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Mother of Singapore Chili Crab from Pong Teng to Sua Ti to Palm Beach to Roland Restaurant

May 28, 2020, 1:49 am
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Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood
In Singapore, chili crab is almost synonymous with seafood. I mean, if you go to a seafood restaurant in Singapore today, you will be hard pressed to spot any table that doesn't have a big serving of that flaming red chili crab dish at the centre of the table.

It is all the more amazing when one realises that chili crab has a very humble beginning and was quite a recent invention in Singapore, in the 1950s.

Image credit: OurGrandfatherStory
The creation of Singapore chili crab is well documented thanks to its inventor Mdm Cher Yam Tian and son Roland Lim Kai Lu's detailed interviews in Teochew language (4 hours long) with the National Archives of Singapore in 2011.



Mdm Cher was born in 1933 in a seaside village at Upper East Coast Road Singapore. Her father was from Swatow, China while her mother was born in Singapore. They were farmers planting vegetables and raised some livestock like pigs and chicken in a Teochew village near a cemetery known as Pang Sua Kia (or Hwa San Ting).

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Pang Sua Kia was beside a larger Malay village (kampung) at Jalan Haji Salam. Most villagers were farmers and fishermen. (Today, this is near where Upper East Coast Road intersects Bedok Road where Bedok Food Centre is located.)

Upper East Coast Road in 1953. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Mdm Cher's family lived near where Sungai Bedok river flowed into the sea. Today, Sungai Bedok is a canal.

Image credit: Wikipedia
Mangrove crabs were plentiful where Sungai Bedok river flowed into the Singapore Straits.

This is not Mr Lim but how a policeman looked like in 1950s Singapore. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore 
Mdm Cher's husband Lim Choon Ngee was a farmer turned policeman. Those were 马达穿短裤 days "policeman wear shorts days" - the Singaporean way of saying "a long time ago".

Mr Lim often catch mud crabs at Sungai Bedok which Mdm Cher would either steam or stir fry with julienned ginger, the Teochew way for family meals. (Last time, policeman very free 😝 ) One day, Mdm Cher's husband suggested that she try a spicy version as he was very bored with her usual stir fried or steamed crabs. Mr. Lim is a picky eater (quoting Mdm Cher) 😄

Mdm Cher's first few attempts at spicy crab didn't turn out well - it was either too sweet or too sour. After several attempts, Mdm Cher hit the spot - I mean it earned the approval of picky Mr. Lim.

The Lim family shared their chili crabs with their neighbours who also enjoyed them very much. One of them suggested that Mdm Cher start a stall to sell her crabs.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
So, in 1956 at age 23, Mdm Cher left her children under the care of her mother in the evenings and set up stall at the beach near her house. The makeshift stall had just 2 tables under a bushy tree - one for Mdm Cher to cook, and another for customers to eat. There were neither electricity nor running water, so Mdm Cher used a charcoal stove and water from the village well. Add a few stools and a kerosene lamp hanging from a branch, and the first Singapore chili crab stall was in business 🦀 

The stall was a one woman show - Mdm Cher set up stall, took orders, prepared the crab, cooked, served, collected money, cleaned up and washed. But, her chili crabs were a hit right off the bat and soon, she employed a helper. As business grew quickly, she had to get more help. Mr Lim was not able to help as it was illegal for a civil servant to "moonlight".

Mdm Cher sold her chili crabs with French loaf instead of rice. It was Mr Lim's idea - he is a man of good business acumen besides picky taste buds. The freshly baked French loaves came from a Hainanese bakery nearby and were served to customers crispy and piping hot.

Mdm Cher sold over a dozen crabs a night at her 1-table stall. Many customers took home her chili crabs wrapped in opeh leaf (dried betel nut leaf midrib). She sold the crab at $3 per serving (which was a princely sum in the 1950s). An extra large serving of crab went for $5. Mdm Cher served only mud crabs from the start (never sold flower crabs).

In old Singapore, it was common to light up stalls with hurricane lamps as there was no electricity. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The nameless stall was known to customers as the Pong Teng stall. Pong teng 泵灯 is the colloquial Teochew name for hurricane lamp (teng for lamp and pong being the pumping action to build up the pressure before lighting the wick inside). Customers would look out for the pong teng at the beach - if the hurricane lamp was on, then it was chili crab for dinner 😋



Despite being born and raised in 1960s Singapore, I needed some help on what is "pong teng". Facebook friends came to my rescue. Thanks!

Unlicensed hawkers would run helter-skelter when health inspectors come. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore 
Pong Teng chili crab was very popular but was regularly visited by public health inspectors known locally as toads 地牛. Mdm Cher was forced to move her unlicensed stall about to avoid the health inspectors, at one point as far away as the Kallang River. It was an exhausting cat and mouse game. Her loyal customers followed her everywhere but unfortunately, so did the toads. Once, the health inspectors even confiscated Mdm Cher's stall, taking it all away lock, stock and barrel in their lorry.

East Coast Road in the 1940s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
In 1963, they secured a properly licensed open air stall at 514, Upper East Coast Road (today, it is a row of terrace houses near Sea Pavilion Residences condominium). The stall was located right at the beach facing the sea, coconut palms and boats coming in with their catch of the day.

Bedok beach in the 1950s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Inspired by the idyllic surroundings, Mr. Lim simply called his stall, Palm Beach. But, even here, Mdm Cher's customers still called it Pong Teng chili crab. Even though there was electricity, Mdm Cher continued to light their hurricane lamps or pong teng which was their trademark. Later, customers gave the stall another nickname, Sua Ti (Sandy Place) 沙地 chili crab because all the tables and chairs were set on the sandy beach.

Now, with peace of mind without having to play hide and seek with toads health inspectors, Mdm Cher sold more crabs and expanded her menu. Besides crabs, she had prawns and cockles.

Mdm Cher is gifted with tastebuds for flavours. Customers love her chili sauce for crabs, dark soy sauce for stir fried prawns and spicy dipping sauce for blanched cockles.

Each night Mdm Cher served more than 100 French loaves (from there we can guess how many crabs at $3 per serving 😱 ). As business continued to boom, Mdm Cher expanded her menu to 5 items with deep fried crispy baby squid and stir fried mussel 大头. They also had fried kway teow and bee hoon. From a 1-table chili crab stall of sorts, Pong Teng is now a full fledged seafood restaurant.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Palm Beach or Pong Teng or Sua Ti (Sandy Place) was known for very fresh seafood which were delivered straight from the sea by boats that landed at the beach right in front of the stall. It was the proverbial seafood paradise.

By the 1970s, 3 or 4 competitors appeared at the same stretch of seaside road, including Long Beach, Kheng Luck etc.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
By 1985, Palm Beach's sea view and beach front were gone due to reclamation. The East Coast Reclamation Scheme launched by President Yusof Ishak in 1966 was completed in 1986.

The stall was still better known as Sua Ti (Sandy Place) chili crab to their fans even in 1985, as there were no paved surfaces except for the stove. That year, the government required Mdm Cher to move and offered her a place at the newly built East Coast Seafood Centre.



By the 1980s, Mr Lim who frequently visited relatives in New Zealand, had fallen madly in love with the beautiful scenery and idyllic lifestyle there. He persuaded the family to close the chili crab stall, sell the Palm Beach brand, and emigrated to New Zealand in 1986.

Image credit: Singapore Memory Project
The Palm Beach brand was sold for a small sum but the family kept the recipes to their dishes including the chili crab. Till today, the recipe for the chili sauce is still a closely guarded secret. Only Mdm Cher, Mr Lim, son Roland and younger brother Richard know the formula. There are literally thousands of chili crab stalls and restaurants around the world today, but no one has been able to replicate Mdm Cher's chili crab so far.

After enjoying New Zealand's pristine environment and laid back lifestyle for a few months, Roland and wife grew slightly bored and restless. Their business in New Zealand was also slow as the population in Christchurch was relatively small.

So, Roland and wife returned to Singapore and partnered with the new owners of Palm Beach. In 2000, Roland launched Roland Restaurant in Marine Parade. Mdm Cher and Mr. Lim returned to Singapore to support Roland.


Image credit: Wikipedia
The crab of choice today in Singapore are from Sri Lanka, prized for their sheer size and meatiness. Crabs weighing two kilos are common.

They look extremely impressive at centre stage during dinner, but I am not sure if I am the only one who prefers crabs of 1 kilo at most as bigger crabs tend to have thicker, harder shells and the meat not necessarily nicer to the bite nor sweeter. 

History_of_Singapore_Chili_Crab
Tian Lai Seafood in Gelang Patah, Johor, Malaysia
Today, Singapore chili crab is an undisputed national food icon. Every seafood restaurant in Singapore and also Malaysia serve their version of chili crab. There are also many chili crab specialists but Mdm Cher's original 1956 no-egg recipe served at Roland Restaurant is still holding her own. (Roland also serves a contemporary version of with-egg chili crab to cater to a wider audience.)

I say Mdm Cher 🦀 is the Colonel Sanders 🐔 of Singapore chili crab.

The last time I tasted chili crabs at Roland Restaurant was in 2004. I haven't started blogging then, so did not take detailed notes nor photos but remembered that I liked it very much. Till today, Roland's chili crab is still at the top of my mind for Singapore's best chili crabs. (Note to self: Go taste Roland's original chili crab again as soon as *Circuit Breaker is lifted 😋 )

*Circuit Breaker is a set of social distancing measures implemented by the Singapore government since 7 Apr 2020 to stem the spread of COVID-19 infections. Today is Day 52 of Circuit Breaker.



Ban Leong Wah Hoe has one of my favourite chili crabs.









#Singaporefood Taking overseas guests to taste signature Singapore dishes. We chose Kok Sen at Keong Siak Road for chili crab. Truth be told, I feel pressure when taking visitors around for food. What if the stall or restaurant is off form? Which happens. Fortunately, Kok Sen served an excellent chili crab last night. Not too spicy (for visitors) with well balanced mild savoury, sweet, tangy flavours in the thick sauce smoothed with raw eggs. There was a nice underlying crustacean savouriness infused in the sauce which I love in good chili crab. I believe they stewed the crabs briefly in the sauce to extract its flavours. Needless to say, the live crab meat was sweet with a nice tender juiciness to the bite. Bill came to S$138 for 1 kilo of crabs plus a small serving of savoury spicy hor fan with prawns (which we didn't really like as the hor fun lacked wok hei). 🦀 https://johorkaki.blogspot.com/2018/04/kok-sen-restaurant-of-keong-saik-road.html

A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on

Reference:

National Archives of Singapore interviews with Mdm Cher Yam Tian and son Roland Lim



Date: 28 May 2020
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History of Curry Puff & Epok Epok in Singapore & Malaysia

May 29, 2020, 6:00 am
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Swees Epok Epok in Batam
Food can tell us a lot about our history. When we munch on our favourite epok epok and curry puff, we are tasting a legacy of Portuguese, Dutch and English rule in Malaysia and Singapore for over half a millennia.

Santiago gate was all that is left of the Formosa fort which Afonso de Albuquerque built. Image credit: Wikipedia
The Portuguese arrived in our world in 1511, taking over and staying in Malacca for 130 years. Malacca together with Macau in China and Goa in India was Portugal's grand scheme to control the Spice Route between China and Portugal.



Image credit: Wikipedia
The Portuguese brought empanadas to Malacca (while the Spaniards took them to The Philippines). The Spanish word "empana" means bread and "empanada" means wrapped in bread.

These baked or fried wheat flour dough pockets filled with meat and vegetable were staples in Iberia i.e. Portugal and Spain. The idea came from the Middle East and the dish (a form of the Persian sanbosag سنبوساگ‎ ) came to Iberia through Morocco.



From the Middle East, the Persian sanbosag went west to be the Iberian empanada and to the east it went to India to become the samosa.

Dutch style town square in Malacca. Image credit: Wikipedia
In 1641, the Dutch kicked the Portuguese out of Malacca with the help of the Johor Sultanate. In return, the Dutch agreed to leave the Johor Sultanate in peace.

The Portuguese gone but one of their legacies, the empanada survived Dutch rule, probably in the form of epok epok - a fried thin crust pocket filled with meat and/ or vegetable.

(As far as I know, the Dutch don't have an empanada type dish.)



In 1824, the English cut a deal with the Dutch for control of Malacca in exchange for Bencoolen (today's Bengkulu in Sumatra, Indonesia). Malacca then became part of the Straits Settlements together with Penang and Singapore.

Cornish pastry. Image credit: Wikipedia
Puff pastry. Image credit: Wikipedia
And so came Cornish pastry and English puff pastry to our sunny shores.

Then, things got even hazier as there are no written records. An unknown, unsung hero put curried meat and potato inside puff pastry and created the proto-curry puff.

The curry puff is like the reunion in British Malaya of the the long lost Persian sanbosag siblings - the Indian samosa and Iberian empanada with English puff pastry.

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Salahuddin Bakery in Johor Bahru 
One form is those triangular baked Indian karipap with curried mutton and potatoes inside layered crisp flaky crust. They were my favourite school tuck shop meal for 10 cents in 1970s Singapore. 

I said proto- because since then, there are countless variations on the crust as well as the curried fillings.


Love this recipe 👆


The names also got mixed up in the melting pot, literally. The term curry puff is used to refer to any crust whether they are puff pastries or not. The term epok epok is referred to as the "Malay curry puff" or even "the Malay word for curry puff".

Curry_Puff_Epok_Epok
Er Jie Curry Puff
Right now, curry puff refers to any foldover pastry with curried fillings.

But as KF Seetoh, founder of Makansutra once famously told Anthony Bourdain, "Got good food, you want to talk so much for what?"😂

Just whack lah 😋😄


Where to get the best curry puff / epok epok in Singapore and Malaysia ah?

Date: 29 May 2020
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Laksa Siglap. Original Laksa in Singapore

May 30, 2020, 3:13 am
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When people speak about laksa in Singapore, the first things that come to their minds are Katong laksa and Sungai Road laksa. Not many would think of Siglap laksa. But, Siglap laksa is much older than Katong and Sungai Road laksa, and deserves a lot more recognition than it does now.

While Katong laksa is thriving commercially, Siglap laksa which has an older vintage remains relatively unknown and is in serious danger of going extinct in the foreseeable future.

[Siglap laksa is grammatically correct in English. In Malay, the correct name is laksa Siglap. In this post, I shall use the Malay name to honour it as a Malay dish.]



For the story of laksa Siglap, we first hop across the border to Johor and back in time to the era of the Johor Sultanate. 

Singapore was part of the Johor Sultanate and was its capital from 1819 to 1824. In 1824, the English and Dutch signed a treaty carving control of Malaya and Indonesia between themselves. Singapore was taken out of the Johor Sultanate and put under the British Straits Settlements together with Malacca and Penang.

During the Johor Sultanate era, there was already a laksa. After 1824, it became "one laksa, two territories".

Then, events in the late 1800s, led to today's "two territories, two laksa".

Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor. Image Credit: Wikipedia
Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor who ruled from 1886 to 1895 visited Europe and fell in love with spaghetti there. When he returned to his palace in Johor, he instructed his chef to make laksa Johor with spaghetti.

Laksa Johor
It turned out that Italian spaghetti and the traditional fish, spice and vegetable sauce of laksa Johor go perfectly together. Laksa Johor was never going to be the same again, in Johor.



Since then in Johor, laksa Johor is always proudly made with spaghetti. In 2013, laksa Johor was declared an Intangible Heritage Object by the Malaysian Department of National Heritage.



Over in Singapore, nothing changed. Laksa was still made with thick laksa cap noodles hand made with rice and tapioca flour (like udon).

"Two territories, two laksa".

Siglap beach in 1879. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Today, that old laksa from the Johor Sultanate era is called laksa Kampung Siglap or laksa Siglap because the lady who made the laksa at home lived in Kampung Siglap in the 1970s. Her laksa Siglap was the most popular and famous. A young man helped her sell her laksa Siglap, carrying two large pots balanced on a bamboo pole across his shoulders walking from house to house in Siglap.

Ikan parang sets laksa Johor, laksa Siglap apart from other laksa
Authentic laksa Siglap has thick sauce made with ikan parang fish stock, coconut milk, kerisik (toasted grated coconut pounded into paste), asam gelugur, asam Jawa (tamarind), dried prawns, pounded fresh ikan parang fish meat, lemongrass, ginger, galangal, dried salted fish (ikan kurau) and aromatic spices.



The dish is garnished with raw onion, bean sprouts (taugeh), daun selasih, Vietnamese coriander or daun kesum, cucumber, and pickled white radish. A dollop of sambal belacan chili at the side for more spicy kick.

A bit of zest from a squeeze of fresh lime completes the ritual to start digging into the noodles. Traditionally, fingers were the cutlery for eating finger licking good laksa Siglap.

You can imagine how wonderful it tastes 😋

Read Faeez's recipe for the laksa cap noodle and laksa Siglap sauce.

Another excellent laksa Siglap recipe is by Global Gastronaut.

There's a hawker stall selling laksa Siglap in Geylang Serai hawker centre but it is not good says my buddy Adam of the halalfoodblog. I trust his reviews. You really can't blame the hawkers. It is impossible to make an authentic laksa Siglap and sell it for a profit at Singapore hawker prices capped at around $3-4. The same can be said of laksa Johor too, but perhaps the situation is not as acute there (as costs are lower and selling price is slightly higher).

So, there you have it, laksa Siglap. Probably Singapore's oldest and original laksa.

The only way to have it now is to make it yourself using Faeez's or Global Gastronaut's recipes. Or, if you are lucky enough, one of your Malay friends may invite you over for Hari Raya, wedding or other special celebration 😋


Who want to invite me ah? Thick skin 😂

Date: 30 May 2020
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The Surprising History of Satay in Singapore, Malaysia & Indonesia

May 31, 2020, 5:14 am
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Warong Sate Kendal in Batam, Indonesia
Satay (known as sate in Indonesia) is a popular BBQ dish found everywhere in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

History_of_Satay
R & H Cafe Satay Maharani in Muar, Malaysia
Satay is small pieces of spice marinated meat (usually lamb, beef, chicken) skewered with a thin wooden stick cooked by grilling over a trough of open charcoal fire.



Since I was a boy, I am thrilled by the sight of leaping orange flames made by grease dripping onto the red hot embers. The aroma of hissing smoke from spiced grilled meat fill the air around the satay stall. You can see a satay stall from a mile away by its cloud of white smoke, smell it when you are half way there.



History_of_Satay
R & H Cafe Satay Maharani in Muar, Malaysia
Satay is eaten with a thick dipping sauce. In Malaysia and Singapore it is often a sweet nutty savoury subtly spicy peanut and spice sauce. In Indonesia, it is often more savoury and spicy - they spike the peanut sauce with dark soy sauce and cut chili pepper. In Singapore, Hainanese Chinese scoop in a dollop of pineapple puree to give the peanut sauce a bit of citrusy zest. There are many local variations.

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Fish satay in Lombok, Indonesia
There are also many variations in the skewered meat depending on region and community - there's the usual lamb, beef and chicken. Then there's fish, rabbit, pork, offal (intestines, chicken heart, chicken gizzard, bishop's nose etc) and others I shall not mention.

So, where do satay originally come from?

Image credit: Wikipedia
This could be the great grandfather of satay.

This ancient Greek terracotta BBQ set dates back 1,700 years before Christ i.e. nearly 4,000 years ago 😱 Looking at the size of the handle, this might be the proto-table top BBQ set of the world 😲 


Image credit: Wikipedia

The origins of grilled skewered meat is usually attributed to ancient Mesopotamia (today's Iraq) and spread across the Middle East. The conquering Afghans brought the dish to India in the 10th century.

Bagdad fell to the Mongols in 1258. Image credit: Wikipedia
The Mongols reached the Middle East around 1250 and brought the dish to China when they ruled the Middle Kingdom from 1271–1368 (as the Yuan dynasty). The grilled skewered meat dish arrived in Indonesia in the 1400s through Arabs, Indians, and possibly Chinese too.

This might explain why we have 3 versions of the origin of sate in Indonesia (which wouldn't be surprising once we think of Indonesia as the crossroad of east and west).

