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15 recipes

Almond LondonChocolate-dipped almond cookies

Almond London is a Hari Raya favourite in Singapore and Malaysia, a whole roasted almond hidden in buttery cookie dough, baked, dipped in chocolate and rolled in chopped nuts. Nobody is sure where the name came from, but every Malay household fills a jar of them for Raya visits, and children hunt for the almond inside. They are crunchy, rich and not too sweet. Chef's tip: let the cookies cool completely before dipping, or the chocolate slides off and turns streaky.

75 min

Singaporean Baking

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Hee peow soup (Nyonya fish maw soup)

Hee peow th'ng is a Peranakan soup that turns up at the Chinese New Year reunion dinner in Singapore, a clear, gentle bowl that sits beside the spicy dishes; fish maw is a luxury food and stands for plenty, and the round balls for a family that is whole. The fish maw is bought ready dried and fried in packets from Chinese grocers, then soaked until it is spongy and soaks up the savoury broth. With it go homemade pork meatballs, bought fish balls, napa cabbage and carrot, all in a broth made from pork bones and chicken. Serve it with rice and a little sambal on the side. Chef's tip: squeeze the soaked maw hard in several changes of water; it rinses out the old frying oil so the soup stays clean.

120 min

Singaporean Soups

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Bakwan kepiting (crab and pork meatball soup)

Bakwan kepiting is the Peranakan soup that Nyonya families in Singapore serve at the Chinese New Year reunion dinner; the round meatballs stand for a family gathered whole and complete. The balls are minced pork and sweet crab meat, bound with egg and bulked with shredded bamboo shoot, and they simmer in a clear, gently garlicky pork broth until tender and springy. This home version uses pasteurised cooked crab meat instead of live crabs, so it is easier and kinder. Serve it in small bowls with fried garlic and rice, before the richer curries. Chef's tip: keep the broth at a lazy simmer once the balls go in; a rolling boil clouds the soup and breaks them apart.

90 min

Singaporean Soups

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Udang masak nanasPrawns in pineapple gravy

Sweet, sour and gently hot, this Nyonya prawn and pineapple curry turns up on Peranakan family tables in Singapore and Melaka as one of several dishes shared at a weekend lunch, often next to a coconut-rich curry it is meant to balance. Prawns and chunks of half-ripe pineapple simmer briefly in a thin, golden gravy of tamarind and a lightly fried rempah of chillies, shallots, lemongrass, turmeric and shrimp paste, so the sauce tastes bright and fruity rather than heavy. Eat it with plenty of steamed rice. Overcooking the prawns is the common slip; they need only 3 minutes and turn tough and dry if left to stew with the pineapple. Chef's tip: choose a pineapple that is still a little firm and tart, as fully ripe fruit makes the gravy too sweet and falls apart.

40 min

Singaporean Fish

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Teochew fish soup

Office workers in the CBD form long lunch queues for a dish that looks almost plain: a bowl of clear, sweet broth with thick slices of batang (Spanish mackerel), wedges of tomato, silken tofu, lettuce and a little salted vegetable, served with rice or thick rice noodles. Good stalls simmer fish bones for hours, but at home a well-flavoured stock and plenty of ginger get you close in half an hour. The fish should be just set and springy, the broth light, gently tangy from tomato and savoury from fish sauce. Most home versions go wrong by boiling the slices hard, which breaks them up and turns them chalky; they need only a few minutes at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: toss the fish slices with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of tapioca starch before cooking, which keeps them silky and stops them falling apart.

30 min

Singaporean Soups

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BandungRose syrup milk drink

Pink as a sweet in a glass, bandung turns up at almost every Malay drinks stall in Singapore, sipped through a straw at Geylang Serai, at kampung-style weddings and through the evenings of Ramadan when stalls sell it in tied plastic bags at the bazaars. Rose syrup is stirred into water and evaporated milk, then poured over plenty of ice, giving a drink that is floral, sweet and creamy without being heavy. It pairs well with spicy food such as mee rebus, satay or nasi lemak, cooling the chilli. The usual mistake is adding the evaporated milk to hot syrup, which can make it look curdled and dull; let the syrup cool, and mix with cold milk. Chef's tip: make the syrup in advance and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks, so a glass takes a minute; a few drops of rose water at the end lift the scent if your syrup is mild.

10 min

Singaporean Drinks

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Itek timDuck and salted mustard greens soup

Sour, salty and cleansing, itek tim is the soup a Nyonya kitchen in Katong or Joo Chiat puts on the table to cut through the rich curries and sambals of a Chinese New Year reunion dinner, and it is often made in a big pot that lasts for days. Jointed duck simmers slowly with salted mustard greens, tomatoes, salted sour plums and a little dried tamarind until the meat is tender and the broth turns golden, tangy and deeply savoury. It is served with rice and sambal belacan, and many families say it is even better on day two. Not soaking the salted mustard greens is the classic trap; they can make the soup far too salty, so soak and taste a piece first. Chef's tip: chill the soup overnight and lift off the duck fat in one sheet before reheating, which gives a clear, clean broth.

130 min

Singaporean Soups

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Bak kut teh (Singapore peppery style)Pork rib pepper soup

Singapore's riverside bak kut teh shops, around Rangoon Road, Balestier and the old Clarke Quay docks, still open early for the kind of customer the dish was made for: a hungry worker wanting a fortifying bowl before a long day. Unlike the dark, herbal Malaysian versions, the Teochew style here is a clear, golden broth that bites with white pepper and is sweet with whole bulbs of garlic, poured over meaty pork ribs that have simmered until tender. It is eaten with white rice, youtiao (fried dough sticks) to dunk, braised peanuts or salted vegetables, a dish of dark soy with chopped chilli, and a pot of strong oolong tea to cut the fat. A common mistake is to let the pot boil hard, which clouds the broth and toughens the ribs; it should only shiver. Chef's tip: toast the crushed white pepper in a dry pan for a minute before it goes in, for a deeper, rounder heat.

