this style of cooking is disappearing with other demands on our time.
However, tonight it lives in a little Bistro in the heart of Istanbul.
Tonight’s Menu is dedicated to my father who is without doubt the best, most brilliant cook to have ever taken on Asian food.
We begin our journey with Laksa Lemak
A rich noodle soup with seafood.
This recipe I owe to two people. The first is the mother of my childhood best friend Lily. Lily & I met at school when we were both 7. Her father was a minister in Government and her uncle was the President of Singapore. Her upbringing was humble and very family orientated. Her mother did a lot of the family cooking. Her father sat around in a singlet and sarong telling funny jokes and I would often eat at Lily’s Muslim Malay household. One day I watched her mother prepare Laksa Lemak as we talked in the kitchen (buttering up the family before Lily presented her report card). When I tasted the soup later I placed it among my favourite dishes of all time. When I went to England my father’s need of Singapore food drove him to constant experimentation which involved me as his commi chef: grinding coconuts; chilies and prawn shells for hours. He did manage to produce an exceptional Laksa Lemak from scribbled notes and memory.
Lily and I are still friends today. She lives in Sydney and lectures at the university on Economics (she never passed a Maths exam when we were at school together). She writes historical political books on Singapore and will be in Singapore this summer to meet me for a reunion where we will, no doubt beg her mother to make Laksa Lemak.
AYAM LEMAK
Chicken leg pieces in rich coconut gravy. A very typical Nonya recipe which is often cooked with Nasi Lemak (coconut rice) but I figured we might be coconuted out by the end of the evening as it features in every course.
CUCUMBER PICKLE
In sweet & sour vinegar
TAHAU GORENG
Fried bean curd in sour peanut sauce. This was one of my father and my favourites that we bought from the hawker across the road from our house. Before my father left Singapore to live in England he went over to the guy and asked him for his recipe. The man extracted a promise from him that he would never reveal this to anyone since it was his only source of income. Tonight we have a chance to remember this man who shared his secrets with my father. Today this hawker station no longer exists.
BLACHAN CABBAGE GORENG
Cooked in the unique dried shrimp paste. The Amah (Malay word for servant) took care of our household and used to buy the fresh blachan from the market and I learned to love the smell of it as she dried it in the sun. Everyone who smells it in it’s uncooked state hates it. In fact, Maya won’t let me cook it in the restaurant when she is around. My Amah is no longer alive. She came to live with our family when my father was 2 and returned to her native China when I was 16. She died there 18 years later.
HAWKER STYLE CURRY PUFFS
Beef and Potato. Every hawker had his own particular recipe. My favourite curry puff was made from this Indian type of pastry using Malay curry ingredients for the filling. It has taken me years and several experiments to have found this combination outside Singapore.
***
There are hundreds of other recipes I would have liked to have shared with you tonight but I hope the few I picked delight you.
Maybe plied with drink again and given ingredients we can’t find here I might do ‘A night in Singapore Part II’.
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