Borobudur built 750 - 825. Image credit: Wikipedia
One theory suggests that the Indonesian name sate came from the ancient Tamil word for flesh, "catai". Indian influence in Indonesia dates back to the first centuries A.D.

The Buddhist Srivijaya Empire ruled the Malay peninsula, Sumatra and most of Java from 650 - 1377. Its successor, the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit Empire which ruled from 1293 - 1517 controlled the entire Indonesian archipelago and Malay peninsula at its peak.

 


According to this theory, when Gujarati traders from India brought their seekh kabab dish to Indonesia, the locals adapted this dish and called it "sate". But, this theory doesn't address how or why the metal skewer was replaced by coconut leaf stem or bamboo - which is one of the defining features of sate.

Grave of Malik Ibrahim. Image credit: Wikipedia
Another theory linked the name sate to a bamboo craftsman named Satah. 

Satah was a disciple of Malik Ibrahim who was one of nine saints (Wali Songo) who first brought Islam to Indonesia. Malik Ibrahim died in 1419 in Gresik (in Java).

During Adha or the Islamic Day of Sacrifice, a lamb, cow or buffalo is offered. Satah would make Arabian style kebabs with small pieces of meat skewered with a thin piece of bamboo grilled over charcoal embers. Satah's creation was very well received and the dish became known as "sate".



The earliest Chinese immigration to Indonesia was in the 1300s, but the numbers were greatest during the mid 1800s to early 1900s. At that time, the Qing dynasty was collapsing and many Chinese from southern China (Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka) were fleeing wars and famine.

However, there are no records of where, how or when Chinese style kebabs arrived in Indonesia. Also, back in China, kebabs 烤肉串 are more favoured by northern Chinese than southern Chinese.

History_of_Satay
Ah Fu Satay in Kluang, Malaysia
One theory claims that the name sate or 沙爹 in Chinese came from the Hokkien phrase 三块 which means "three pieces" referring to the 3 pieces of meat in the wooden skewer.

This theory sounds intuitively attractive but there is no evidence on where this started in Java. Furthermore, traditionally in Java, satay had 4 pieces of meat. Nevertheless, Chinese style satay do often have just 3 pieces of meat (some say because the number 4 is considered inauspicious as it sounds like the Chinese word for death).

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Al Mizan Satay in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
One of the defining features that distinguishes Indonesian/ Malaysian/ Singapore satay from Arabian/ Indian/ Chinese kebabs is the grainy peanut and spice (coriander seed, cumin, turmeric etc) sauce. One theory suggests that the name satay came from the Chinese name for the peanut sauce 沙爹 which sounds like "sah ti aye".

Javanese satay man in Singapore 1906. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
People move around between Java, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula since time immemorial. Javanese migration to Singapore peaked around the late 1800s to 1920s to work as bonded labourers in plantations. They brought their sate with them, selling them in two baskets on a bamboo pole slung across the shoulder.

Satay man in Singapore 1907. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
In one basket, the peanut sauce and small serving bowls. In the other, a small charcoal stove and satay.

Satay man with customer in Singapore 1930s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The skewered meat were grilled on the spot and customers sat on little stools around the stall to eat.

Satay man & kutuput in Singapore 1930s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Sate became extremely popular among all the communities. In Singapore, it became known by their Malay name, satay.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Chinese satay offers options of pork meat & fat, pork intestines, pork liver and chicken.

Singapore Satay Club 1985. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The most famous place to have satay in Singapore was at the "Satay Club at the Esplanade".  It had 28 food stalls, mostly selling satay.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The "Satay Club at the Esplanade" was the satay and dating hotspot of Singapore until it was demolished in 1995 for redevelopment into the Esplanade - Theatres at the Bay complex. The "Satay Club" was located on Queen Elizabeth Walk (a narrow breezy tree lined promenade) between the Padang (big field) and the sea.


There were attempts to bring back the Satay Club in other locations but did not last long as the ambiance and atmosphere at the old Elizabeth Walk cannot be replicated.

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Chinese style satay in Singapore
Today, satay is sold everywhere in Singapore. Most hawker centres have at least one satay stall.

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Ramly Kopitiam in Batu Pahat, Malaysia
Where do you get your satay fix in Singapore and Johor?

Date: 31 May 2020
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History of Peranakan Nyonya Food. Legacy of The 500

June 1, 2020, 7:32 am
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The main outposts of Nyonya food and Peranakan culture are in Malacca, Penang and Singapore. The DNA of most Peranakan cuisine (or Nyonya food) are believed to be from Peranakans who descended from the Chinese community which settled in Malacca in the 1400s. 

(There are also Peranakan communities in Indonesia and southern Thailand.)


Replica of Sultan Mansur Shah's palace in Malacca. Image credit: Wikipedia
It was recorded in the Malay Annals that in 1459, Emperor Yingzong of China's Ming dynasty sent one of his princesses, Hang Li Po 漢麗寶 to be the fifth wife of Sultan Mansur Shah (who ruled the Malacca Sultanate from 1459 to 1477). 



(However, no Chinese record of such an event exists today.  Which doesn't conclusively rule out anything as much Ming records were destroyed. The Qing dynasty defeated the Ming only after ferocious wars and decapitating the last Ming emperor. So, they are not expected to preserve their predecessors' memories with much diligence. Lack of corresponding records in China, led to suggestions that Hang Li Po might be the daughter of a concubine or a handmaiden.)

Bukit Cina in 2016. Image credit: Wikipedia
Ming princess or commoner, Sultan Mansur Shah settled his bride and her retinue of 500 courtiers ("youths of noble birth" according to the Malay Annals) on Bukit Cina.

Bukit Cina between 1860 & 1900. Image credit: Wikipedia
Bukit Cina is a Chinese cemetery today with the oldest grave here dated 1622 (thus giving us a clue on the age of this community).

It is likely that The 500 were joined by later arrivals from China as relations between the Malacca Sultanate and Ming Dynasty was longstanding and excellent.

Image credit: Wikipedia
Ming and Malacca relations were put on a strong footing since Admiral Cheng Ho's voyages sponsored by the Ming emperors. The Admiral's fleet stopped over at Malacca for 5 times out of his 7 voyages from 1405 to 1433.

Many Chinese settlers married indigenous Malaccans, and adopted local customs like language, dress and food. However, most did not convert to Islam.

Descendants of the Chinese settlers in Malacca were given the name "Peranakan" which means "local born" in Malay. The ladies are known as Nyonya and gentlemen as Baba. However, it is not known if any of today's Nyonyas and Babas are able to trace their family genealogy to The 500.

Image credit: Wikipedia
After the fall of the Malacca Sultanate, the Peranakans lived under Portuguese (1511 - 1641) and Dutch rule (1641 - 1824).



In 1824, the Dutch and British cut a deal to crave up the region between themselves. The British got control of the Malay peninsula and the Dutch control of the Indonesian archipelago.

The Dutch gave up Malacca to the British in exchange for Bencoolen in southwest Sumatra (today's Bengkulu).

Image credit: Wikipedia
With Malacca now under them, the British established the Straits Settlements which included Malacca, Singapore and Penang.

With the creation of the Straits Settlements in 1826, some Peranakans moved to Penang and Singapore, hence there are three main Peranakan outposts today.

Sometimes, the term Straits Chinese is used interchangeably with the word Peranakan. But, it is a broader term and can mean Chinese persons born in the Straits Settlements (not necessarily Malacca or descended from The 500).


The 500 in Malacca are not the only Chinese that settled in Nanyang.

Nyonyas in Pulau Singkep island in Indonesia. Image credit: Wikipedia
Other Chinese migrated to Indonesia in the 1500s, married locals and adopted local customs forming pockets of Indonesian Peranakan communities.

Phuket Baba Museum. Image credit: Photo by CEPhoto, Uwe Aramas
Chinese who migrated to Phuket in Thailand in the 1800s, married locals and/or adopted local customs are known as Phuket Baba and referred as Peranakans as well.



What is Peranakan or Nyonya food?

From my own experience (I am not a Peranakan), it's a no holds barred yet sensitive blending of Chinese and Malay techniques and recipes with local ingredients and spices resulting in dishes that are neither Chinese nor Malay but distinctly Nyonya. Though mainly a southern Chinese and Malay fusion, Peranakan culture is inclusive, so we will also find traces of Portuguese, Dutch and English influences in Nyonya food.

In Nyonya cuisine, there are more flavours and aromas in the each dish and they are bolder when compared with southern Chinese (Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese) cuisine.



Each Peranakan family have heirloom recipes passed down the generations. The matriarchs and Nyonyas are very proud of their recipes and skills which they show off during special celebrations like weddings by hosting a tok panjang. Known as "thng tok" in Hokkien, it literally means "long table".



It is a Peranakan style banquet where at least 18 dishes, from appetisers to mains to desserts (colourful Nyonya kueh) are painstakingly prepared and served on a long table by the host family. The setting may be grand and the spread incredibly sumptuous but it is more a family gathering than any formal affair.  

In the past, Peranakan dishes were only served at home, their recipes jealously guarded like family jewels. Non-Peranakans can taste Nyonya food only if they were lucky enough to be invited to a Peranakan home. After the Second World War, economic hardship led to Nyonya dishes being sold commercially and became more accessible to the general public. They caught on quickly and were instant hits due their exquisite flavours, aromas, texture, etc.



I try to explain Nyonya cuisine by describing a few dishes here, as examples. The best way is to eat it yourself, of course 😋

History_of_Peranakan_Nyonya_Food
Nyonya Cafe (June's Kitchen), Johor Bahru
The first dish that come to my mind is Ayam Buah Keluak. Originally by Indonesian Peranakans, this dish is now iconic across all Peranakan communities.

The cooking process is rather tedious and complicated, but not atypical of Peranakan cuisine.

Black colour meat dug out from buah keluak nuts (of pangium edule or kepayang tree) are mashed and combined with pounded chicken (also pork or prawn). The mash is seasoned with sesame oil and light soy sauce, and stuffed back into the nut cavity.

The rempah (spice paste) is made by stir frying pounded candlenut, turmeric, chilli, galangal (ginger root), lemongrass, belacan (fermented prawn paste) etc in oil till their aromas are released.

The stuffed nuts and chunks of chicken (often drumsticks) are stewed with a sauce of rempah, mashed buah keluak meat, tamarind juice and chicken stock.

History_of_Peranakan_Nyonya_Food
MaMa Nyonya in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
I love this dish even though it is not pretty and an acquired taste. The rempah, pounded chicken meat and buah keluak meat mashed together makes a butt kicking robustly savoury blend with underlying bitterness. The taste of ayam buah keluak sauce is like a different kind of truffle.

Charlie's Peranakan in Singapore
The robust savoury sauce and buah keluak flavours somewhat overpower the subtle sweetness of the chunks of chicken. But, when eaten together with plain white rice, the whole combination tastes wonderful.

History_of_Peranakan_Nyonya_Food
History of Singapore Katong laksa
The Nyonya coconut milk based laksa lemak of Singapore is best represented by Katong laksa. Aromatic spices suspended in creamy coconut milk smothering short stubby, thick rice noodles, peeled prawns and blanched blood cockles. Eaten with a clump of fragrant Vietnamese coriander (daum kasum) and a dollop of sambal chili for more spicy kick.

The wildly popular Nyonya laksa is perhaps the most recognisable Nyonya dish to non-Peranakans in Singapore.


Though blood cockles are commonly used in commercially sold Nyonya laksa, the original version do not have any blood cockles, only prawns.

History_of_Peranakan_Nyonya_Food
Penang Laksa in Johor Bahru
Whereas Singapore's Nyonya laksa is literally a bowl of spiced coconut milk with noodles, Penang laksa uses no coconut at all. The broth is fish stock thicken somewhat with chopped boiled fish (usually sardines or mackerel), and rempah spices like asam gelugur, chili, turmeric, lemongrass, galangal, shallot, belacan, pineapple puree, laksa leaves, tamarind, torch ginger flower, lime and more good stuff.

Eaten with thick rice noodles swimming in the flavourful and aromatic broth topped with raw onion, pineapple, peppermint, chopped torch ginger flower, julienned cucumber, cut chili pepper etc.

History_of_Peranakan_Nyonya_Food
Kim Laksa in Balik Pulau, Penang
The mildly savoury sweet slightly zesty broth undergirded by tanginess from asam gelugur and tamarind is balanced by umami savoury sweetness from fermented prawn sauce. You can imagine the flavours rioting dancing on your tastebuds.

History_of_Peranakan_Byonya_Food
Shiduoli Otak Otak in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Otak otak originally from Malacca Peranakans is mashed fish (usually mackerel) blended with rempah spices and coconut milk wrapped in a sleeve of coconut or nipah palm leaf cooked by grilling over charcoal fire. Wonderful taste of fresh fish, overlaid with flavour and aroma of mild spices and coconut milk. The toasty smokey taste and smell of slightly charred palm leaf infuse the soft tongue of spiced mashed fish adding another layer of flavour. Highly addictive little snack.

History_of_Peranakan_Nyonya_Food
Muar otak otak
History_of_Pearanakan_Nyonya_Food
Otak otak in Tanjung Pinang, Indonesia
Sold throughout Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia in various forms, otak otak is probably the Nyonya dish with the widest commercial footprint and success.

There are many more Nyonya dishes I want to show you. I am updating this post, adding to this list from time to time.



Where do you get your Nyonya food fix?

References:
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What Hawker Food Tell Us about the History of Singapore

June 4, 2020, 4:49 pm
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Image credit: Wikipedia
Every dish tells a story. Here's what 10 hawker dishes tell us about the history of Singapore. Let's eat and celebrate the Singapore story 😋



The Straits of Malacca has long been the vital link of east-west trade. It was so important that in 1025, the Indian Chola empire sent a huge fleet to challenge the Indonesian Srivijaya empire for control of the Malacca Straits. By that time, trade was already thriving between China, southeast Asia, India and the Middle East, 800 years before Raffles stepped foot on Singapore.




According to the Malay Annals, during the Srivijaya empire era, prince Sang Nila Utama landed on Temasek island in 1299 and established a kingdom which he ruled for 48 years. He renamed Temasek island Singapura, the Lion City after being told that the growling, swift, black head, red fur, white breasted animal he spotted fleetingly when they landed was a lion.



(Srivijava was a Buddhist empire which ruled the Malay peninsula, Sumatra and most of Java from 650 to 1377.)



By 1300s, Singapura was a thriving trading hub visited by Chinese traders trading goods between India, southeast Asia and China.

Parameswara, Image credit: Wikipedia
In 1389, the last king of Singapura, Parameswara fleeing the rising Majapahit empire established the Malacca Sultanate which controlled the Malay peninsula from Malacca. Parameswara converted to Islam and ruled the Malacca Sultanate as Sultan Iskandar Shah.

(The Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit empire controlled the Indonesian archipelago from 1293 to 1517.)

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of satay
Satay was probably brought to Singapore around the 1800 - 1900s by Indonesian coolies who came to work in the gambier and rubber plantations. But, satay has a much longer history in Indonesia dating back to the 1400s in Java. Depending on which account one chooses, it might be brought to Java by Gujarati traders from India or traders from the Middle East.

Small pieces of meat (usually chicken or lamb) skewered on a thin wooden stick is grilled over open charcoal fire. It is eaten with a peanut and spice sauce, and boiled rice bundles (wrapped with palm leaf) known as kutupat. There are many variations of satay, e.g. the Chinese have pork satay and add a bit of pineapple puree in the peanut and spice sauce. Satay is widely popular in Malaysia and Indonesia. In Singapore, there is at least one satay stall (often more) in every hawker centre.



After the founding of Malacca, Singapura declined in the 1400s. It was shunted by trading ships especially during the Southwest Monsoon season (Jun - Sept) due to the Sumatra Squalls that rage at up to 70km per hour, wreaking anything and everything in its path.



The Malacca Sultanate enjoyed great relations with China's Ming dynasty, and Malacca became the foremost port city on the east-west trade route. The Ming dynasty provided Malacca with protection from the Siamese in the north and pirates in the Malacca Straits.

A significant Chinese settlement was established in Malacca's Bukit Cina with the blessing of Sultan Mansur Shah (reign 1459 - 1477) of Malacca. According to the Malay Annals, the Ming emperor sent one of his princesses, Hang Li Poh to be Sultan Mansur Shah's fifth wife in 1459.




After the death of Admiral Zheng He, the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) lost interest in overseas affairs and turned inward. Meanwhile, the Europeans were just coming out, entering the Age of Exploration (1400s - 1600s). This turn of events would change the world (and come back to haunt China's Qing dynasty nearly half a millennial later).

The vacuum left open by the Ming dynasty was soon filled by European powers such as the Portuguese, Dutch and British jostling to secure control of the trade routes and the Malay archipelago. The Spaniards went to The Philippines. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set their sights on Malacca.



When the Malacca Sultanate fell to the Portuguese armada in 1511, Alauddin Riayat Shah II, the son of Mahmud Shah (the last sultan of Malacca) escaped south to form the Johor Sultanate. Singapura came under the control of the Johor Sultanate (and was its capital city from 1819 to 1824).

The Portuguese ruled Malacca for 130 years until the Dutch and Johor alliance drove them out in 1641.



In 1703, Sultan Abdul Jalil of the Johor Sultanate who was wary of the Dutch, secretly offered Singapore to Captain Alexander Hamilton of the British East India Company to set up a trading post. Sultan was hoping to balance the Dutch monopoly on power with British presence. Hamilton conveyed Sultan's invitation to his headquarters but the Johor sultan's offer was not taken up.



Over a hundred years later, in 1819, Raffles finally established a British foothold in Singapore in an effort to check Dutch dominance of the east-west trade routes.

The agreement signed between Raffles and representatives of the Johor Sultanate was innocuous enough - it merely lets the British set up a small trading post at the mouth of the Singapore River on a narrow strip of land "the distance of a cannon shot" and no more. In return, Sultan Hussein and Temenggong Abdul Rahman each received a handsome fee. 

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of curry puff & epok epok
Today's curry puff and epok epok are legacies of Portuguese and English rule. Epok epok is often referred to as the "Malay curry puff" or the "Malay word for curry puff". But, epok epok and curry puffs are actually different dishes.

Curry puff has elements of Indian samosa and English puff pastry - spiced curried potatoes and meat (usually chicken or lamb) in a crisp, flaky fried or baked pocket of layered laminated dough. Epok epok has elements of Indian samosa and Portuguese empanada. The curried contents are in a fried dough pocket that is not flaky as it is not a puff (defined by layered laminated dough). There are also epok epok with non spicy and vegetarian fillings which are more like Portuguese empanada.

 

After securing his foothold in Singapore, Raffles set up a tax free port to rival Dutch Malacca, enticing many Malaccan traders to shift their operations to Singapore.



In 1824, the British and Dutch signed an agreement to carve up control of the Malay archipelago between themselves. The British have control of the Malay peninsula while the Dutch have control of the Indonesian archipelago. Borneo was partitioned and shared between the Dutch and British.

The Dutch handed over Malacca to the British in exchange for Bencoolen in southwestern Sumatra (today's Bengkulu). Singapore together with Malacca and Penang was governed under the British Straits Settlements which was established in 1826.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
Ayam buah keluak is an iconic Nyonya dish
Malacca had the largest Peranakan community in the Malay peninsula as Chinese started settling there since the 1400s when relations between the Malacca Sultanate and China's Ming dynasty was excellent. When Raffles launched the port of Singapore, a trickle of Peranakan traders moved their operations here. With the establishment of the Straits Settlements in 1826, more Malacca Peranakans moved to Singapore (and Penang). Hence, Singapore became one of the main havens of Peranakan or Nyonya cuisine today.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of Peranakan food
Peranakan cuisine created by Chinese settlers in the Malay archipelago who married locals and adopted local customs, is a fusion of Chinese and Malay culinary traditions. The outcome is neither Chinese nor Malay but uniquely Peranakan. Also known as Nyonya cuisine, it relies heavily on local ingredients, especially aromatic local herbs and spices. Examples of Nyonya dishes include ayam buah keluak, Nyonya laksa, Penang asam laksa, otak otak, etc.





 

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 dramatically shortened travel time between Asia and Europe. Coupled with the advent of steamships (which don't rely on winds for power), the volume of cargo and people travelling through Singapore grew exponentially. It was boom time at the docks!



Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor made a few visits to Europe in the late 1800s and he fell in love with spaghetti. When he returned to his palace after one of his European trips, he ordered the chef to make laksa with spaghetti instead of the traditional rice and tapioca noodles. And so, Laksa Johor was changed forever. In Johor, Laksa Johor became served with spaghetti while in Singapore where the dish was unchanged became known as Laksa Siglap (because the most popular hawker serving it was from Kampung Siglap).

Laksa Siglap is made with mashed fish (usually Ikan Parang) with herbs, spices, and belacan cooked in fish stock to make a thick grainy sauce. The thick sauce is laid on top of a mound of rice and tapioca noodles, and garnished with raw onion, cucumber, and sambal chili etc. Not a commercially viable dish due to its intricacy and labour intensiveness, it is only made at home for special occasions like Hari Raya, weddings etc. The full story of Laksa Siglap👈 click



From the 1800s, the Qing dynasty which ruled China since 1644 was in its death throes. Defeats in wars with foreign naval powers, widespread rebellion, famine etc caused massive dislocation and suffering. Millions from southern China took to the seas to escape war and poverty. From the mid-1800s to 1920s, many came to British Malaya which was hungry for manpower for its tin mines, rubber plantations and thriving seaports, including the port of Singapore.



Coolies in Singapore faced many hardships. Far from home, lonely, in heavy debt for the passage from China, back and soul breaking work, living 20 or more to a room, suffering painful torn muscles and ligaments, sometimes broken bones, chills from slogging in the rain - many turned to opium for solace. Actually, second hand opium - the ashes of the towkay's (bosses) first smoke.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of Singapore bak kut teh
Someone, maybe a physician, perhaps a travelling quack medicine man, came up with a coolie's herbal tea to cure all the coolies' ailments. Bak kut teh is first a medicine, a health fortifying tonic long before it was a gourmet dish. Discarded pork bones and cheap Chinese herbs were boiled in water with dark soy sauce to make bak kut teh or meat bone tea.

In the 1940s / 1950s, a peppery style of bak kut teh using meaty pork ribs emerged as Singapore became more affluent. The dish became the choice of Teochew towkays (business owners) who mingled and networked while eating bak kut teh and sipping Chinese tea along the quaysides at Singapore River. Today, the peppery or Teochew style of bak kut teh with prime loin rib is the mainstream in Singapore and represented by major chains like Song Fa, Founder and Ng Ah Sio. It's a far cry from the original humble coolie's tea.



Hand pulled rickshaws were the primary means of public transport in 1920s Singapore. At its peak, there were 30,000 rickshaw pullers in Singapore, plying the streets under the blazing sun often barefoot and shirtless.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
Rickshaw noodles at Maxwell Food Centre
Once in a while, the rickshawmen would stop for fuel i.e. rickshaw noodles. There are 2 places in Singapore still selling rickshaw noodles. It is a simple dish - soup made of vegetables and dried shrimp for flavour. Yellow noodles snipped into short stubby strands. (In the past, the noodles were handmade.) Garnished with fried shallot for a bit of aroma and flavour.

The noodles and soup were eaten without spoons or chopsticks - just tip it into the mouth, slurp it up and off you go to pick up the next passenger. It was cheap fuel to power the muscles of the rickshawmen, hence it was called rickshaw noodles.

History_of_Singapore_Food
History of bak chor mee
Bak chor mee is ubiquitous in Singapore and more commonly found than even chicken rice. It most likely came with the Teochew sinkehs in the 1800s. It's a coolie's meal. You don't find bak chor mee in the Peranakan repertoire.

It is just yellow noodles topped with thin small slices of pork, liver, minced pork etc. The dish is held together by the sauce which is tossed and thoroughly mixed with the noodles. 

There are many such "stir noodles"拌面 all over China. So, bak chor mee is just the 1800s Singapore immigrants' version of this. Bak chor mee sauce has sambal chili, shallot oil, lard, light and dark soy sauce, peanut oil etc., which makes it unique like no other in China or anywhere else. Each hawker has their own secret concoction.

There are many types of noodles to choose from but the yellow flat ribbon type known as mee pok 面薄 is the most popular. So sometimes, bak chor mee is simply referred to as mee pok in Singapore. The most famous bak chor mee is by Tai Hwa of Crawford Lane which even won a Michelin Star award.

History_of_Singaore_Food
History of char kway teow in Singapore
Char kway teow came to Singapore with Teochew coolies from Chaoshan, China. If you go to Chaoshan today, you will find a dish you can recognise as char kway teow. It's a humble staple of rice ribbon noodles, chive, bean sprout and small pieces of pork stir fried in lard and fish sauce. The Singapore version took on some Cantonese, Hokkien and local elements so it has lup cheong (Cantonese wax sausage), dark and sweet soy sauce (Hokkien), blood cockles (which were abundant at one time in Malaya) and chili sauce (a Malayan influence).

Char kway teow ingredients are unremarkable and the dish relied heavily on the skill of the chef to sear in and forcefully infuse the rice noodles with caramelised flavours with wok hei 镬气 (Chinese term for the mythical art of doing magic with the wok and fire). Unfortunately, that is a bit of a lost art in Singapore now, so char kway teow to die for, there is none today.

 

The Hainanese were latecomers to Singapore. By the time they arrived here, the only space available was the margin - no man's land - between European Town and Arab Campong (that's how the British spelt kampung then). So, the Hainanese established themselves here around Purvis Street, Seah Street and Middle Road.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore
Initially, the Hainanese worked as bartenders, cooks, domestic help and seamen etc. In the 1930s, they started businesses like kopitam (coffee shop) in the Hainanese enclave. The first Hainanese chicken rice stall was at Purvis Street.

Poached chicken, chopped into large juicy chunks and served with greased rice made with chicken stock perfumed with pandan leaf and lemongrass. Eaten with chili sauce, dark soy sauce and grated ginger.

Swee Kee Hainanese chicken rice restaurant which became a legend in the world of Hainanese chicken rice was founded at Middle Road. From there, Hainanese chicken rice spread to every corner of Singapore, from hawker stalls to five star hotels. It is today considered one of Singapore's national dishes.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of Hainanese curry rice
The resourceful Hainanese also gave us Hainanese curry rice. They picked up the art of making curry dishes from working as domestic help in wealthy Peranakan households. This they mixed and matched with traditional Hainanese dishes like cabbage stewed in soy sauce, pork belly stewed in dark soy sauce etc. One of the signatures is to splash different curries and stewing sauces onto plain white rice, and fold them together to get a riot symphony of flavours in the mouth. Personally, I think of it as an ugly, but delicious mess.

Hainanese curry rice is eaten with many side dishes. An iconic one is Hainanese style pork chops - thin slice of pork loin covered with crushed biscuit crumbs and fried to a golden brown crisp outside. Pork chops, of course, is an English dish the Hainanese learnt from cooking for their British employers.

History_Singapore_Food
Kopi & Kaya Toast
The ever enterprising Hainanese gifted us another culinary icon - kopi and kaya toast. Working for British colonial officials and in British forces bases, the Hainanese acquired a taste for coffee, bread and butter (which were rather alien to Chinese of that time).

Following the Great Depression of the 1920s, many vacant shophouses became available. The Hainanese saw the opportunity these presented - left their jobs and opened coffee shops or kopitiams.

The basic menu was coffee brewed with Robusta beans (which was cheaper than Arabica beans the Europeans drank but packs a stronger caffeine punch and tastes more bitter) paired with toasted bread slices slathered with coconut jam (kaya) and a slice of chilled butter.
History_of_Singapore_Food
History of the Singapore coffee shop
This kopi and kaya toast pairing was often enjoyed with runny poached eggs flavoured with light or dark soy sauce and a dash of white pepper. The runny eggs were drank like a thick soup straight out of the saucer! (I still do that today 😂 )

(Jumping ahead in time to the 1950s - with the declaration of the People's Republic of China in 1949, some Hainanese folks returned to China seeing that peace was finally restored in their homeland. Some sold their kopitiams to Hockchew Chinese, hence bringing the latter community into the kopitiam business).

Today, kopi and kaya toast culture is part and parcel of Singaporean lifestyle.



Singapore fell under Japanese rule during the Second World War from 1942 to 1945. The Japanese renamed Singapore, Syonan-to, the "Light of the South" island.


Image credit: Wikipedia
When I was a child, I saw these Japanese wartime Syonan-to currency notes often. People call them "banana money" in a mocking way. They were worthless as money but it was common to keep them in the drawer as souvenirs.


Singapore_Food_History
Tapioca cake at Heng Heng in Maxwell Food Centre
The years of Japanese Occupation were hard times for locals. Food was in short supply, especially rice which is the staple carb. Any available went to the Japanese soldiers first.

The locals resorted to eating tapioca (a root tuber). I kept hearing about eating tapioca when elders recounted their nightmarish lives during the Japanese Occupation. Many people lost family during the war. It was a frequent topic when our grandparents were still with us.

We can still get tapioca cakes today (it no longer has the stigma of wartime memories). It has become part of our local hawker dishes. It's really very simple. The tapioca is cut into chunks and cooked by boiling or steaming. To make the fibrous chunks palatable, they are topped with grated coconut flesh. A sprinkle of table salt gives the sweet coconut and tapioca a bit of salty balance.

I like eating tapioca cakes even as a child but never dared told my grandparents that I enjoyed it.



The Japanese surrendered in 1945 after American atomic bombs obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The British returned to reclaim Singapore.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of Katong laksa
Peranakans are extremely proud of their family heirloom dishes which are painstakingly prepared and served only to family and invited guests. The recipes are jealously guarded family secrets and non-Peranakans never have a chance to taste them unless they were lucky enough to be invited by a Baba-Nyonya family.

The immediate period following the end of the Second World War were years of economic hardship. To make a living, some Peranakan families began to serve Nyonya dishes commercially. One prominent example is Nyonya laksa which have since become one of Singapore's street food icons.

Nyonya laksa is thick rice noodles in a thick coconut milk flavoured with aromatic and flavourful spices like galangal, lemongrass, chili, turmeric etc. Strips of fishcake, a shrimp, a few blood cockles add flavour and texture. It is eaten with a clump of finely chopped Vietnamese coriander known locally as daum kesum or laksa leaf. A dollop of chili paste is available at the side for people who like to spike up the spiciness quotient. Nyonya laksa is a very popular hawker dish in Singapore and considered one of Singapore's hawker food icons.


Original Nyonya laksa do not have blood cockles in it. It only became prevalent in the commercial version.




The 1950s were tumultuous interesting times. The struggle for independence from the British empire was well underway. The Communist insurrection in British Malaya was at its height. The nascent political parties in Singapore were jostling for the hearts and minds of the populace. But, these interesting times birthed a few iconic Singapore dishes.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of Singapore chili crab
In the 1950s, Mr. Lim a policeman would go catching mud crabs at Sungai Bedok river near his village home during his off days. His wife Mdm Cher would steam or stir fry the crabs, the Teochew way. After a while, Mr. Lim asked his wife to try cooking the crustaceans another way, spicy maybe?

Mdm Cher came up with a spicy chili crab dish. It didn't work for Mr. Lim at first but it hit the spot after a few attempts. The Lim family shared the chili crabs with neighbours and they loved it so much that they encouraged Mdm Cher to open a stall to sell it. It was an instant success and the rest is Singapore chili crab history. Mdm Cher's chili crab dish is emulated by literally thousands of eateries across Singapore (and Malaysia) now.

The crabs smothered in flaming red spicy tangy sweet savoury sauce is now synonymous with seafood in Singapore. If you go to any seafood restaurant today, you will be hard pressed to find any table that didn't order this dish.

History_Singapore_Food
History of curry fish head
Gomez Curry was a Kerala style banana leaf curry stall at Sophia Lane in the 1940s. Some time in the 1950s, it began to serve curry fish head. At that time, mainly Caucasian families would buy and eat Ikan Merah but they wanted it filleted. The huge Ikan Merah heads were thrown away. The owner M.J. Gomez of Gomez Curry, took these discarded fish heads and cooked it with Kerala style curry, thus creating curry fish head. The dish was a big hit and was quickly copied by other restaurants. This dish is popular today in Singapore and also Malaysia. It is even popular back in Kerala because M.J. Gomez retired and returned to his hometown in the 1960s bringing the dish back with him.

History_Singapore_Food
History of Singapore fried Hokkien mee
Ng Seng came to Singapore from Fujian China in the 1940s. He worked as a general worker in an iron workshop in the Bugis Street / Rochor Road area. In the evenings, Ng Seng would stir fry noodles with discarded pork (mostly fat and skin) and leftover seafood (squid and prawns) from the market here. He concocted a fried noodle dish with thick stock which infused the flavours of pork lard and umami of crustaceans into the noodles. Ng Seng shared it with his friends (all living around Rochor Road) who loved it.

It was so popular that Ng Seng started a hawker stall at Rochor Road in the 1950s to sell his noodles - he didn't have a name for the dish, so it was called "Rochor mee". People from all over the island would descend on Rochor Road for Rochor mee. Soon, stalls sprouted up across the island selling versions of Ng Seng's noodles. Rochor Mee became known as "sotong mee" and gradually the name settled on "fried Hokkien mee". Now, almost every Singapore hawker centre has at least one fried Hokkien mee stall.



Singapore was thrusted into independence on 9 August 1965. We were suddenly responsible for our own affairs from economic to social, security, foreign affairs to defence.



For a short while, British, Australia and New Zealand military forces continued their presence in bases across Singapore such as in Changi, Tanglin, Sembawang, Seletar, Tengah, etc. By 1971, all British forces east of Suez were withdrawn back to the United Kingdom. Singapore had to quickly build up its own military forces to take care of its own defence.

History_Singapore_Hawker_Food
History of Roti John
One of the legacies of the British forces in Singapore was Roti John. According to one of the more colourful but plausible accounts, Roti John started at the hawker stalls at Koek Road in the 1950s. British servicemen would RV (rendezvous) here for a quick bite before heading out for partying hotspots like Bugis Street, to avoid getting drunk drinking on an empty stomach.

One of the hawkers by the name of Abdul sold simple French loaf sandwich with a fried egg stuffed between the halves. Abdul would call out to the servicemen "Roti! John!" - roti for bread and John was the generic name given to any Caucasian male. And, thus the dish Roti John was born. Roti John stalls sprouted up outside all the British bases.

Today, Roti John is a very popular dish throughout Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It has become rather elaborate, stuffed with meat, cheese, mayonnaise, sambal and other good things - a far cry from the simple egg sandwich of Abdul's days.



National Service for all male citizens was introduced in 1967.

How come we don't have a national service dish like the Korean army stew......🤔 ?

Wait..... in the 1970s, we did look forward to that horribly greasy fried rice in "night snack container" with diced char siew and fried wieners to warm our stomachs during those wretched guard duties. It was all washed down with sugary teh O (black tea). Do they still serve these in Singapore army camps today? 


I am adding to this list of foods that tells the Singapore story. Warmly welcome your suggestions and insights in the comments.

Date: 4 Jun 2020
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History of Indian Rojak in Singapore

June 6, 2020, 5:32 am
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Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
I like this 1980s photograph of Indian rojak in Singapore - unembellished, no "food styling" so we know what the dish really is. There's spiced cuttlefish, fried battered egg, fried tofu, different types of fried fritters, cucumber slices and a reddish dipping sauce in three small bowls.



The origins of the dish seems uncontroversial. We are sure it is not from India because there is no such dish in the whole of South Asia. Not in the past, not even today.



History_of_Indian_Rojak_Singapore
Vadai
Most sources say it is created in Singapore by Indian Muslim hawkers, though who and when is unclear. It is said the Indian hawkers at first only sold traditional Indian fritters like vadai and masala vada. Seeing how Malay and Chinese hawkers were doing better business selling their respective versions of rojak, the Indian hawkers jumped on the rojak bandwagon.

(Rojak is a Malay word meaning "to mix". The Malays and Indonesians have several forms of the dish. Basically, it is jumble of cut fruits, vegetables and other ingredients tossed and mixed to coat it with a sauce made with a blend of crushed toasted peanut, prawn paste, tamarind juice, chili paste etc)

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
So, enterprising Indian hawkers expanded their menu beyond vadai and masala vada to include tofu, various varieties of fried fritters with egg, prawn, tofu, tempeh, potato etc inside. They also added spiced squid, fish balls, flower crab, beef lungs, etc. Now, it really was a rojak of Indian, Malay and Chinese inspired fritters to cater to a wider audience.

History_of_Indian_Rojak_Singapore
Ministry of Rojak
As it is hard to eat much fried, crispy, greasy food without something to moisten and soften the texture, and to add more flavour, they created a sauce for their rojak. The flaming orange-red rojak dipping sauce turned out to be the item that gave soul to the newly created dish. The sauce held everything together (which would otherwise just be a heap of fried fritters).

No one is sure who created the magical concoction. It is a blend of crushed peanut, sweet potato, hot chili pepper, dried shrimp, onion, garlic, lemongrass, belacan, aromatic spices like turmeric, tamarind paste, sugar, salt etc. Every stall have their own secret recipe, some adding crushed biscuit, others peanut butter etc.



While no one is sure where was the first Indian rojak stall, everyone agrees that the best place for it was the row of 13 street side stalls at Waterloo Street across Saint Joseph Institution and beside their school sports field.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
My dad brought me here in the 1960s. At that time, my dad (I believe many non English speaking locals too) called SJI, "三个公仔" meaning "three statues" in reference to the statues of St. John Baptist de la Salle and two boys outside.

I can't remember the details of the Indian rojak much, except that it was a really good treat and delicious. We ate and watched people played sports in the field in front of the stalls on a laid back 1960s Singapore afternoon.

After Indian rojak, dad took me to one of the coffee shops along Bras Basah Road and I had my first roti prata there. After that, roti prata became one of my favourite dishes. I really love the curry which had quite robust goat smell.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
In the 1980s, the Indian rojak stalls outside St Joseph were moved but they retained their Waterloo Street name wherever they went as a badge of honour.

History_of_Indian_Rojak_Singapore
Ministry of Rojak, Singapore
I still love Indian rojak as much as ever because it hasn't changed much since I first ate it and a part of me never changes doesn't want to change.


Pasembur
Pasembur in Seremban, Malaysia
In the parallel universe of Malaysia, where and when did pasembur or rojak mamak (their names for Indian rojak) came about? I have been searching but have not found any references yet. If we can find out more about pasembur or rojak mamak, maybe it can inform us about Indian rojak too. Can you help?



Date: 6 Jun 2020
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History of Char Kway Teow in Singapore

June 6, 2020, 11:05 pm
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For the history of fried kway teow 炒粿條 in Singapore, we have to start from Chaoshan char kway teow 潮汕炒贵刁 far away in Guangzhou, China of today.

Image credit: Wikipedia
Chaoshan is a region in the southeastern part of Guangzhou province of China where Teochew speaking people live.

Chaoshan fried kway teow is flat rice noodles, chive, bean sprout, pieces of pork with skin and fish sauce stir fried in sizzling pork lard in a hot wok.

That's all, it's that simple. No egg, no lup cheong (Cantonese wax sausage), no fish cake, no blood cockles, no prawn, no chili sauce. No crab, no lobster nonsense.

It is best enjoyed while the pork lard enveloping the rice noodles or kway teow is still piping, smoking hot. The kway teow's subtle sweetness is complemented by the savoury toasty taste of caramelised sauce forcefully seared onto the strands of rice noodles.

So simple, simply so good that it connected people through generations.



Of course, even in Chaosan there are variations in char kway teow. This stall still uses wood to fire the wok. The chef uses goose lard instead of pork lard. The kway teow is fried with eggs, bean sprout, chive, chye poh (preserved turnip), optional chili sauce and small pieces of pork (optional).

The host tried 3 plates with different options and he felt that the basic version with only egg, bean sprout, chive and chye poh is the best as there is little to interfere with the flavour of goose lard.



Come back to Singapore. Go back in time 150 years.

Teochew folks came to Singapore (then part of British Straits Settlements) in the mid-1800s to 1930s. Those were wretched years as China's last dynasty, the Qing was in its death throes. The country was wrecked by widespread rebellion, abject poverty, anarchy, famine and the dying Qing was handily defeated time and again in wars with foreign powers in China.