120 min

Singaporean Soups

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Barley water

Ask for 'barley' at any drinks stall in a Singapore kopitiam and you get a tall glass of cloudy, faintly sweet barley water, the drink older relatives swear by on the hottest afternoons because it is said to cool the body. Home cooks simmer pearl barley for an hour with knotted pandan leaves, and in Teochew and Cantonese households chunks of winter melon go in as well for a gentle, cucumber-like sweetness. The result is light and clean, ideal beside a plate of chicken rice, char kway teow or anything greasy and salty. The usual mistake is boiling it hard, which turns the liquid starchy and slimy instead of smooth and pale; keep it at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: don't throw away the softened barley grains; spoon some into each glass, as the stalls do, or eat them warm with a little rock sugar as a light dessert.

65 min

Singaporean Drinks

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Sambal stingray

Weekend evenings at the seafood stalls of Newton, Chomp Chomp and East Coast Lagoon smell of charring banana leaf, and the dish sending up that smoke is usually sambal stingray. A fan-shaped stingray wing is spread thickly with a dark red, slow-fried sambal of chillies, shallots, candlenuts and toasted shrimp paste, laid on banana leaf and cooked over high heat until the sweet, delicate flesh pulls cleanly off the soft cartilage in strands. It comes with calamansi or lime, raw sliced shallots and a little dish of sour chinchalok, and a plate of steamed rice. Underfrying the sambal is the classic error: until the oil splits away and turns red, the paste tastes raw and harsh. If you can't find stingray, skate wing is the best substitute and cooks the same way. Chef's tip: score the thick end of the wing and push sambal into the cuts, so the flavour gets right into the flesh.

50 min

Singaporean Fish

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Pandan chiffon cake

No Singapore birthday table, office tea or visit to grandma's feels complete without a pandan chiffon cake, the pale green ring sold whole at heritage bakeries and neighbourhood confectioners and carried home in a box, and travellers fly home with one in their hand luggage. The crumb is cottony and springy, moist from coconut milk, and the flavour comes from juice squeezed from blended pandan leaves: grassy, vanilla-like and faintly nutty. It is served plain, in tall wedges, with kopi or tea. The usual mistake is greasing the tube pan; a chiffon needs to cling to bare metal to climb, and cooling it upside down is what keeps it tall. Chef's tip: beat the egg whites only to firm, glossy peaks that curl over at the tip; stiff, dry whites won't fold in smoothly and leave white streaks and holes.

80 min

Singaporean Baking

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Black pepper crab

If chilli crab is Singapore's sweet crowd-pleaser, black pepper crab is the one locals often order beside it: dry rather than saucy, sharp with freshly cracked black pepper, rich with butter and with a salty edge from oyster and soy sauce. It was created in the 1950s–60s at the seafood restaurants of Upper Serangoon and East Coast, and is eaten at long family dinners with rice or plain bread to mop the buttery wok juices. Note that this dish contains butter, so it is not dairy free. Buy crabs live or freshly cooked the same day from a fishmonger you trust. Discard any live crab that doesn't move, smells of ammonia or has a cracked, leaking shell. The common mistake is using pre-ground pepper powder, which tastes dusty and burns; crack whole peppercorns coarsely. Chef's tip: toast the cracked pepper in the dry wok for a minute before the butter goes in to wake up its aroma.

45 min

Singaporean Fish

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KayaPandan coconut jam

Kaya is the coconut and egg jam spread thickly on toast in every kopitiam in Singapore, from heritage chains to the coffee shop under a housing block. This is the green Nyonya-style kaya, gently cooked with pandan leaves until it turns thick, glossy and custardy; the Hainanese version adds caramel for a brown colour. It keeps for a week in the fridge and is the essential part of kaya toast. Chef's tip: cook it slowly over a pan of barely simmering water and keep stirring; rushed kaya scrambles and turns grainy.

60 min

Singaporean Basics

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KopiCoffee with condensed milk

Kopi is the strong, thick coffee poured from long-spouted pots at kopitiams all over Singapore. The beans are dark-roasted with sugar and margarine, which gives a bittersweet, almost chocolatey brew, and the classic cup is sweetened with condensed milk. Order it like a local: kopi-o is black with sugar, kopi-c has evaporated milk, and kopi peng is iced. At home, a dark-roast robusta or espresso blend in a cloth sock or cafetière gets close. Chef's tip: pour the coffee back and forth between two jugs a few times; it cools slightly, aerates and gets the smooth, frothy kopitiam texture.

7 min

Singaporean Drinks

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Singapore chilli crab

Chilli crab was first sold from a pushcart on the Kallang river in the 1950s and is now the dish visitors queue for along Singapore's East Coast seafood strip. Big mud crabs are cut up, wok-fried and simmered in a thick, sweet, tangy and gently hot sauce of chilli, tomato and garlic, which is then silked with beaten egg. Everyone eats with their hands and mops up the sauce with fried or steamed mantou buns. It is a weekend or celebration meal, messy and loud. Buy crabs live or freshly cooked the same day from a fishmonger you trust. Discard any live crab that doesn't move, smells of ammonia or has a cracked, leaking shell. The common mistake is boiling the sauce after adding the egg, which scrambles it into lumps; pour it in a thin stream over a low heat. Chef's tip: ask the fishmonger to clean and quarter the crab for you, and crack each claw lightly with the back of a cleaver so the sauce soaks in.

55 min

Singaporean Fish

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