Millions from southern China left on boats for British Malaya and California to slave as coolies (indentured labourers). Naturally, they brought their comfort food with them everywhere they went. That was how Chaoshan char kway teow came to Singapore.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
When I was a child in 1960s Singapore, char kway teow was ubiquitous - they were everywhere on the island. When I roamed the streets as a boy, I often smelled the rich aroma of lard and caramelised soy sauce on starch. I have not smelled that heady aroma for decades already.


Hill-Street-Char-Kway-Teow
Photo credit: National Archives Singapore
In the mouth, 1960s char kway teow had pronounced caramelised sauce taste which is described as wok hei 鍋气.

During the 1960s, my father would give me a chicken egg and ask me to go get fried kway teow at the push cart stall along Lorong 5 Toa Payoh (we lived in Block 65 which was demolished). Standing there waiting, I smelled those greasy white smoke bellowing from the hot wok. The aroma was just wonderful. That char kway teow was greasier than anything I've eaten since and it tasted fantastic (I can't remember the details lah... .). Char kway teow was then 50 cents a packet wrapped in plastic sheet and newspaper, if I my memory didn't fail me.

History_of_Char_Kway _Teow
Zion Road Char Kway Teow
Now, there are fewer char kway teow stalls in Singapore. Even fewer excellent ones and none like those in the 1960s (judging by aroma and taste).

 
Every stall serves char kway teow with a slightly different taste profile and each have their own fan base. Most of the more popular stalls have flat ribbon rice noodles, round yellow wheat noodles, chicken egg, lup cheong, fish cake, bean sprout, chive, chye sim (a leafy green), blood cockles, fish sauce, a blend of savoury and sweet sauces, chili sauce, garlic, lard or vegetable oil in their serving. Often, the dish is given a squeeze of calamansi (lime) just before it is eaten.

History_of_Char_Kway _Teow
Hill Street Char Kway Teow in Bedok, Singapore
In Singapore (and also in Malaysia), char kway teow is synonymous with blood cockles (siham 螄蚶). If there is no blood cockle, it is not really char kway teow to many Singaporeans (myself included). Indeed, many of the older generation call char kway teow, siham kway teow 螄蚶粿條.

History_of_Char_Kway _Teow
Where do blood cockles come from?
Blood cockles is a Singapore and Malaysian thing, usually not seen in Chaoshan char kway teow. Nowadays, blood cockles are expensive and in short supply due to high demand coupled with poor harvests due to pollution.

The following are some popular char kway teow stalls in Singapore (as well as Johor Bahru and Penang).


Hai Kee Cha Kuay Teow in Singapore


History_of_Char_Kway _Teow
Hill Street Char Kway Teow, Chinatown, Singapore

History_of_Char_Kway _Teow
Sri Tebrau Market duck egg char kway teow, Johor Bahru, Malaysia


Bukit Mertajam duck egg fried kway teow, Penang, Malaysia

You can get char kway teow at most Singapore hawker centres but to taste Chaoshan char kway teow, you have to go to Teochew restaurants. Here's a couple of places that offer their interpretation of Chaoshan char kway teow you can try.

History_of_Char_Kway _Teow
Liang Kee Teochew Restaurant in Singapore
History_of_Char_Kway _Teow
Chao Shan Teochew Restaurant in Kulai, Malaysia

Where do you get your char kway teow fix?

Date: 7 Jun 2020
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Search

History of Fried Yam Basket by Chef Hooi Kok Wai

June 7, 2020, 5:58 pm
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You will find this popular fried yam ring or yam basket dish in almost all Chinese restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia. It is a relatively recent creation and we can hear its story directly from its creator chef Hooi Kok Wai, founder of Dragon Phoenix Restaurant in Singapore.



Creator chef Hooi Kok Wai's then fiancee's adoptive mother was a nun. In 1958, to ask for her hand, chef created a yam bowl filled with stir fried vegetables like carrot, celery, red and green capsicum, mushroom, baby corn, wood ear fungus, cashew nuts etc.



Mashed yam is carefully hand formed into a ring and deep fried to a golden brown crisp outside. The thin crisp layer outside sealed in the yam's natural sweetness and kept the grease outside. The mashed yam is clean and refreshing tasting.

Vegetables cut to bite size are then stir fried in a hot wok with soy sauce and oil. The naturally sweet stir fried vegetables infused a bit of savouriness from the sauce and oil. They are juicy and crunchy to the bite.

The stir fried vegetables are heaped in a colourful pile into the yam bowl and the dish is served.



Hooi chose the shape of a bowl to represent a nun's alms bowl 佛砵. He used only vegetables because nuns are vegetarians.

Needless to say, chef's future mother-in-law was touched by the gesture and impressed with the flavours - otherwise we won't be having this dish today 😄



Fried yam ring was introduced into the menu chef Hooi's Dragon Phoenix Restaurant which he founded in 1963. It was a huge success and today, every Chinese restaurant or zhi char shop in Singapore and Malaysia will have yam basket in its menu. The more popular versions have chicken, prawns and scallops besides stir fried vegetables.

Date: 8 Jun 2020
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History of Singapore Tu Tu Kueh 嘟嘟糕

June 8, 2020, 6:14 am
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Kueh Tu Tu 嘟嘟糕 is a unique little pillowy soft steamed rice cake filled with gently crunchy crushed toasted peanut or moist grated coconut flesh sweetened with palm sugar. The sweet street snack was invented here and found only in Singapore.


Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Small snowy white discs on squares of green pandan leaf that fit perfectly in the palms of tiny hands. It was the Singaporean treat that evoked innocent gleeful squeals from easily contented children of the days before international fast food chains. Tu Tu Kueh push cart stalls were common at pasar malam (night market), wayang (street stage theatre), outside cinemas, generally in places where you can find lots of people.

 

As a child, I watched with delight how the hawker deftly filled the little shallow chrysanthemum shaped cup with powdery milled rice flour, then some grated coconut or crushed peanut, then covered it with more rice flour and finally pulled a small sheet of wet white cloth over it like some magic show.

He next inverted the small cup, gently laid the little rice cake in a shiny steel steaming pot and then covered it. Moments later, steam huffed and puffed inside the pot. When uncle lifted the cover, escaping sweet smelling steam made a muffled whistling hissing sound. Someone decided decades ago that that sounded like "tu tu" (got meh? 🤔 ) and so "Tu Tu Kueh" was born.



Tan Bee Hwa (also spelt Tan Bee Hua) owner of Tan's Tu Tu Coconut Cake said Tu Tu Kueh was created by her father who came from Hui'an county in Quanzhou of China's Fujian province 福建惠安.

Tan Bee Hua said that her father Tan Eng Huat (alias Tan Yong Fa) came from China in 1932.



At first, Tan Eng Huat sold 泉州 style 松糕 which were steamed rice cakes made with milled rice flour and sugar. He invented Tu Tu Kueh by shrinking the 松糕 and filling the plain rice cakes with grated coconut flesh and palm sugar. He also created another version filled with crushed peanuts.

 


Tan Bee Hua said her father gave his creation the name Tu Tu Kueh because the charcoal fired steamer had a pressure relief valve that made a "tu tu" sound during cooking (like a steam train whistle). It's a catchy name that made everyone want to try this new snack 😄



Tan Bee Hwa's brother Tan Cheong Chuan also started a Tu Tu Kueh stall when he arrived in Singapore from China at age 13. She took over his stall in 2004 after her brother Tan Cheong Chuan passed away. Tan Cheong Chuan's wife Ho Cheng Kim now runs the Tan's Tu Tu Coconut Cake outlet at Havelock Road Food Centre.



In a separate account by owner of Lau Tan TuTu Kueh, Tan Gek Eng shared that her father Tan Hay Swee who also came to Singapore from China created the sweet snack in 1949.



Once fairly common in a more laid back Singapore, the future of Tu Tu Kueh is now uncertain. The handmade snack is not easily scalable, so margins are relatively low, making it harder to sustain in our high pace, high cost environment.


History_of_Tutu_Kueh_Singapore
Putu piring at Haig Road Hawker Centre Singapore
History_of_Tutu_Kueh_Singapore
Putu piring in Johor Bahru with turmeric powder
Putu piring and tutu kueh have similar ingredients and method of production but is seen to have different roots. Shall be exploring the origins of putu piring soon. I warmly welcome any insights you share.

Date: 8 Jun 2020
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Kopitiam Culture is Not Only Kopi & Kaya Toast. History of Singapore Coffee Shops

June 9, 2020, 4:50 am
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History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Thean Chun kopitiam in Ipoh, Malaysia
Kopitiam culture is deeply ingrained in the lifestyle of people in Singapore and Malaysia (as well as parts of Indonesia and Thailand).

When I am overseas for any extended period, going out for a morning caffeine fix, I can see Starbucks everywhere but my heart literally aches for kopi O gao - that pitch black bitter brew of Singapore and Malaysia. Those of you from Singapore and Malaysia will know the feeling.

History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Nan Yang kopitiam in Segamat, Malaysia
The term "kopitiam" is made up of two words - "kopi" which means coffee in Malay and "tiam" 店 which means shop in Hokkien Chinese. The name kopitiam itself reveals its multicultural, inclusive nature.



Image credit: Wikipedia
Kopitiam culture in Singapore is usually attributed to Hainanese migrants.

The Hainanese were latecomers to Singapore, coming only after 1870 when the Hainanese port of Haikou was opened for trade and travel. By that time, the Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese and Hakka clans were already well established in Singapore in their respective enclaves and professions. The clans jealously fiercely guarded their territories and trades, often forcefully.

 


The late comers had no choice but to settle in no man's land - banished to the opposite bank of the Singapore River away from their other Chinese compatriots. The Hainanese set themselves up in the narrow margin between European Town and Arab Campong (the British way of spelling kampung).

Today, these are Middle Road, Purvis Street and Seah Street which were then named Hainan First Street or Haikou Street, Hainan Second Street and Hainan Third Street respectively.

Jobs wise with almost all trades already dominated by other Chinese clans, the Hainanese took whatever work was left over. Many became domestic help in the homes of colonial officials and wealthy Peranakan families, cooks in British military bases, restaurants, hotels and ship galleys.

When I was serving in the 1980s, there were still Hainanese "Ah Ko" cooks, waiters and bartenders in Tengah Officers Mess. I still remember "Ah Ko" vividly - at TOM, I had my first taste of French toast and Gunner cocktail from "Ah Ko".

Singapore rubber factory in 1930. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
When the shocks of the Great Depression of 1929 reached Singapore, many fortunes built on trading rubber and tin etc were lost.

Middle Road in 1935. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Many shop units fell vacant as their owners fell on hard times. Some Hainanese saw the opportunity of the financial crisis, quit their jobs as cooks and threw their savings into buying the shops in and around the Hainanese enclave.

And, thus birthing the Hainanese kopitiam out of adversity in Singapore.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The shop owner cum kopitiam towkay (boss) typically sold drinks (kopi, teh or tea and bottled fizzy drinks), kaya and butter toast, poached eggs, and cigarettes.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Kopi wasn't new to people in Singapore then. Bengali coffee hawkers were already selling kopi from baskets slung across their shoulders long before the advent of Hainanese kopitiam.


History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Ah Hong Kopitiam in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Hainanese style kopi is brewed by putting ground coffee beans into a long muslin sock and pouring hot water through it. This is repeated a few times to extract the maximum flavour from the coffee beans.



Kopi is made with a unique long spouted kettle that drains coffee from the bottom of the pot where the beans in the sock are well steeped.



Empty condensed or evaporated milk tins were re-purposed into containers for takeaway kopi. These were carried around with a raffle string strung through a hole made in the lid.


Image credit: Tai Chiang Coffee
It was common for kopitiams in Singapore to hand roast their own coffee beans over wood fire (up to the 1970s).


History_Kopitiam_Coffee_Shop
Kim Guan Guan Traditional Nanyang Coffee
Most old timer kopi were brewed with Robusta beans. Depending on the quality, some were roasted with just sugar and margarine. The cheaper roasts had bulk fillers like corn, barley etc added to the coffee beans during roasting.

Compared to Arabica beans, Robusta is more bitter but packs a stronger caffeine kick. Sweetened with sugar, condensed or evaporated milk it is quite addictive once you acquired the taste for it. Many locals cannot function without that caffeine perk up from their morning kopi.

Modern day higher quality kopi is usually a blend of Robusta and Liberica, and sometimes there's even Arabica in the brew.


History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Heng Wah Traditional Coffee Stall in Singapore
Kopi was usually paired with kaya toast - coconut jam and chilled butter sandwiched between toasted bread slices. This, of course, came from the British employers of Hainanese cooks as most wouldn't have encountered such a dish fresh off the boat from Haikou, Hainan.

History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Toh Soon in Penang, Malaysia
Bread was toasted over charcoal.

History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Making kaya at Nan Yang kopitiam in Segamat, Malaysia
Kaya or coconut jam was hand made daily at the shop with coconut milk, eggs, sugar and fragrant pandan leaf plus a lot of elbow grease. So, the sweet smelling kaya at the kopitiam was always fresh.

An urban legend (which needs further investigation) claims that kaya was invented by a Hainanese cook on a ship. One day, when the galley ran out of jam, he made some using coconut milk.

History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Wei Sheng Yuan in Ulu Tiram, Malaysia
Poached eggs in a saucer eaten the Singapore (and Malaysian) way is one of the kopitiam trinity. The runny soft boiled eggs are given a dribble of light (or dark) soy sauce and a puff of white pepper powder. To eat, mix it all up by stirring with a tea spoon.

History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Wee Hoi kopitiam in Gelang Patah, Malaysia
Put that tea spoon down.

The proper way to eat those poached eggs in a kopitiam is to slurp it all up, straight from the saucer like a thick soup.

Yummaey!

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Space in the kopitiam was rented out to food stalls which sold a wide range of dishes such as roast meats, braised meats, noodles, rice etc. Typically, most kopitiam will have around five to eight independent food stalls.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Every food stall was a privately owned business and the stall owner paid rent to the kopitiam owner to operate inside his shop unit.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
It was common to find Indian roti prata, Malay mee rebus, nasi lemak, Indonesian nasi padang stalls etc together with Chinese stalls inside a kopitiam.


Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The kopitiam owner selling drinks, toasts and eggs has a symbiotic relationship with the stall owners inside his shop. When business is good they grow and prosper together. It's a virtuous cycle - better food stalls, attract more customers, sell more kopi, collect more rental.

The reverse, of course, is equally true. So, it is in interest of the kopitiam boss and his tenants to co-operate and support one another.

History of Singapore chicken rice. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
So, the enterprising kopitiam bosses would constantly scout for the best hawkers and entice them to set up in their coffee shops. That was how in the 1940s, a chicken rice seller who was plying the streets with two baskets on a bamboo pole slung across his shoulder set up a stall in a Purvis Street kopitiam. That stall by "Commie Uncle" became the first Hainanese chicken rice stall in Singapore and the rest is Singapore national dish history.


 
After the People's Republic of China was declared in 1949, some Hainanese coffee shop owners returned to Hainan as they felt peace has been restored in their homeland. Most sold their kopitiam to Hock Chews. In 1950s Singapore, there were over 2,000 kopitiam - 80% were owned by Hainanese and Hock Chews.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Kopitiams were the natural multicultural, communal meeting spaces.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The kopitiam was much more than just an eating place. It was the community club of sorts where people gathered to relax, to catch up with happenings about town and with each other. In social science-speak, the essential "third space" everybody needs (the other spaces being the home and workplace).

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
And, what a colourful "third space" it was. 1950s Singapore was a tumultuous time. The Communist insurrection was raging in British Malaya while the negotiations for independence from Britain was well underway. Newly formed political parties fought for the masses' hearts and minds.

Kopitiams willy nilly became soapboxes for agitators, provocateurs, and rumourmongers; listening posts for informers and spies; prospecting grounds for con men; dens for gamblers, and other creepy crawlies who huddled around the white marble top tables. Most people were oblivious or turned a blind eye while enjoying their daily kopi, kaya toast, egg and smoke.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Some kopitiams were like hobby clubs such as this one where lovers of singing birds gathered to eat, chat and listen to bird song together.

Oh..., this is too beautiful.... 😢


Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
In a time of no mobiles, not even telephones at home, borrowing the kopitiam's telephone was a much appreciated "value added service" before the era of payphones.

Who remembers borrowing the kopitiam phone?


The kopitiam trinity.



Once ubiquitous, the traditional kopitiam is disappearing in Singapore, replaced by international chains like Starbucks, home grown chains, and independent "hipster" cafes.


 
Heap Seng Leong is one of the last handful of traditional kopitiams left in Singapore. It's a shadow of the golden age of kopitiams but still has the atmospherics of the original experience.


We love to hear your kopitiam memories 😊

History_Kopitiam_Kaya_Toast
Kopi C kosong at Hwa Mui in Johor Bahru, Malaysia



Ordering coffee in a Singapore kopitiam can be intimidating for the uninitiated 😱 Have no fear. This simple guide is everything you need to survive ace your first kopitiam experience in Singapore.

Kopi - Coffee with condensed milk ("Kopi" in Malay means coffee)

Kopi O - Coffee with sugar ("O" in Hokkien means black)

Kopi C - Coffee with sugar & evaporated milk ("C" in Hainanese means fresh)

Kopi Gu Yu - Coffee with butter ("Gu Yu" is butter in Hokkien)

Kopi O Kosong - Coffee with condensed milk and no sugar ("Kosong" in Malay means empty)

Kopi C Kosong - Coffee with evaporated milk and no sugar ("Kosong" in Malay means empty) [This is my usual order.]

Kopi Peng - Iced coffee ("Peng" in Hokkien means cold)

Kopi Siew Dai - Coffee with less sugar ("Siew Dai" in Hock Chew means less sweet)

Kopi Ga Dai - Coffee with more sugar ("Ga Dai" in Hock Chew means more sweet)

Kopi Gao - Coffee Thick ("Gao" in Hokkien means thick)

Kopi Tit Lo - Coffee Extra Thick ("Tit Lo" in Hokkien means pour straight in all the way)

Kopi Poh - Coffee Thin ("Poh" in Hokkien mean thin)

Kopi Sua - Double order of same coffee ("Sua" in Hokkien means follow on)

Tiao Herr - Tea bag ("Tiao Herr" in Hokkien means fishing as the motion of dipping the teabag in hot water is like fishing with rod and line)

Tart Giu - Milo ("Tart Giu" means soccer in Hokkien, referring to the soccer design on traditional Milo tins).

👆 Get to know Singapore through its food. Image credit: Wikipedia 

Reference:

Coffee-shops in Colonial Singapore

Date: 9 Jun 2020
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Singapore Food in 1000 AD. 300 Years before Sang Nila Utama. 800 Years before Raffles

June 11, 2020, 8:22 am
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Image credit: Wikipedia
This is my personal exploration trip, searching for our food heritage starting from 1000 AD. I deliberately chose a very early starting point to get to the bottom-most layer (i.e. as much of a clean slate as possible) of our flavours and aromas. From there, build it up through layers upon layers of time till we arrive at the dishes we enjoy today. Join me on this delicious journey through time. This is only the first step of our journey.




Our world in 1000 AD was in the shadow of China's Song dynasty in the east and to our west, the Fatimid dynasty in Arabia. By that time, wind powered ships were already plying regularly between China and Arabia, trading Chinese silk, tea and porcelain with Arabian crystals and quartz among other things.

The east-west trade route (maritime Silk Road) straddled the Srivijaya empire of Indonesia and Chola empire of India. Both empires jostled and competed to service (and tax) the east-west trade route.

Song dynasty era statue of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Image credit: Wikipedia
The Song dynasty ruled China from 960 to 1279. The Song dynasty was a Confucian-Buddhist empire. Due to relentless pressure from Mongols in the north, the Song emperors were pre-occupied with defending its northern borders.




While the Song emperors were busy fighting off Mongols in the north, the empire's southern regions were prosperous. It was engaged in trade as it had surpluses to indulge in the finer things in life and Chinese silk, tea, porcelain etc were in demand overseas. 

Chinese trading ships were plying the east-west trade routes which grew in importance as the overland Silk Road was blocked by the Mongols. It was during the Song dynasty that the magnetic compass was invented, thus revolutionising sea navigation. Despite all these, the Song emperors could not pay much attention to the south seas and maritime trade routes. So, Chinese overseas presence was limited to transient Chinese traders.

(We can't blame the Song emperors as the dynasty was fighting for its life. They were eventually defeated by the Mongols in 1279, and China fell under a foreign power for the first time in history. The Mongol Yuan dynasty was to rule China till 1368 i.e. for nearly 100 years.) 

Fatimid caliphate era bowl fragment. Image credit: Wikipedia

The Fatimid dynasty ruled the Middle East and North Africa from 909 to 1171. Founder Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah was descended from Prophet Mohammed's favourite daughter Fatimah, hence the name Fatimid. At its height, Cairo was the capital city of the Fatimids. 




The Fatimids who were Shia Muslims were known for their religious tolerance and awarded government positions based on merit. During Fatimid rule, there were Sunni judges, a defence minister who was Christian, a Jewish treasurer and women were also involved in religious and political life. Scholarship, the economy and the arts flourished during Fatimid rule. The prosperous Fatimid caliphate had good diplomatic and trade relations with the Song dynasty of China.

Four hand Avalokiteçvara in Malayu-Srivijayan style. Image credit: Wikipedia
The Srivijaya empire ruled Indonesia from 650 to 1377. The Buddhist empire was based in Jambi and Palembang in south Sumatra. Its control spanned the whole of Sumatra, Malayan peninsula and most of Java island.





The Srivijaya was a thalassocratic empire, i.e. it was a maritime empire which controlled the seas and shorelines in its realm but did not extend its influence into the interior.

The island of Singapore (then known as Temasek) was within Srivijayan span of control.

Chola dynasty era Hanuman statue. Image credit: Wikipedia
The Hindu Chola dynasty ruled southern India from 300 BC to 1279. The Chola was both a land and maritime power with its height from 900s to 1030.



By the 900s, the Chola ports were direct competitors with the Srivijayan ports serving (and taxing) the east-west trade routes between China and Arabia. Ships served by Chola ports would bypass Srivijayan ports and vice versa as there was no need to make 2 stops for the journey between China and Arabia.

The Fatamids brought crystals and the Chinese brought silk - all came together in Srivijayan ports (Palembang, Jambi and Kedah) or Indian ports under the Cholas.

Neither, the Cholas nor Srivijayans had much goods that the Chinese or Arabians particularly wanted except for a convenient place to meet midway to trade. (Indian and Indonesian spices did not have an overseas market until the emergence of the Europeans, 400 years later.)




Talking about the Europeans, 1000 AD was smack in the middle of Europe's Mediaeval Age from 476 to 1492. After the Roman empire broke up in 476, numerous feuding kingdoms and fiefdoms sprouted up across Europe. The Europeans were pre-occupied with their own affairs i.e. wars till the first Crusade in 1096, and the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 marking the beginning of the Age of Discovery. Portuguese Vasco da Gama reached India only in 1499. The Portuguese showed up in Malacca only in 1509.

In short, in 1000 AD, the Europeans were not in our world yet.



Things came to a head in 1025 - the Cholas sent an armada to Srivijaya, roundly defeating the Indonesian fleet in the Straits of Malacca and sacked Palembang (the Srivijayan capital.)

The epic sea battle between the Cholas and Srivijayans is worth retelling. The Chola naval strategy was brilliant.

The Cholas sent out 2 fleets - a small diversionary force to the northern entrance of the Malacca Straits off Kedah in the Malay peninsula. The small decoy force lured the Srivijayan navy northwards to meet its Indian enemy (and to defend Kedah, a Srivijayan port).

Meanwhile, the Cholas' main force comprising a large armada crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Sunda Straits between Sumatra and Java, and landed at the doorstep of Palembang, the Srivijayan capital. The Cholas burnt Palembang to the ground and destroyed its port.

Next, the Chola main force turned northwards, raced up the Malacca Straits thus bottling the Srivijayan navy between the decoy and main force of Chola. Now at the Chola navy's mercy, the trapped Srivijayan ships were decimated.

Srivijayan power and control of the Indonesian archipelago declined after this military debacle.

Orang Laut distribution. Image credit: Wikipedia
While these momentous happenings took place around Singapore, it was in 1000 AD probably inhabited only by Orang Laut (sea people or sea gypsies). Orang Laut were sometimes fishermen, oftentimes pirates. Usually the local kingdom would forge arrangements with the Orang Laut to put their intimate knowledge of local waters to the good service of the empire. During the Srivijayan era, they guided merchant ships through the waters around Singapore to the Srivijayan ports of Jambi and Palembang.

Other than Orang Laut villages, Singapore (known as Temasek then) was uninhabited in 1000 AD. A pirates' nest, if you will.



According to the Malay Annals, in 1299, prince Sang Nila Utama from Srivijaya's Palembang landed in Temasek. By that time, the Srivijaya empire was well in decline and various princes and local chieftains were setting up kingdoms of their own. Sang Nila Utama decided to set up his own kingdom in Temasek.

On arrival, Sang Nila Utama and his party spotted a swift beast with red fur, black head and white breast. When told that the animal was a singa i.e. lion, Sang Nila Utama decided to name his island kingdom Singapura.

Why do these history matter?

Singapore_Food_History
Kopi More coffee stall in Singapore
Whereas many of us take over a dozen shots of our meal and post them on social media before we eat, records of food in the past are very rare. If we want to understand the food of our ancestors, we can only infer from circumstantial evidence like where they live, where they went, and who they met.

So what have we got after surveying the history of Singapore in 1000 AD?

As trading ships were wind powered, traders settled in trading hubs for months to wait for the Monsoons to change. So, locals were exposed to the food of the traders i.e. Indonesians and Malayans were exposed to Chinese and Arabian food in 1000 AD.

So, Arabic and Chinese influence already began to leave an overlay over indigenous food in Indonesia and Malaya, 300 years before Sang Nila Utama founded Singapura and 800 years before Raffles stepped foot on Singapore.


Obviously, this is only the start of the search - first step in a long journey. Let's build this together. Please share with me your insights by posting your comment. Thank you.

The Singapore food story continues in the next episode - What has the rise and fall of the Malacca Sultanate got to do with food in Singapore?

Date: 11 Jun 2020
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Historical Roots of Singapore Food from Sang Nila Utama to Raffles - Year 1299 to 1819

June 13, 2020, 5:24 am
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Photo credit: Wikipedia
In the last episode, "Singapore Food in 1000 AD", we ended with Sang Nila Utama's arrival in Temasek in 1299. In this episode, we carry on from where we left off in 1299 and travel through time to 1819, the year Raffles first stepped foot on Singapore. Let's go, we have more than 500 years of food history to digest. 



After its crushing defeat in 1025 in the epic sea battle in the Malacca Straits by the Chola empire from south India, the power of the Srivijaya empire based in Palembang diminished greatly.

 


While the Srivijayans waned, the Majapahit was raising. The Majapahit empire based in Trowulan (near modern Surabaya) in east Java was established in 1293 and was muscling out the Srivijayans as their power spread across the Indonesian archipelago and Malay peninsula. [The Majapahit ruled Indonesia until it fell under the Dutch in 1517.]



To get out of the Majapahit's way, a Srivijayan prince Sang Nila Utama left Pelambang to look for greener pastures further afield. He landed in Temasek which was then most likely just a pirates' nest (Orang Laut villages).

Sang Nila Utama decided to establish his kingdom here and named it Singapura after seeing a red fur, black head, white breasted beast which he was told was a singa i.e. lion.



Sang Nila Utama and his successors were left in peace in their kingdom of Singapura which was to last for 99 years. During this time, Singapura facilitated traders from China and Arabia. The Chinese came here for hornbill casques, "laka wood" (agarwood?), red gold, blue satin etc. 

There were fishing and farming settlements in Singapura. There were small Chinese settlements some probably facilitating business and traders waiting for the winds to take them home. (Those were the days of wind powered boats, so sailors have to wait at ports for months for the right wind to take them to their destinations.)

Image credit: Wikipedia
The Majapahit empire finally caught up with the runaway prince's (Sang Nila Utama) kingdom of Singapura during the reign of its fifth king, Parameswara in 1398.

There were differing accounts in the Malay Annals and by the Portuguese, but both involved internal divisions and palace intrigue. A faction opposing Parameswara secretly invited the Majapahit to attack Singapura.

With the enemy at the gates, Parameswara fled Singapura.



While on the run, Parameswara was resting under a Melaka tree (Indian Gooseberry) by a river (today's Sungai Melaka river). He then saw a mouse deer (a tiny, normally timid animal) fighting back and kicking back fiercely at his hunting dogs.

Parameswara saw this as a good omen and decided to settle here and rebuild his kingdom. He named it after the tree he was resting under, Malacca.

Parameswara converted from Buddhism to Islam, called his kingdom the Malacca Sultanate and took on a new name Sultan Iskandar Shah.


The extent of the Sultanate in the 15th century
By Gunawan Kartapranata - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Founded in 1398, the Malacca Sultanate flourished and at its peak controlled the Malay peninsula, the Malacca Straits, central Sumatra and the Riau islands.



The Malacca Sultanate allied with China's Ming dynasty which protected it from the Siamese, Acehnese and the mighty Majapahit empire of Indonesia.

Sultan Iskandar Shah (Parameswara) visited China in 1405, Sultan Megat Iskandar Shah in 1414, and Sultan Sri Maharaja in 1424.

The Ming admiral Cheng Ho made seven voyages between 1405 and 1433, and called on the Malacca Sultanate five times.

Relations between the Malacca Sultanate and Ming dynasty was so good that the emperor Cheng Hua (reign 1464 - 1487) sent a princess Hang Li Poh to marry Sultan Mansur Shah (reign 1456 - 1477) as his fifth wife.



Sultan Mansur Shah settled Hang Li Poh and her 500 accompanying courtiers at Bukit Cina. This would be the largest known Chinese settlement in southeast Asia in the 15th century. There might have been small numbers of Chinese traders who settled here earlier and after Hang Li Poh.

Today, Bukit Cina is a cemetery, and Hang Li Poh's still functioning well is a well visited historic site.




Some of the Chinese settlers in Malacca married locals. Their descendants are known as Peranakan which means "local born" in Malay. The men are known as Baba and the ladies as Nyonya.

The Peranakans adopted and adapted local dress, customs, language and food etc but did not convert to Islam.

History_of_Singapore_Food
History of peranakan food
They created Peranakan or Nyonya cuisine which has Malay and Chinese roots but is a genre by itself with many unique dishes. The first dishes that come to my mind are ayam buah keluak, Nyonya laksa, otak otak, Penang asam laksa, etc., and numerous sweet desserts.

More history of peranakan food👈 click



From 1400, the Europeans entered the Age of Exploration, a period of founding new territories for European crowns which lasted till the 1600s.

Around the same period, while the Europeans were coming out, the Ming dynasty retreated to their own borders thus leaving vacuums in southeast Asia for other powers to fill. This was a great turning point in world history.

Every European maritime power, the Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch and English all came to help themselves, eventually even landing in China itself.



The first Portuguese expedition to Malacca arrived in 1509. The expedition was ambushed by Sultan Mahmud Shah's forces but escaped leaving some 20 prisoners behind.

This gave the Portuguese the perfect excuse to return two years later in 1511 to sack the city. The Portuguese rule Malacca for 130 years from 1511 to 1641.




Intermarriage between the Portuguese and locals created an Eurasian community in Malacca known as Kristang. The Kristang community have their own language and cuisine.


 
The most famous Kristang dish is perhaps Curry Debal or more famously Devil Curry. It is a very spicy curry chicken dish with chili, candlenut, galangal, vinegar etc.

History_of_Singapore_Food
Portuguese Settlement restaurants in Malacca
Another Kristang dish which I like a lot is Portuguese style baked fish. The spicy fish is wrapped in tin foil and baked by grilling the bundle on a flat iron griddle.



The epok epok is probably derived from the Portuguese empanada. The epok epok is often confused with the curry puff. It is often referred to as the Malay curry puff or even the "Malay word for curry puff".

History_of_Singapore_Food
History of curry puff and epok epok
Unlike the curry puff which is derived from British puff pastry with laminated dough for its layered shell, the epok epok shell has just one single layer. Epok epok as a derivative of the empanada can have curried and non-curried fillings. Curry puffs on the other hand have curried fillings as defined by its name.

More history of epok epok and curry puff👈 click



When Malacca fell to the Portuguese in 1511, Malacca's Sultan Ahmad Shah fled south but never gave up on regaining Malacca from the Portuguese. His son Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah II sought to rebuild the empire from Johor. Founded at the Johor River in 1528, the kingdom was named the Johor Sultanate. The chance for revenge against the Portuguese came when the Dutch showed up in southeast Asia in the early 1600s.

The Stadhuys in Malacca. Image credit: Wikipedia
The Dutch with the help of the Johor Sultanate drove the Portuguese out of Malacca in 1641. In return for the favour, the Dutch promised to leave in the Johor Sultanate in peace. The Dutch stayed in Malacca until 1825 but their focus was on Batavia (today's Jakarta), the centre of their prized jewel in Asia, the Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia).



The Dutch ruled Malacca for 184 years but didn't leave much of an imprint on Malaysia or Singapore food. (They influenced Indonesian food more.)

Barquillos in Madrid, Spain. Image credit: Wikipedia
A visible Dutch legacy in Malaysia / Singapore food is Kueh Belanda or more famously love letters or kueh kapit (which means "pressed biscuit" in Malay).

Though known as kueh Belanda which means Dutch biscuit in Malay, it is actually derived from the Spanish barquillo.

The Spanish barquillo came to Malacca by way of the Dutch because the Spaniards ruled The Netherlands for 92 years (1556–1648).

History_of_Singapore_Food
Kueh Kapit
Kueh kapit is a thin batter of rice and tapioca flour blend, eggs, sugar and coconut milk between two iron plates in a long calliper. It is cooked by grilling over a charcoal filled trough.

History_of_Singapore_Food
Kueh Belanda
The biscuits are either rolled into a little tube (barquillo) or folded like a small handkerchief. It is crackly crisp and tasted sweet with a subtle eggy and coconut fragrance.

I prefer the traditional rolled type cooked over charcoal as that was what I remembered from the 1960s. The folded type, I saw only maybe a decade or two later.



In the 1700s, with the centre of trade in Batavia, Malacca and Singapura were backwaters. Singapura became a proverbial fishing village and land base of Orang Laut.

In a secret attempt to entice the British to check Dutch power in southeast Asia, Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah IV offered the British East India Company a foothold in Singapore. This offer was not taken up, and the British returned only after more than 100 years.


History_of_Singapore_Food
Malacca Sultanate Royal Banquet
Based on research by Professor Shaharudin and Chef Norzalina published in their book Air Mata Raja, during the Malacca and Johor Sultanate era, food was made with ingredients harvested from farms, from the sea, mangroves and beaches, and hunted from the forests. There were deer, chicken, snail, seaweed, coconut, etc. Local herbs, grass and fruits like lemongrass, mango, calamansi, ginger etc were used for their fragrances.

As Malacca was a spice trading hub, spices like cloves and turmeric etc were commonly used. Down in Johor / Singapura, the royals were probably able to get spices but commoners may have difficulties. Nevertheless, local ingredients should be available.

After attending the "Royal Banquet" by Chef Norzalina at the launch of Air Mata Raja, my impression was that food of the Malacca and Johor Sultanate era was very agreeable even to modern palates.



Things started to change again in Singapura when the British returned.

In search of a foothold in southeast Asia, Raffles of the British East India Company first stepped foot on Singapore in 1819. It would open a new chapter in the history of Singapore (but we shall leave that to the next episode).

In the previous episode - Singapore food in 1000 AD, 800 years before Raffles arrived in Singapore.

In the next episode - The golden age of the British Empire to the fall of Singapore in World War II. What was Singapore food like during this period?

References:

Researchgate - Peranakan food
Researchgate - Kristang food

Date: 13 Jun 2020
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What Does the "Teh" in Bak Kut Teh Mean?

June 13, 2020, 10:36 pm
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History_Bak_Kut_Teh
History of Bak Kut Teh
Most of us assume that the teh 茶 in bak kut teh refers to the custom of drinking tea during a bak kut teh 肉骨茶 meal. Some of us may be surprised that this popular assumption is challenged by two other theories.


 
Kenry Peh, fourth generation owner of Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants said that when his grandfather came to Singapore in the 1920s, people were already drinking Chinese tea with their bak kut teh 肉骨茶. The tea was at that time the average quality type and provided free of charge. Kenry's grandfather pioneered pairing premium tea appreciation with eating bak kut teh.

So, teh 茶 refers to the tea that accompanies our meal of bak kut 肉骨.



There are at least two other theories.



For the second theory, we have to go to Klang, in Malaysia. Klang is seen as the bak kut teh capital of Malaysia and there are more than a thousand bak kut teh shops and stalls in the relatively small port city (of half a million population). People from Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, and other near and not so near cities flock to Klang for bak kut teh.

It is said that the teh in bak kut teh refers to the teh in the name of the creator of bak kut teh, Mr. Lee Boon Teh.


Screengrab from The Star report
According to this theory, Mr. Lee Boon Teh came to Klang from China's Fujian province in 1945. He created a herbal meat bone soup which became very popular. As this bak kut dish was created by Mr. Lee Boon Teh, it became known as bak kut teh.

This theory was first published by The Star newspaper in Malaysia in 2016 and is widely circulated by viral copy-and-paste websites (so it is influential).

History_Bak_Kut_Teh
Teck Teh Bak Kut Teh in Klang, Malaysia
Mr. Lee Boon Teh's bak kut teh shop known as Teck Teh is still in operation today. It is now run by his great grandson and great great grandson.

Chinese coolies in Singapore in 1925. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The third possibility is bak kut teh was first conceived as a herbal tonic i.e. as a form of liang teh 凉茶, hence the name bak kut teh. In this theory, the herbal tonic dish itself is known as bak kut teh, without Chinese tea pairing. So, the teh in bak kut teh is the liang teh itself. 

In this theory, bak kut teh was created as a health fortifying and energy boosting for coolies from China. Its exact origin is unclear but it could be as early as the 1850s. If you subscribe to this theory, the teh in bak kut teh was referring to the whole dish and not to the paired tea (teh) on the side (which came about later).

What do you think?


🗳  🗳  🗳




Poll result will be published here on 1 July 2020.

If you have insights, please share with us in the comments.


References:

History of Singapore bak kut teh

History of Klang bak kut teh

Recreating the original coolie's bak kut teh

Date: 14 Jun 2020
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Origins of Singapore Food from the Golden Age of the British Empire to Syonan-to of Japan

June 15, 2020, 5:58 pm
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Image credit: Wikipedia
The period from 1819 to 1942 saw Singapore rise from a fishing village and pirates' nest to the bastion of the British empire and then fall to be a Japanese occupied territory. This 123 year period witnessed the largest immigration waves to Singapore and with it many different cuisines found their way onto our plates and palates.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore 
I always felt that the Singaporean palate must be among the most exposed in the world. Ask almost any 5 year old child in Singapore and chances are s/he has already acquired a taste for Malay, Indonesian, Chinese (various clans), Peranakan, Eurasian, Indian, Western, Thai etc flavours, naming just a few to give you an idea. How did this come about?



It's a long story. One hundred and twenty three years long.



In 1819, not long after first stepping foot on Singapura, Raffles signed an agreement with the Sultan of Johor and Temenggong of Singapura which allowed the British East India Company to operate a small trading post at the mouth of the Singapore River.



Raffles operated the small trading post on a strip of land by the Singapore River merely "the length of a cannon shot" as a tax free port. It enticed some Chinese and peranakan traders to relocate their operations from Dutch Malacca to Raffles' trading post.



In 1824, the Dutch and English cut a due that divided maritime southeast Asia between themselves. The English would have the Malay peninsula, and the Dutch took the Indonesian archipelago. Borneo island would be partitioned and shared. To complete the deal, the Dutch and English would also exchange Dutch Malacca for British Bencoolen (today's Bengkulu). 

In 1826, the British amalgamated Singapore, Malacca and Penang to form the British Straits Settlements.


Peranakan couple. Image credit: Wikipedia
The British then focussed on developing the Port of Singapore. The departure of traders from Malacca to Singapore increased from a trickle to a flood.

Many of these traders were wealthy Peranakan families. With this migration, Peranakan or Nyonya cuisine established their foothold in Singapore.

Malacca probably had the largest peranakan community which was established since the 1400s during warm relations between the Malacca Sultanate and China's Ming dynasty. Some Chinese settlers married locals and adopted local customs like food, dress, language etc. Their descendants are known as peranakan which means "local born" in Malay. The male peranakan is known as Baba and the ladies Nyonya.


The peranakans created a unique cuisine which has Malay and Chinese elements. The well known dishes are ayam buah keluak, babi pongteh, itek tim, Penang asam laksa, Singapore Nyonya laksa, otak otak, etc.

More on the history of peranakan food here👈 click



The Portuguese ruled Malacca for 150 years from 1511 to 1641. Intermarriages between the Portuguese and locals created a Eurasian community known as the Kristang.

When Malacca became part of the Straits Settlements together with Penang and Singapore, more Kristang migrated to Singapore.

History_of_Singapore_Food
Malacca Portuguese Settlement restaurant
Curry Dabal or Devil Curry is probably the best known Kristang dish. It is chicken with chili, galangal, lemongrass, tomatoes, vinegar etc.

Other Kristang dishes are grilled eggplant, baked spicy fish dishes, grago pikadel (shrimp cutlet), seccu (dry beef curry), etc. A good place to experience Kristang culture and cuisine is at the Portuguese Settlement food stalls in Malacca.

History_of_Singapore_Food
History of curry puff and epok epok
The term curry puff is often used interchangeably with epok epok. Epok epok is sometimes referred to as the "Malay name for curry puff". Otherwise, it is said to be the Malay curry puff.

Actually, curry puff and epok epok have different roots and represent different traditions.

Epok epok owes its origins more to the Portuguese empanada which simply means "wrapped in bread". Empanada shell is just a single layer of dough and the fillings can be spicy, non spicy, meat or vegetable.

Hence, we can have spicy, non spicy, meat and vegetarian epok epok.

Curry puff has its roots in the British puff pastry with its flaky shell made with laminated dough which come in layers. Curry puff also has DNA from the Indian samosa, hence the spicy curry fillings which may be chicken or lamb or curried potatoes. 

As the name curry puff states, the filling must be curried and the shell must be a puff (the flaky one with many layers).

So, some famous curry puff are more accurately epok epok 😂

But as KF Seetoh of Makansutra once said, "Got good food to eat, you want to talk so much for what?" unquote 😂

More on the history of curry puff and epok epok👈 click


Of the European colonisers of Malaysia, the Dutch stayed the longest - for 184 years. Yet, they didn't leave much of an impression on Malaysian food.

History_of_Singapore_Food
Making kueh kapit
The most visible Dutch legacy in our food heritage would be the love letter or Kueh Kapit which means "flatten biscuit" in Malay.

It's watery batter of rice flour, coconut milk, eggs, and sugar between two flat iron plates held in a calliper grilled over a trough of charcoal.

Kueh kapit or love letter is rolled into a little tube or scroll. It is crackly crispy and tastes sweet with fragrance of eggs and coconut. It is very addictive 😋 and very popular during Chinese New Year and Hari Raya. I love it. 


Kueh kapit has its roots in the barquillo, which is originally from Spain. It came to Malacca via the Dutch because the Spaniards ruled The Netherlands from 1556 to 1714.

History_of_Singapore_Food
Flat type of kueh kapit
Nowadays, it is more common to find kueh kapit in a flatten form like a small folded handkerchief. I am not sure of the reason for the change but suspect it is commercially driven - the flatten form makes it stackable and easier to pack more into tins.

Personally, I much prefer the rolled up tube or scroll type as it is like the traditional barquillo. Let's help preserve our heritage by supporting businesses that still make the tube or scroll type of kueh kapit.




Gambier and pepper plantations fuelled Singapore's early boom and absorbed many immigrants from southern China from the 1830s onwards.


 
With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the advent of steamships, trade and travel between east and west expanded exponentially. The Port of Singapore boomed like never before.




The Sultan of Johor visited Europe a few times and fell in love with spaghetti. So, when he returned to his Johor palace, he directed his chef to make laksa with spaghetti.

From that time on, Laksa Johor is always made with spaghetti instead of the traditional rice and tapioca noodles.

However, in Singapore, laksa remained the same, unchanged. It is rice and tapioca noodles smothered with a thick grainy sauce of coconut milk, minced Ikan Parang fish, tamarind juice, aromatic herbs, spices, belacan, and chilis etc. It is topped with bean sprouts, cilantro, Vietnamese coriander, julienned cucumber etc and at the side a dollop of sambal chili and a calamansi.

In Singapore, this is known as Laksa Siglap because there was a lady who lived in Kampung Siglap who sold the best laksa in Singapore.

More on the history of Laksa Siglap 👈 click




Tin mining started in Malaya in the 1820s and rubber plantations started in the 1890s. 


 
These two pillars of the Malayan economy led to unprecedented demand for labour and great wealth for owners and traders. It was the Golden Age of the British Empire. British Malaya was hungry for foreign labour for its mines, plantations and ports. 



Meanwhile, in China, the Qing dynasty was gasping for its last desperate breaths. Internally, the Middle Kingdom was wreak by rampant corruption, widespread rebellion, anarchy, famine and the national coffers empty pillaged. It was pressured on all sides by foreign powers and humiliated in disastrous wars which incurred massive debts for war reparations.



The Qing dynasty's final collapse and declaration of the Republic of China in 1912 did not bring peace. Instead, the shattered empire broke in hundreds of warring pieces and everything fall into utter chaos. Local war lords were grabbing power everywhere and back in Peking, pretenders with ambitions for a new dynasty were fighting to assume the Son of Heaven's mantle.



Millions fled the chaos in China, mostly to southeast Asia and a sizeable number across the Pacific to USA and Canada. They came as coolies or indentured labourers, already in debt for the passage from China before stepping foot on their destinations.

The British had well laid out plans to develop Singapore and ready to receive the sinkeh (a somewhat derogatory term peranakans used to refer to the "new guests"). The wretched masses from southern China fleeing chaos and poverty back home was exactly what British Malaya needed to feed its ravenous appetite for labour.



The Jackson Plan divided Singapore into sections according to land use and ethnicity. There's Chinese Campong, European Town and Arab Campong etc (campong is the British way of spelling kampung at that time).

In the Chinese Campong, the various clans have their own enclaves. The Cantonese in Kreta Ayer, Hokkiens in Amoy street, Teochew around the Singapore River. The Hainanese whom were the last to arrive in Singapore had no place in the Chinese Campong, so they set themselves up in the margin between European Town and Arab Campong i.e. Middle Road, Seah Street and Purvis Street.


Many dishes came with the immigrants during this period - Indonesian satay, Indian roti, vadai, Teochew char kway teow, Teochew bak chor mee, Teochew beef kway teow etc.

The dishes during this period were pretty much the same as the hometown versions unless dictated by lack of ingredients. Over the years, the dishes developed Singapore characteristics (and new dishes were created).

History of satay. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The Indonesians brought satay to Singapore. They were small pieces of chicken, lamb or beef skewered with a skinny wooden stick and grilled over a small charcoal stove. Satay is eaten with a peanut and spice sauce which tastes nutty, sweet, savoury with spice flavour and aroma.

The Chinese adapted the dish to include pork and offal such as intestines. The Hainanese added a dollop of pineapple puree to the peanut and spice sauce to give it a bit of citrusy zest.

More on the history of satay👈 click



Many coolies became rickshaw men as it was the main means of public transport up to the 1930s in Singapore. The rickshaw men would ply the city running bare bodied and bare foot.

History_of_Singapore_Food
Rickshaw noodles at Maxwell Food Centre
Rickshaws which were muscle powered, ran on rickshaw noodles. Rickshaw noodle stations were fairly common in the 1930s as there were some 30,000 rickshaw men plying Singapore's streets.

It is a very humble dish. Just a simple soup of chye sim (a leafy vegetable), some dried shrimps and fried shallot garnish for flavour. In the soup, a clutch of fat yellow noodles snipped into short stubby strands which the rickshaw men can slurp up without spoon or chopstick. Total fuel up pit stop time - one minute.

There are still a couple of places in Singapore to get rickshaw noodles, if you like to try it👈 click


History_of_Singapore_Food
History of char kway teow
Char kway teow from Chaoshan in Guangzhou cannot be a humbler noodle dish. It was just kway teow (rice ribbon noodles), bean sprouts, chives, small pieces of pork with skin and fish sauce stir fried with lard. The flavour and aroma of char kway teow relied heavily on the skill of the cook with the wok and fire to infuse flavours into the noodle strands with wok hei.

Over time, char kway teow in Singapore took on elements from other Chinese clans - dark savoury and sweet sauce from Hokkien, lup cheong or wax sausage from Cantonese. Blood cockles or see hum which were abundant in Malaya also became essential in Singapore char kway teow. The dish is often referred to as see hum kway teow.

More on the history of char kway teow👈 click

History_of_Singapore_Food
History of bak chor mee
Every province, county and city in China have their own version of 拌面 or blanched noodles served tossed in sauce.

Singapore's 拌面 came from Chaoshan and is known here as bak chor mee or minced pork noodles. It is usually flat yellow noodles (mee pok) tossed and folded in a blended sauce of dark soy sauce, sambal chili, black vinegar, shallot oil, lard, etc., till every strand of noodle is well coated with flavour and aroma.

Less heralded than Hainanese chicken rice but it is probably the most common hawker dish in Singapore. One of them High Sreet Tai Hwa Pork Noodles even clinched a Michelin Star.

More on history of bak chor mee👈 click


History_of_Singapore_Food
History of Hock Lam beef noodles
Tan Chee Kok brought Teochew beef noodles to Singapore when he arrived here from Swatow in the 1920s. Tan Chee Kok was a beef noodle seller in Swatow, so he simply carried on his trade in Singapore.

Initially, Tan Chee Kok sold beef noodles around Fort Canning, carrying his food on two baskets on a bamboo pole slung across his shoulders. He later settled down at a stall in Hock Lam Street and his stall became known as Hock Lam Street Beef Noodles.

Hock Lam Street Beef Noodles is in the fourth generation now and still going strong👈 click

History_of_Singapore_Food
History of Singapore bak kut teh
Coolies suffered from many pains and ailments from back and soul breaking work in the humid tropical heat of British Malaya. They needed a health fortifying and energising dish to power them through the day and to keep them healthy.

Either a Chinese physician or travelling medicine man came up with a cure-all concoction of cheap Chinese herbs, dark soy sauce and discarded pork bones (not pork ribs). The pork bones in a dark herbal soup was known as bak kut teh. It was not clear when bak kut teh was created - it could be in the late 1800s as by the 1920s, bak kut teh was already a common dish at the docks and quayside.

More on history of Singapore bak kut teh👈 click



The Hainanese were not only shut out of the choice locations in Chinese Campong, doors were also closed to them in the professions. So, the Hainanese took on the left over jobs - domestic help in colonial officers' residences, homes of wealthy traders (often peranakan) / cooks in military bases, hotels / bartenders, waiters / cooks and seamen on ships.

When the Great Depression of 1929 struck hard on Singapore shores, many fortunes were lost. Many shop houses in the city fell vacant as their owners fell on hard times. The enterprising Hainanese saw the opportunity - threw in their life savings and quit their jobs to open kopitiam (coffee shops) in these vacant shops.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
And, thus the Hainanese kopitiam institution was born in Singapore (and also Malaysia).


The Hainanese towkay (boss) sold the kopitiam trinity of kopi (coffee), kaya toasts and poached eggs. Space in the kopitiam was rented to other independent business owners who pay rent to operate their food stalls inside. Most kopitiam have 5 to 8 food stalls selling various hawker dishes like char kway teow, bak chor mee, etc. It was also common for Malay and Indian food stalls to operate inside a Hainanese kopitiam. So, the kopitiam is a multicultural institution.

More on the history of the Singapore kopitiam👈 click



By 1939, the British Empire was at war in Europe and Singapore fell to Japan in 1942. For three years, Singapore was Japan's "Light of the South" Syonan-to.


History_of_Singapore_Food
 
When my grandparent's generation i.e. the Japanese occupation generation were still around, we often hear wartime stories. Tapioca seemed to symbolise food shortages and hardship as "eating tapioca" was mentioned repeatedly.

Rice was scarce during the war and any available were allocated to the Japanese. Locals had to resort to eating tapioca, a root tuber (ubi kayu).

Yes, it was about eating the root tuber, and it wasn't the popular kueh ubi kayu dessert of today. It was just the root tuber, cut into stubby chunks, bark removed, then cooked by steaming or boiling. It was eaten by itself or with grated coconut flesh and a pinch of salt.

This type of tapioca dish is very rare in Singapore now. If you like to get a taste of wartime tapioca, you can get it at Heng Heng Ondeh Ondeh stall at Maxwell Food Centre.



Kang Kong is the other wartime food the WWII survivors talked about often. The green weed is hardy, grows fast and is abundant. It is very versatile and can be used in many dishes - stir fry, steam, boil / cook with sambal chili, cook with fermented bean crud, cook with soy sauce and oil / it is good as a dish in itself, as soup, as an ingredient in another dish or as a garnish.

History_of_Singapore_Food

Today, we can get kang kong dishes at most restaurants and many of us still cook it at home. I like the crunch and juiciness of its hollow stem and my favourite way is to stir fry them with savoury fermented bean curd.



Japan surrendered in 1945 after American atomic bombs obliterated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki just 3 days apart.

The British return to Singapore will open a new chapter in Singapore's history. We shall leave that for the next chapter of the Singapore food story.

In the previous episode - Singapore Food from Sang Nila Utama to Raffles - Year 1299 to 1819.

In the next episode - Singapore on the Road to Independence in 1965 was also a period of great innovation in food with several iconic dishes like chili crab, roti John, Indian rojak, curry fish head, Hainanese chicken rice, Hainanese curry rice, lou hei yee sang etc created during this period.

References:

Researchgate: History of Singapore

Date: 16 Jun 2020
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What Peking Duck Tells Us about the History of China 北京烤鸭

June 17, 2020, 4:09 am
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Image credit: Wikipedia
It is often said that the three must do things in Beijing are climb the Great Wall, visit the Forbidden City, and eat Peking duck 🦆 Most people would be satisfied once they've done the Great Wall and Forbidden City but they can never have enough of Peking duck 😄

What makes the iconic Peking duck so special?


The Bird



Peking duck is made with a specific breed of duck known as "Pekin duck" known for its fine and tender meat. It is a white feathered bird, first bred over 1000 years ago in the 玉泉山 Jade Spring Mountain district near Peking, hence the name "Pekin duck".



After the raising the bird for 30 days, the duck is manually fed with special feed for 10 days to fatten it. The duck is called "Pekin stuffed duck"北京填鸭 because of the manual fattening process. Ducks ready for the kitchen weigh around 3.2 kilos each.

(During the early Ming era when Nanjing was the capital, a different breed was used. It was a black feathered bird. When the Ming dynasty moved its capital to Beijing in 1420, the present breed of white Pekin duck was used as it was hard to get the black feathered duck in the new capital.) 


Preparation

The Peking duck is gutted not by opening its tail end but by cutting a slit under one of the wings. The innards are removed through this slit.

The bird is then blown up like a balloon. Nowadays, it is blown up by pumping in compressed air but in the past, the chef blew up the duck with his own breath (just like blowing up a party balloon). The purpose of blowing up the duck is to separate the skin from the fat and meat. The air gap gives the roasted duck crispier skin.



The cleaned and blown up duck is bathed with boiling water. The duck is next bathed with maltose syrup, hung up with a hook and air dried.

Some restaurants roast the duck after the maltose bath has dried. Others further marinate the bird by rubbing a blend of Chinese 5-spice, soy sauce etc outside and inside the cavity.

(Traditionally, stock and Chinese cooking wine are poured into the cavity through the slit which is opened to remove the innards. So, while the outside of the duck is being roasted, the inside is cooked by boiling stock and wine.)




Two Roasting Traditions - Ming vs Qing | Bianyifang vs Quanjude

Image credit: Wikipedia
There are two different techniques of roasting Peking duck - closed or open roast.


Closed Roast

Ming dynasty palace in Nanjing. Image credit: Wikipedia
The closed roast method originated from the Ming dynasty.

Before there was Peking duck, there was 片皮鸭 sliced duck (also known as 叉烧鸭 char siew duck) in Nanjing during the Ming dynasty. Sliced duck was roasted on a spit over wooden flames one at a time.

As emperor Zhu Di held many banquets at the palace, the palace chefs had to find a way to produce many sliced ducks quickly. They came up with the closed roast method where several ducks were roasted at once in a huge closed brick oven fired by embers of sorghum hay.

When the temperature is right inside the brick oven, the ducks are hanged inside and the oven is shut tight. The ducks are close roasted at 220°C - 250°C for 45 - 60 minutes. In the closed roast technique, no flame is used. The duck meat is tender and juicy. The skin is crisp but moist underneath as much of its fat is retained.

Image credit: Wikipedia
The closed roast technique became the mainstream during the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644). Bianyifang 便宜坊 founded in 1416 is the oldest Peking duck restaurant in the world.



Bianyifang uses the Ming era closed roast technique (albeit with contemporary electric and gas ovens).

Forbidden City of Peking. Image credit: Wikipedia
When emperor Zhu Di moved the Ming capital from Nanjing to Peking in 1420, the sliced duck dish followed and was renamed Peking duck.


Open Roast

When the Ming dynasty fell to the Manchu Qing (in 1644), the Peking duck dish was changed from closed roast to roasting over open flames. That's because the Manchurians being nomads traditionally roast their meats in the open.



To be able to cook for banquets, the Qing palace chefs created the large roasting room where the chef can roast several ducks in one go. The duck is roasted by hanging it over the flames of burning peach, pear or apple wood in a brick oven with windows. To ensure that the ducks are evenly grilled, the chef constantly turn and move them about inside the oven using a long pole through a window. Roasting this way over an open flame at 200°C takes 50 - 60 minutes.

Open roasted ducks have a subtle smokiness and fruity aroma. Open roasted ducks also tend to be more crispy, less greasy compared to closed (oven) roasted ducks.

Closed or open roast, the Peking duck is done when its skin is glistening with grease and reddish golden brown outside. The roasted duck is sometimes given an additional glaze before serving.

Image credit: Wikipedia
Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, the most famous Peking duck place in the world was founded in 1864. It was founded during the reign of the Qing emperor Tongzhi. Till today, Quanjude still use the Qing dynasty style open roast technique.


Peking Duck Carving Art
Image credit: Wikipedia
Traditionally, the roasted duck is skilfully sliced into exactly 108 pieces, each with skin, fat and meat. Slicing is done at the table and the performance is one of the defining highlights of eating Peking duck.

The duck is sliced while it is still piping hot, so the skin is crisp and aroma rises to the air with each cut.

But, why 108 slices?

Image credit: Wikipedia
According to legend, during the Song dynasty (960 - 1279), a troop of 108 hungry warriors stopped over at a restaurant. The restaurant was about to close for the day and had only one duck left.

So the kitchen roasted the single duck and the waiter sliced it into 108 pieces of skin, fat and meat which each of the 108 warriors ate with a bun.

Though each slice comes from a different part of the duck, they are all around the same size and thickness, all have crispy skin, juicy fat, moist tender meat. That takes a lot of skill and intimate knowledge of the duck.


Peking Duck Custom & Etiquette

Image credit: Wikipedia
Today, the Peking duck is still sliced into 108 pieces and is usually eaten with a tissue thin wheat flour crepe wrapping the slice of duck, julienned spring onion and a dribble of sweet savoury fermented bean paste sauce. 

Between servings of Peking duck, a stick of crunchy refreshing raw cucumber is eaten as a palate cleanser for the next piece of duck.

Image credit: Wikipedia
Of course, there are many variations and each restaurant have their own signature style. Some restaurants serve their Peking duck with thicker crepe, pancake, flat bread, steamed buns, and others with baked buns.

Image credit: Wikipedia
There are also different styles of slicing. The most common cut is apricot leaf slice 杏叶片 which is broad and thin. The slender willow leaf slice 柳叶片 was suggested by Premier Zhou En Lai (man in the middle) after he observed that some foreign dignitaries struggled with the bigger slices.



Peking duck diplomacy has been a Chinese way to win friends (since the Ming dynasty). US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was hosted to a Peking duck lunch during his first secret visit to China in 1971. He fell in love with the dish, paving the way for the visit by President Nixon in 1972. President Nixon had Peking duck, as did every American president who visited Beijing.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was hosted to a Peking duck dinner during his visit to China in 1980.

Image credit: Wikipedia
Skin and meat can be served in separate slices.

Image credit: Wikipedia
Eating the duck with just sugar is popularised by 梅兰芳 Mei Lanfang (1894 - 1961), a renown Peking opera artiste. Mei Lanfang was very careful about protecting his vocal cords, so he avoided sauces and spicy food.

Singapore Prime Minister hosted to Peking duck dinner in Beijing in 1980. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore 
The duck head is given to the most senior person at the table. The duck brain is considered its choicest part. The two small pieces of meat attached to the duck's lower back near the hip - tender and moist, are given to the youngest lady at the table as a sign of respect. The duck tail (gland removed) is given to the youngest man at the table to wish him career success.

The remaining duck meat and bones (known as duck frame) are used to make a soup with seasonal vegetables. Alternatively, it is stir fried with sauce and vegetables or made into duck porridge.


Open roast or closed roast?

Nothing is stopping anyone to indulge in both traditions. It's a perfect excuse to eat more Peking duck 😋 Don't limit yourself to Quanjude or Bianyifang - ask locals for suggestions and try out the local people's favourites too.

Warmly welcome your insights and suggestions of good places to enjoy Peking duck. Please share in the comments.



Restaurant name: Quanjude Roast Duck 全聚德王府井店
Address: 9 Shuaifuyuan Hutong, Wangfujing, Dongcheng, Beijing, China, 100005
Tel: +861065253310






Restaurant name: Bianyifang Roast Duck 便宜坊烤鸭店
Address: 65 - 77, Xianyukou Street, Dongcheng, Beijing, China, 100051
Tel: +861067132536





Reference:

Peking Duck as a Museum Spectacle

Date: 15 Jun 2020
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History of Nanyang Tea Culture in Singapore

June 17, 2020, 7:43 pm
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History_Nanyang_Tea_Singapore
Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants
You know, it is one of those things about Singapore life. I eat bak kut teh, eat dim sum, drink tea - Tie Guanyin, or whatever lah... that my buddies picked. Didn't think too much about it. Until, I went to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and hey... how come I don't get the same taste in my Tie Guanyin, or whatever lah tea... ?

That's the moment that I realised that Singapore tea is unique.

What we drink in Singapore is Nanyang Tie Guanyin, and Nanyang whatever lah, that we cannot get anywhere else.



Nanyang_Coffee_Kopi
History of Singapore kopitiam
It is like the parallel of Nanyang kopi. You know, to be anywhere in the world, hunting for that caffeine fix, Starbucks everywhere but cannot get the kick of a good old Nanyang kopi anywhere.

Nanyang tea withdrawal syndrome is the same.

But, what is Nanyang tea?

Like Singapore is an accidental nation, Singapore Nanyang tea are accidental teas.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Nanyang 南洋 which means south seas in Chinese, is a China-centric term referring to China's southern shoreline and all the maritime regions to its south including The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

How the term Nanyang tea came about, no one is sure now.

Chinese tea came to Nanyang with the coolies.

Pepper planation. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
In the mid-1800s, the gambier and pepper plantations of British Malaya were magnets for Chinese coolies from Guangzhou and Fujian provinces eager to escape the chaos and misery of China's collapsing Qing dynasty.

German mail ship arriving in Singapore in 1906. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The inflow of Chinese coolies surged in the 1870s to 1920s as British Malayan tin mines and rubber plantations grew exponentially to meet insatiable world demand. At the same time, the Port of Singapore boomed with the advent of steam ships and opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

Wuyi Mountain tea plantation 武夷山茶园. Image credit: Wikipedia
The coolies brought their way of life with them to Nanyang, which included drinking tea as a thirst quencher.

Buddha Palm tea. Image credit: Wikipedia
Most of the teas were southern Fujian Oolong tea from Anxi, Yong Chun, Nan An, Tong An, etc. The Oolong tea species (cultivars) include Tie Guanyin, Golden Cassia, Min Nan Shuixian, Yong Chun Buddha Palm and Se Zhong.

Shuixian tea from Wuyi Mountain. Image credit: Wikipedia
Northern Fujian Oolong teas from Wuyi Mountain, Jian Ou, Jian Yang, Shui Ji, etc., were also imported into Singapore. The main species include Shuixian, Cassia, Qi Zhong, Royal and Red Robe.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
But, transportation wasn't good then. The main means of international travel from China was wind powered Chinese junks. These took a long time to arrive in Singapore - the journey from tea plantation to Singapore sometimes took up to a year. The tea that got here often turned up damp. So, it was necessary to re-dry the tea leaves (by frying, roasting or baking).

Supply was also unreliable. No come, no come, one come two three four come. [Quoting an old timer Singaporean joke about Singapore bus services in the 1970s.] So, tea merchants were forced to mix and blend their rescued re-dried tea, new tea and old tea.

Fortunately, we had resourceful tea merchants who were skilful in making the best of a bad situation. They salvaged damp tea, old tea, new tea and blended them into teas with distinctive fragrance and taste which people enjoy.

Southern Fujian Oolong is characterised by its fragrance while northern Fujian Oolong is known for its rich taste. By blending them together, Nanyang tea has the best of both worlds in fragrance and taste.

And, that was the accidental birth of unique Nanyang tea.  

We often heard it said that when you visit Singapore, you must try Nanyang kopi. Now, when you come to Singapore, Nanyang tea should be on your itinerary as well.


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And, there are few better ways to taste Nanyang tea than with bak kut teh as drinking tea and eating pork bone soup always go hand in hand in Singapore.


History_Nanyang_Tea_Singapore
History of bak kut teh in Singapore
Pro-Tip: When you are at the bak kut teh shop, don't say "whatever lah... ", ask for Unknown Fragrance tea 不知香. They will be very impressed as Unknown Fragrance tea is a very Singapore thing.

Renowned Unknown Fragrance was developed in the 1950s by Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants founder, Pek Kim Ou. The quintessential Nanyang tea, Unknown Fragrance is a blend of north and south Fujian Oolang leaves. In the cup, the blend is dark red in colour, luscious on the lips and tip of the tongue. It leaves a lovely aftertaste on the palate and throat. As Pek just couldn’t find the words to describe the tea's unique fragrance, he simply named it Unknown Fragrance.



Unknown Fragrance is a fine example of Nanyang tea and pairs perfectly with Singapore bak kut teh.

Give it a try 😋

Want to learn more about Nanyang tea? Watch the Nanyang Tea Challenge 2020 digital edition on 21 Jun 2020 at 11am (Sunday). The annual event is organised by the Singapore Heritage Festival and presented by Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants.



Date: 18 Jun 2020
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Singapore Food Culture from The Empire Strikes Back to Independence 1945 - 1965

June 19, 2020, 6:42 pm
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Singapore from the return of the British in 1945 to independence in 1965 was the most "interesting times" to cite an ancient Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times". But, it was also a time of great creativity in Singapore's food scene with many of today's iconic dishes created during these 20 years.

Let's look at how chili crab, curry fish head, roti John, and more Singapore dishes came about.



The Japanese surrendered to the British on 15 August 1945, ending 3 years and 7 months of Japanese occupation. The people of Singapore came out of Japanese rule stronger and full of hope for the future. They've had enough of tapioca and kang kong.





But, economic recovery was slow and food shortages persisted. After the Japanese occupation, many turned to the hawker trade as jobs were scarce. Many first time hawkers, not knowing what food to sell, simply took the dishes they ate at home to sell in the streets.   



Wong Yi Guan 王义元, the first person to sell Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore took the dish he cooked at home and sold it in the Hainanese enclave of Middle Road, Purvis Street and Seah Street. At first, he plied the streets with two baskets on a bamboo pole slung across his shoulders. He then settled down in a kopitiam stall at Purvis Street in the 1940s (thus opening the first Hainanese chicken rice stall in Singapore).

One of his workers Moh Lee Twee opened Swee Kee at Middle Road in 1949. It was a huge success and was responsible for popularising the dish throughout Singapore. In the 1971, Mandarin Hotel launched its chicken rice set in its Chatterbox coffee house. It elevated Hainanese chicken rice from street food to a 5-Star hotel dish, and put Singapore chicken rice on the world map. 

More on the history of Singapore chicken rice👈 click



Ng Juat Swee took his wife's family heirloom Nyonya laksa and sold it in the streets of Katong. It was not something Peranakans like to do but early post-war Singapore was hard times for everyone. The Peranakans are very proud of their heirloom recipes and non-Peranakans have a chance to taste them, only if they were lucky enough to be invited to their homes.

Ng Juat Swee started by selling his Nyonya laksa at Katong beach from 2 pots which he carried on a bamboo pole across his shoulders. It was called Janggut Laksa because Ng Juat Swee had hair growing out of a mole on his chin. It was also called Katong Laksa because Ng Juat Swee's stall was in Katong. He later opened a stall together with his brother Ng Chwee Seng at a kopitiam at East Coast Road.

Ng Juat Swee's descendants still run Janggut Laksa outlets. The Nyonya laksa recipe is not longer a secret, so laksa stalls run by non-Peranakans are found all over the island and many people make it at home.

More on the history of Katong laksa 👈 click

More on the history of Peranakan cuisine👈 click



In 1948, the Communist Party of Malaya launched an insurrection killing 3 British civilians in Perak, Malaya. The British responded by declaring a state of emergency and engaged the communist insurgents in the Malayan jungles. The Malayan Emergency lasted from 1948 to 1960 when the communist insurgents were driven to jungle hideouts in southern Thailand. It was a hard fought war in the Malayan jungles - 6,710 CPM fighters, 1,864 British and Malayan soldiers, and 2,478 civilians were killed.



In the meantime, while holding off the communist insurgents, the wheels for self government for Singapore were turning. In 1959, Lee Kuan Yew of People's Action Party was elected Prime Minister of self-governing Singapore. A faction of PAP members split to form the Barisan Sosialis. PAP and Barisan Sosialis fought for the hearts and minds of the people in Singapore over the question of merger with Malaysia.


 
The people of Singapore led by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew joined Malaysia (together with Sabah and Sarawak) when it was formed in 1963.



Indonesia did not like the idea of Malaysia and launched an undeclared war known as Konfrontasi which lasted from 1963 to 1966. Indonesian forces struck many targets in Singapore, including bombing a bank in MacDonald House at Orchard Road.

 

Racial riots took place in Geylang in July 1964 and again in September 1964 in Geylang Serai.

 


Against such an "interesting" backdrop, Singaporeans were a resilient bunch. None of the challenges of the time prevented us from enjoying our food. Our island was gifted with every culinary tradition - Malay, Indonesia, Chinese, Indian, Western etc which we adopted and adapted graciously into unique Singapore dishes that we enjoyed with gusto.



Mdm Cher Yam Tian's policeman husband used to go catch mud crabs on his off duty days near their home in Bedok (in the 1950s). Mdm Cher would cook the crabs the usual Teochew way, either steam or stir fry with julienned ginger. Feeling bored, Mdm Cher's husband asked if she could try another flavour, spicy perhaps?

So, Mdm Cher tried to cook crabs with chili, spices and sauces. After a few attempts, her picky eater husband gave his thumbs up. Mdm Cher shared her chili crabs with neighbours and they all loved it. Some even suggested that she set up a stall to sell her chili crab.

So, Mdm Cher set up 2 tables and some stools at Bedok beach near her home in the evenings to sell her chili crabs. It was an instant hit. Her business grew quickly and soon she set up a permanent stall known as Palm Beach to sell chili crabs full time. Mdm Cher's chili crab was widely emulated and today, there must be thousands of restaurants selling chili crab in Singapore and around the world.

More on the history of chili crab👈 click



Ng Seng who came to Singapore from Fujian in the 1940s was working in an iron workshop, and in the evenings, he would fry noodles for dinner. Ng Seng used discards or cheap ingredients like odd pieces of pork and skin, leftover squid and prawn from the market at Bugis Street to fry his noodles. Ng Seng's noodles were well infused with flavours from lard, and pork and prawn stock which his lucky friends all enjoyed with him.

Ng Seng quit his iron shop job and started his fried noodle stall at Rochor Road in the 1950s. He didn't have a name for his dish, so it became known as "Rochor mee". The reputation of the noodles went far and wide, and soon stalls selling copycat versions of Ng Seng's noodles popped up around Singapore. Since these stalls were not at Rochor road, they started to call it "sotong mee" (squid noodle) but eventually settled on "fried Hokkien mee".

Singapore style "fried Hokkien mee" is one unique Singapore dish that cannot be found anywhere else, certainly not in China and not even just across the Causeway in Johor Bahru.

More on the history of Singapore Hokkien mee 👈 click



There are a few versions of how Roti John came about but they all centre around a British serviceman named John. Actually, John is the generic name locals used for every Caucasian male. Roti John stalls were found wherever British soldiers were based i.e. British military bases in Changi, Sembawang, Tanglin etc.

As the story went, an enterprising sandwich seller named Abdul would call out to any passing British soldier "Roti! John!" which in Queen's English means "Would like to have a sandwich, John?".

It's a very basic sandwich of a small French loaf, halved and filled with a fried egg. It was popular with British soldiers who ate it just before descending on their favourite drinking spots like Bugis Street. Roti John helped kept John sober while partying.

Today's Roti John is much more elaborate with all kinds of meat fillings and sauces. John wouldn't recognise it if he was offered a Roti John today.

More on the history of Roti John 👈 click



M.J. Gomez came to Singapore in the 1920s from Kerala in India and opened a shed at Sophia Street selling Kerala style curry rice. Around the 1950s, discarded Ikan Merah fish heads became available at the market. At that time, Ikan Merah wasn't a popular fish with locals as it was too big for traditional Malay, Indian or Chinese dishes. In particular, the Ikan Merah has an oversized head. But, it was popular with Caucasian families as Ikan Merah meat is like cod or haddock (or the closest thing you can get here). As Westerners fillet their fish and throw away the head, cheap or free of charge Ikan Merah fish heads were found in the markets.

It is not clear how M.J. Gomez hit upon the idea of cooking Ikan Merah fish head with Kerala style curry. Perhaps it was one of his many Chinese customers as the Chinese have a tradition of eating fish heads such as steamed Song fish head. In any case, M.J. Gomez's Kerala curry fish head was an instant hit and was quickly emulated by Chinese as well as Indian restaurants. Now curry fish head is found everywhere in Singapore and Malaysia. The dish is now even found in India as M.J. Gomez returned to his hometown on retirement in the 1960s and brought the dish home with him.

More on the history of curry fish head👈 click



The exact origins of Indian rojak is unclear but one thing for sure, it is not from India. According to most accounts, it was created out of necessity, I mean commercial survival.

Our early Indian migrant hawkers first sold Indian street snacks like vadai but business wasn't good as the market for it was quite niche. Then, an enterprising Indian hawker observed that Malay and Chinese hawkers selling a mix of cut fruits and fried fritters tossed in savoury spicy sauce were doing much better business.

So, the creative Indian hawker came up with the idea of adding Malay and Chinese fried fritters to his Indian vadai. He also created a sweet spicy nutty sauce made mainly of sweet potato, chili, peanut, and spices to eat with all the fried fritters. And, thus Indian rojak was created.

The new dish was a great success. It is not known who this inventor of Indian rojak was, or where he sold his rojak, but the most famous place for it was the street hawker stalls at Waterloo Street just outside the former St. Joseph Institution. Today, most Singapore hawker centres have an Indian rojak stall.

More on the history of Indian rojak 👈 click



On 9 August 1965, Singapore became an independent country wholly responsible for its own affairs from economy to social affairs and the arts, from internal security to external defence and foreign affairs.

The story of Singapore food continues in the brave new world.

In the last episode - Singapore food from the Golden Age of the British Empire to Syonan-to of Japan.

In the next episode - Singapore food from Third World to First.




Date: 19 Jun 2020
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History of Food @ Boat Quay Singapore. Born from the Belly of the Carp

June 22, 2020, 3:28 am
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Image credit: Wikipedia
Boat Quay today is chock-a-bloc with fine restaurants offering cuisines from around the world. It has always been a dining hotspot in Singapore. Here's a bit about its history to add to your food, giving it another layer of flavour which might make it even more delicious for you 😄


Raffles' landing site at Singapore River. Image credit: Wikipedia
Raffles of the British East India Company first stepped foot on Singapore at the north bank of the Singapore River on 28 Jan 1819. From where Raffles stood, you can see Boat Quay directly across the river on the south bank. (This statue of Raffles has his back to Singapore River, and his eyes looking in the direction of Fort Canning Hill.)

Jackson Plan 1822. Image credit: Wikipedia
Boat Quay was the eastern edge of the "Chinese Campong" or Chinese enclave in Raffles' town plan (also known as Jackson Plan) published in 1822. Chinese Campong stretches westwards to Kreta Ayer (today's Chinatown). Across the river from Boat Quay was the European Town where grand colonial administration buildings would be built.

An Orang Laut village in Indonesia in the 1990s. What Raffles saw might look something like this. Image credit: Wikipedia
There was a small fishing village with dwellings on stilts at the Singapore River banks and sightly further upriver was an Orang Laut (sea gypsy) village. The two banks at the Singapore River mouth were swampy, unsuitable for berthing boats.

Raffles ordered the swamps filled with earth from a small hill at today's Raffles Square to make embankments on both north and south banks.

Commercial Square 1900s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Commercial Square (today's Raffles Square) was built on the flattened hill, and Boat Quay built on the reclaimed land over the swamp. Launched in 1822, this would be Singapore's first land reclamation project.

Screengrab from Google Map
Boat Quay was known as the "belly of the carp" because Singapore River's southern bank looked like the bulbous belly of a well fed carp.

Boat Quay 1860. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Chinese traders eagerly set up shops here as they believed this was auspicious with the "belly of the carp" promising wealth, luck and prosperity. Very good Fengshui according to Chinese geomancy principles.


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The carp is still an auspicious symbol to Chinese today.

South Boat Quay 1840s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
By the 1860s, Boat Quay handled 3⁄4 of Singapore's trade. Large ships in the harbour would transfer their goods to bumboats (tongkangs) or lighters, which would bring them to Boat Quay. 

Boat Quay 1910. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Coolies (labourers) would carry the goods like tea, coffee, spices, rice, gambier etc. in heavy bales ashore from the boats berthed at Boat Quay to the traders' store houses and godowns.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The view was majestic and the vibes invigorating but the smell wasn't so great. For 150 years, Singapore River was treated like an open sewer. There was a constant pungent smell stench of rotten eggs hanging in the air. It was the smell of rotting animal carcasses, human waste, and any and all rubbish simple thrown into the river.

Who here is lucky enough to have smelled the old Singapore River? 🙋 I have 😂


 
By 1977, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew decided that enough was enough. He had a vision of Singapore River as a world class entertainment hub.

Mr. Lee challenged the Ministry of Environment, "In 10 years let us have fishing in the Singapore River... ."

And so, the S$170 million Singapore River clean-up was launched. Looking at the Singapore River today, it was a S$170 million very well spent.

Boat Quay just before the end of one of its past lives. Image Credit: National Archives of Singapore
Boat Quay's end as a bumboat hub came rather decisively in the 1980s when the Pasir Panjang container port opened in 1983. The bumboats and coolies hauling sacks of goods on wooden planks became history.

They were displaced by container ships discharging goods by giant cranes assisted by computer technology. By 1983, Boat Quay's berths closed and bumboats were cleared from Singapore River.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

By 1984, people could swim in the Singapore River again.

Cleansed, the next stage in the life of Singapore River was about to begin. 



The last days of the old Boat Quay in 1983 before the demolition machines come. The once log jammed bumboat berths were empty, the shophouses mostly vacant and dilapidated, the old sauntered around with faraway looks in their eyes, the young wide eyed but oblivious to the changes awaiting them.

 

The demolition machines came in in 1983. Fortunately, many of the heritage buildings were gazetted by the Urban Renewal Authority in 1989 for conservation.

Boat Quay 1990s. Image credit: Wikipedia
In the mid-1990s, Boat Quay was born again. The once lorry lined Boat Quay Road returned as a pedestrianised mall. The once squalid riverfront shophouses dressed up as pubs, restaurants, cafes and trendy all-night watering holes. According to Boat Quay's official webpage, their main clientele are "professionals, expatriates, tourists and families".

The bumboats are gone for good, but one thing about Boat Quay never changed. From the beginning till now, Boat Quay is still one of Singapore's dining hotspots.


Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Image Credit: National Archives of Singapore
Street food stalls before they were moved into Boat Quay Food Centre and Empress Place Food Centre. It was part of the government's concerted efforts between the 1960s to 1980s to move all street hawkers into purpose build hawker centres for hygiene, order and licensing purposes.


Boat Quay Food Centre. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Truth be told, I've been here only a couple of times as I don't live or work near here.

Boat Quay Food Centre. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore

You've heard people say how they miss the old hawker centres. Here's two I missed a lot - Boat Quay Food Centre and across the Singapore River, Empress Place Food Centre.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Looking across Singapore River from Boat Quay Food Centre we can see Empress Place Food Centre. Empress Place Food Centre (often mistaken for Empress Road Food Centre off Farrer Road) was at the north bank of Singapore River near to where Raffles first stepped foot on the Lion City. This site is sometimes referred to as Lower North Boat Quay.
Both Boat Quay and Empress Place food centres opened in Sep 1973, resettling some 150 hawkers that operated around Boat Quay and Hallpike Street including its side and back lanes. Cheap and good food, clean and cool environment, river view and just a short walk from the office, it was a boon to financial district workers.

In 1983, the hawkers from both food centres were temporarily moved to Empress Place Transit Food Centre. Many people were sad when both hawker centres were eventually demolished in the 1993.

Boat Quay 1990s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
For a while in the early 1990s, the riverfront Boat Quay Road hosted a pasar malam (night market) before it gave up it last breath to the demolition squad.



Empress_Place_Beef_Noodles
Empress Place Beef Noodles
Of the food stalls here, I know only Empress Place Teochew Beef Kway Teow. I have eaten at other stalls here before but it was too long ago and I cannot recall them now. Even for Empress Place beef noodles, I tried them only long after they have left Empress Place.

Empress Place Teochew Beef Noodles was opened by the granddaughter of Tan Chee Kok, the man who brought Teochew beef noodles to Singapore in the 1920s, and the founder of Hock Lam Beef Noodles.

Empress Place Teochew Beef Noodles is no more - it was last operating at Maxwell Road Food Centre by Tan Chee Kok's great granddaughter Melissa but closed in Apr 2020 (no thanks to COVID-19 pandemic social distancing measures) .

But, Hock Lam Beef Noodles lives on at Old Airport Road Food Centre by Lee Chee Kok's grandson Francis and by his great grandson Edwin at North Canal Road. Yes, that's just the second street behind Boat Quay.

More on the history of Hock Lam Beef Noodles👈 click

My_Little_Spanish_Place
My Little Spanish Place
Menya_Sakura
Menya Sakura
My_Little_Spanish_Place
My Little Spanish Place

When Boat Quay re-opened to the world in 1995, most of the cuisine were not the Nanyang flavours and aromas of its past heydays.

That signature smell of Singapore River was also gone.

 


The reincarnated swanky Boat Quay is now where people look for enjoyment, put on happiness but I wonder who can say they belong here.




Boat Quay became a tourist trap with the usual tourist trap issues. In a way, things have not changed at Boat Quay. It was the chance to be rich that brought traders jostling for a piece of the Belly of the Carp. I will be surprised if doing business at Boat Quay wasn't even more cut throat back in its bumboat, tongkang days.


Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
But, this is far from the end of the Boat Quay story. Like Kucinta, the Singapore River cat with nine lives, who knows what the next life edition of Boat Quay will be like?

Stay tuned.


May I warmly invite you to share your memories and insights on Boat Quay in the comments, please. Thank you.





Date: 22 Jun 2020
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History of Singapore Hawker Centre Culture. From Public Health Nuisance to UNESCO Nomination

June 23, 2020, 8:00 pm
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Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Holland Drive Food Centre
It would be beyond the wildest dreams of the British Straits Settlements colonial officers who created the final solution to the public nuisance of street hawkers, that it would a century later be nominated for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity inscription.


Hawker in Singapore 1890. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Street hawkers appeared as soon as the teeming masses arrived from China, India, and Indonesia from the mid-1800s to 1930s to feed British Malaya's insatiable appetite for labour to work its booming tin mines, rubber plantations and ports.






Colonial officers had a rather dim view of hawkers and hawker food, though they acknowledged that customers relished it 😄



(For the record, "dogs, lizards and rats" were off the menu in Singapore long, long ago.)

Singapore_Hawker_Culture

During this era up to the Second World War, most of the street hawkers were already hawking food in their home countries. So, when they arrived in Singapore, they simply carried on their profession in their adopted home.

The dishes were pretty much "authentic" in the sense that they were very similar to what was sold in the home countries unless unavailability of ingredients dictated some tweaking of the recipe.

Examples of street hawker dishes from this era 1800s - 1945 are satay, char kway teow, bak chor mee etc.

There were a few exceptions like bak kut teh (meat bone tea) which was an herbal tonic concocted in the late 1800s as a cure-all for the coolie's (indentured labourers) ailments.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
By the turn of the twentieth century, the colonial government decided that it was time to clean up the act.

Office of the Chinese Protectorate building at Havelock Road in 1911. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
In 1903, law was passed requiring street hawkers to register with the Office of the Chinese Protectorate.



The Office of the Chinese Protectorate was established in 1877 to deal with matters of the Chinese community like secret societies, abuse welfare of coolies, prostitution, control of venereal diseases, and other such issues like street hawkers.

The fact that street hawkers came under the purview of the Office of the Chinese Protectorate tells us where the issue of hawkers stood in the minds of colonial officers.

Image credit: National Archives of Singapore& Wikipedia
In order to give the matter of street hawkers greater focus, in 1906 purview over hawkers was transferred from the Governor's Office far away in London to the 5-member Municipal Commission Committee in Singapore. 

Anderson Road and several public places in Singapore were named after Sir John Anderson and there is a Teck Lin Road in Chinatown today.

Sir William John Ritche Simpson. Image credit: Wellcome Collection
British India Calcutta's chief health officer Sir William John Ritche Simpson led the Singapore Sanitation Commission. Presenting his findings to the Municipal Commission in 1907, Sir Simpson urged urban reforms to improve public hygiene and health, among other things like morals etc.

Simpson proposed creation of back alleys for street hawkers to reduce congestion of shop fronts and streets.

Leading from that, a set of by-laws governing street hawkers was promulgated in 1907.

At a routine Singapore Municipal Commission meeting on 11 Sep 1908, following up on the Simpson commission proposal to create and move street hawkers to back alleys, deputy president John Polglase suggested constructing "shelters for hawkers" at these back alleys.

John Polglase's "shelter for hawkers" proposal could be the birth of the idea of the hawker centre as we know it today.

Singapore New Bridge Road 1906. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
John Polglase proposed that the idea of "shelter for hawkers" could be trialed in the area bounded by Macau Street, Hokien Street, China Street and New Bridge Road. However, the idea was not followed up due to cost.

Municipal Health Office Middleton. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
In his 1913 memorandum, Singapore Municipal Health Officer Middleton was rather scathing in his remarks about street hawkers, calling them out for:

👎Fouling up streets and five foot ways
👎Selling contaminated food which endangered public safety.

Then, the First World War came (1914 - 1918) and hygiene issues got put on the back burner.

Satay hawker in Singapore 1907. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
After World War I, it was time for the British Empire to refocus their energies on their territories.

In 1919, Municipal Health Officer Middleton taking up John Polglase's idea of "shelter for hawkers" suggested that these could be built with priority given to house "two basket hawkers".

Kreta Ayer in the 1910s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
And so, hawker shelters, the granddaddy of today's hawker centres were build at Kreta Ayer (1921), People's Park (1923), Carnie Street (1929), Queen Street (1929), Balestier Road (1929), and Lim Tua Tow Road (1935).

These hawker shelters were simple pitches for shelter from the elements and were supplied with piped water. It's a huge leap from plying the streets bare feet with two baskets on a bamboo pole slung across the shoulder. Street food hawkers paid a nominal rental to be allotted a space to trade inside.

People's Park Market in 1965. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The hawker shelter at People's Park was thriving until it was destroyed by a fire in 1966.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Balestier Food Centre
All the "hawker shelters" built during the 1920s - 1930s had been redeveloped. The Balestier hawker shelter is still a food centre today (2020) but it is now privately owned and run.

The fact that the "hawker shelters" scheme expanded to well beyond Kreta Ayer and extended to 1935, showed that it was meeting the authorities' objectives.

Image credit: National Library Board Singapore
But, there were way too few.

The Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Hawker Question in Singapore in 1931 found that there were more than 10,000 hawkers (6,043 licensed and some 4000 unlicensed) plying the streets. The six shelters housed a mere handful of 383 hawkers.

Japanese troops marching at Raffles Square in 1942. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The Second World War came to Singapore and we were occupied by the Japanese from 1942 to 1945.

After the British returned in 1945, not much attention was paid to street hawkers until University of Malaya professor Thomas H. Silcock's Report of the Hawkers' Inquiry Commission in 1950.

Silcock's findings echoed the 1931 "Hawker Question" Committee's report about the issues of congestion, disruption, hygiene and threats to public health caused by street hawkers. But, by 1950, the situation was much more dire as the slow economic recovery of post-War Singapore forced many jobless people to resort to the hawker trade for survival.

Seng Poh Road Market (Tiong Bahru0 under construction in 1950. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Silcock's recommendation was more "hawker shelters" which led to the building of shelters at Tiong Bahru, Whampoa, Red Hill, Cambridge Road and the Esplanade amongst others.

Still there was not enough shelters to house the hawkers - the number of hawkers grossly outnumbered shelter spaces available.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Sin Kee Chicken Rice
In the immediate post-War era, many hawkers were first time hawkers forced into the trade due to joblessness. Not knowing what to sell, some simply took what they cooked at home and sold them in the streets.

That was how Wong Yi Guan started selling Hainanese chicken rice in the streets of the Hainanese enclave around Middle Road, Purvis Street and Seah Street. That was also when Ng Juat Swee started to sell his family heirloom Nyonya laksa in the streets of Katong. Peranakans are very proud and protective of their cuisine and would never think of hawking them in the streets, But, the immediate post-War years were desperate economic times.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Chili crab
Moving into the 1950s and 1960s, this was a time of great innovation in the Singapore food scene. Many iconic Singapore dishes were created during this era, as hawkers mixed and blended their own culinary heritage with traditions adopted and adapted from those they were exposed to in the Singapore melting pot.

Examples of Singapore dishes from this melting pot are chili crab, fried Hokkien mee, Indian rojak, roti John, curry fish head, tu tu kueh etc.

Minister of Environment Lim Kim San visiting a hawker centre in 1975. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
A concerted effort to move street hawkers into hawker centre was finally launched in 1972 by the newly formed Ministry of Environment led by Lim Kim San.

Lim Kim San set up a hawker department with three sections overseeing licensing, planning and development (i.e. building hawker centres), and enforcement.

Glutton's Square in 1977. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The hawkers from the famous Glutton's Square at Orchard Road were moved to Newton Road Food Centre and Cuppage Road Food Centre in 1978.

Newton Road Food Centre. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Newton Road Food Centre soon became one of the most popular food centres in Singapore (but later became a tourist trap).

Smith Street & Trengganu Street junction in 1983. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Smith Street was a food haven well known for their Cantonese dishes like chicken rice, chicken porridge, wanton mee, chee cheong fun, peanut & almond soup etc.

Chinatown Complex in 1984. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Most of the Smith Street hawkers were moved into Chinatown Complex Food Centre which houses almost 200 hawker stalls, making it the largest in Singapore.

Today, Chinatown Complex is still one of the most popular hawkers in Singapore.

Public health inspectors in 1963. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
But, it was not a straightforward case of "If you build it, they will come".

Not all street hawkers want to be licensed and move into hawker shelters as there were fees involved (even though it was nominal). Health inspector raids can get messy and occasionally scuffles broke out.

Lim Kim San visiting a health inspector slashed by a hawker while on duty in 1975. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Sometimes, health inspectors were injured by angry unlicensed hawkers.

Maxwell Food Centre. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The last hawker centre to be completed under this programme was Maxwell Road Food Centre, opened in 1986.

China Street Hum Jin Pang in 1986. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The last hawkers to be moved into a hawker centre were from Macau Street, Hokien Street, China Street and New Bridge Road.

There is a little irony that these were the same streets that John Polglase first proposed to build "shelter for hawkers" 78 years ago in 1908.

Today, Maxwell Food Centre is one of the most famous hawker centres in Singapore. Many of the hawkers that moved in here in 1986 are still here (in 2020), including the most famous Hainanese chicken rice stall in the world.

Ong Boon Boon at the opening of Amoy Street Food Centre in 1983. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
The work started by Minister for the Environment Lim Kim San in 1971 was completed in 1986 by his successor Ong Pang Boon.

It was a Herculean feat, a fine example of little Singapore's Can Do spirit - how the Little Red Dot solved seemingly impossible challenges with sheer effort and determination. In all, 108 hawker centres were built between 1971 and 1986.


Boat Quay Hawker Centre was built by the URA in 1973. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
It was a concerted and co-ordinated effort of multiple ministries and government agencies. The Urban Renewal Authourity (URA) for hawker centres in the city core, Housing and Development Board (HDB) for hawker centres in the new public housing estates across the island, and Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) for centres at more upmarket public housing projects.

Mission Accomplished, all street hawkers were now housed in hawker centres. No more hawker centres were built after 1986 until 25 years later in 2011.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Taisho Ramen at Maxwell Food Centre
By the 1980s - 1990s, non traditional cuisine start to appear in hawker centre, reflecting a more cosmopolitan Singapore. Examples are Italian pasta / spaghetti, American pizza, burgers, Thai tom yam, Korean cuisine, Japanese ramen etc.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre
In the 1990s to post-2000, Chinese cuisine from beyond the traditional Guangzhou and Fujian regions start to emerge in Singapore reflecting changes in our immigration sources. Examples include the popular ma la xiang guo - a Sichuan dish adapted and localised to Singaporean palates.

The government announced in 2011, a plan to build 10 new hawker centres. In 2015, they announced plans to build an additional 10 more.

Why did the government decide to start building hawker centres again after 25 years?

Hill Street Food Centre demolished in 2000. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
During the 25 years between 1986 and 2011, several hawker centres were attrited to make way for redevelopment without replacement. These include Hill Street Food Centre, Commonwealth Avenue Food Centre, Taman Serasi Food Centre, Boat Quay Food Centre, Empress Place Food Centre, just to name a few.

Pasir Ris Food Centre opened in 2018. Image credit: Wikipedia
At the same time, the population of Singapore almost doubled between 1986 and 2011 (5.2 million people), so there was increased demand for affordable meals which the hawker centres provide. In addition, many new housing estates were built or expanded to house the growing population so more hawker centres had to be built in tandem. Accessibility is one of the guiding principles for building of hawker centres since the days of "shelter for hawkers".

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Marsiling Mall Food Centre was opened in 2018
There was also a need to rehouse hawkers from demolished hawker centres. Marsiling Mall Food Centre was built in 2018 to rehouse hawkers from the demolished Woodlands Town Centre Hawker Centre.



From Public Health Nuisance to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Nomination



Instead of disdain for the humble hawker food, Singaporeans grew to identify themselves with Hainanese chicken rice, char kway teow, bak chor mee, roti John etc. Singaporeans from all walks of life wear their love for hawker dishes like a badge of honour. You know the passion Singaporeans have for their hawker food by how they respond when any other country try to claim it as their's.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Maxwell Food Centre
Singapore hawker centre stall mix has always been a microcosm of Singapore's multicultural heritage. Indian, Malay, Chinese and Western food stalls operate side by side. Anyone and everyone can just walk right in, sit at any table to eat a meal - there are no fences, no boundaries.

Singapore hawker centres have become the community's space, everybody's space and have an essential role in community building. Expanding on the phrase "A family that eats together, stay together", Singaporeans have taken to heart that "a nation that eats together, is stronger together".


Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
Politicians go to hawker centres when they want to meet the people.

I've also seen politicians and their families eat at hawker centre just like every other citizen.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Fishball Story
While most pioneer street hawkers were forced into the trade by circumstances, more and more young Singaporeans are choosing the hawker trade as their career choice. Singaporeans increasingly see the hawker trade as a respectable essential service and viable profession. Many enter the trade to preserve their parents or grandparents' legacy.

Not only did the Singapore hawker food evolved from something to be tolerated to something truly loved by locals, its positive reputation abroad also grew.

Lien Ying Chow in 1991. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore 
Lien Ying Chow, the founder of Overseas Union Bank also founded Mandarin Orchard Hotel in 1971. At the hotel opening, Lien decided to put three Singapore hawker dishes in the menu of Mandarin Orchard's 24-hour Chatterbox coffee house. The dishes were laksa, char kway teow and Hainanese chicken rice.

The three hawkers dishes were very well received by international guests, in particular the Hainanese chicken rice. The success of Chatterbox's Hainanese chicken rice put Singapore chicken on the world map.

Back in 1971, it was a bold and visionary move to put humble street hawker dishes into a 5-Star hotel menu. The dishes were sold at premium prices and the legendary Chatterbox chicken rice is still the most expensive chicken in Singapore today.

But, by this move, Lien Ying Chow started the change in public and the world's perception of Singapore street hawker food.

Rasa Singapura in the 1980s. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore
In 1978, in a farsighted move, Singapore Tourism Promotion Board set up Rasa Singapura Food Centre in Tanglin, the tourist belt to showcase Singapore hawker dishes. Rasa Singapura which means the Flavours of Singapore was made up of hawkers handpicked to represent Singapore's best. Out of 700 hawkers who applied, only 29 were selected to set up stalls in Rasa Singapura.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
SGT Kiang
All the popular Singapore hawker dishes were represented - char kway teow, satay, Indian rojak, there was a Peranakan stall, egg omelette (orh luak) and also SGT Kiang's Hainanese chicken rice stall. SGT Kiang was the local chef who created Chatterbox's famous Hainanese chicken rice set under the direction of Lien Ying Chow and executive chief Gunter Peter Gehrmann.

Rasa Singapura was one of my favourite lunch spots as I worked nearby in the 1980s. The food was delicious, the environment nice and prices were highly affordable.

(Ironically, the hugely successful Rasa Singapura Food Centre was demolished in 1989 to make way for Singapore Tourism Board's new headquarters, and it was never replaced.)


Singapore_Hawker_Culture
Anthony Bourdain at the World Street Food Congress 2017 in Manila
The huge global success of international celebrities like Anthony Bourdain's food and travel shows such as A Cook's Tour (2002–2003) and No Reservations (2005–2012) which shot Tian Tian Hainanese chicken rice to fame might have re-highlighted the potential of Singapore's hawker centres as a tourist attraction. Travelers now seek out street food experiences as part of their itinerary.

Singapore_Hawker_Culture
World Street Food Congress 2017 in Manila
Launching the World Street Food Congress in 2013 (conceived by KF Seetoh, founder of Makansutra) positions Singapore as the world headquarters of street food culture preservation and promotion. It puts Singapore as the repository of world street food ideas past, present and future.



So, with a fortuitous yet cohesive blend of ideas (opinion leaders, policy makers), infrastructure (hawker centres), practitioners (hawkers) and community of supporters (diners), it seemed natural that in Mar 2019, the Singapore government took the step to submit Singapore hawker culture for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity inscription.

Acknowledgement: This post was inspired by professor Lee Chee Kien's seminar "History of Hawker Centres in Singapore" held on 21 Jun 2020. 

Date: 23 Jun 2020  
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