Pickling bird's eye chilies

First ever attempt... using a more "Asian" recipe: rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Will have to wait and try before giving the verdict. ;)

Useful tip: Keeping instant coffee fresh

Instant coffee granules usually lose their flavor over time after the bottle is opened. This is a dilemma when you wanna save some money by buying a bigger bottle but yet have to take a longer time to consume all of it.

Learned a neat little trick from Jap drama Detective Galileo. Instead of removing the foil entirely, just punch a hole at the side. Instead of scooping the granules with a spoon, just pour out directly from the bottle.

Two significant advantages: Firstly, opening a small hole exposes much lesser of the coffee to the air and therefore losing less of the flavor. Secondly, when we use a spoon (especially a metallic one) to scoop, there tend to be moisture introduced to the coffee simply because of the slight difference in temperature (metal is cooler). That's why over a longer period of time, the coffee may "clump" together or even get moldy.

I think it's a great idea. Can anyone think of other applications for this idea?

Sour Power

Among the five main tastes or flavours (sour, sweet, bitter, hot/spicy, salty), my favourite is SOUR. The order in which I listed them is also the order in which the Mandarin language uses (酸甜苦辣). Salty is left out presumably because it is the most common flavour. In Singapore, sour is not a main flavour in our cuisine (usually complimentary). I guess it has to do with where our ancestors came from.

A friend of mine used to comment that the tastes of China can be described as "南咸北甜、东酸西辣" or "Salty South, Sweet North, Sour East, Spicy West". This is a generic statement drawn from the dishes such as "sour and spicy soup" (Shanghai - East), "ma la hotpot" (Chongqing - West) and so on. There is some truth in it I supposed. Hence, with most of our ancestors coming from the south, we have a lot more dishes that are salty/savoury. Yet, I believe "sour" has played an important role albeit a rather stealth one in our cuisine.

Sour, which is acidic, has the capability of removing oil. Hence, a lot of dishwashing detergents have lemon or lime. This also aids digestion and hence creates a bigger appetite. Sour also has the ability to excites and wakes up the taste buds and stomach. Naturally, we see sour being deployed in appetizers to stimulate the appetites and get the whole body ready for a good meal coming. Western salads, which are either eaten in the beginning or as a compliment to the main course, also utilizes sour. No matter whether you go for 50% oil - 50% sour or 1-part oil to 2-parts sour formula, the sour taste (lemon, vinaigrette etc) brings out the freshness of the salad. As a compliment to the main course, it will also continuously excite the palate so that the main course is "welcomed" by the stomach all the way to the end.

French cuisine usually deploys sour in the form of a sorbet in between the hors d'oeuvre and entree. This is to cleanse the palate usually from the seafood so that the tongue is ready for the meat entree. Sour is also used widely with seafood to remove the "fishy" taste.

Coming back to Singapore, this explains one of the reasons why I liked the bak chor noodles at Bras Basah Complex. They were generous with the Zhejiang vinegar (they also had a bottle with the other condiments like the chili, garlic and soy sauce for you to add more). The vinegar played an important part in making an otherwise rather heavy (jer-lat) bowl of noodles (due to the lard and pork) into something that you'll enjoy down to the last strand.

It also explains why I liked the Vietnamese Banh Beo compared to our own chwee kueh which can get too salty. This is why the little lime that is given with your fried Hokkien prawn mee, fried beef hor-fun, bbq chicken wings, mee rebus, mee siam etc plays such a vital role (I get rather irritated when the hawkers get stingy and give a miserably half lime).

I believe the lime can be extended to other hawker fare. Eg., chai tau kueh. I love the black chai tau kueh at Bedok interchange hawker centre (松柏) but when I eat a big plate myself, the meal doesn't end on a high note because it gets too heavy. Maybe I should try it with lime next time... :)  I'm very appreciative when Tong Kee Chicken Rice (Blk 3A #01-25, Commonwealth Drive, Tanglin Halt Hawker Centre) gives lime with their roast chicken rice. More should do the same instead of just having it in their chili sauce. Then we can "adjust" to our preferences (say more sour less spicy).

Anyway, the next time you tuck into your favourite hawker fare, look out for the little bit of sour. You may have missed it in the past, but if it is missing, you'll know that your food is not quite as enjoyable.
  

Can we have a Chwee Kueh revolution?

It is interesting to see "same same but different" food in different parts of the world. Quite obviously, recipes are modified to suit local tastes and perhaps more importantly to suit local ingredients available (transportation is not as advanced in the past). One such food item is "chwee kueh".

photo from ieatishootipost.sg

I like the "chwee kueh" in Ghim Moh market and is very appreciative of Dr Leslie's write up in his ieatishootipost blog. In it, he unraveled the mystery as to why it is called "chwee kueh" and also pointed out the difference between the usual sweet and savoury topping and their salty savoury kind (Do read the post, it is very informative!). He also pointed out that our local version is "uniquely Singaporean". The ones in Swatow has fried shallot oil instead of chye poh whereas in Malaysia the size is different.

But one of the lesser known facts highlighted is the fact that in the past, the molds used were made of clay. This reminds me that when I was young, I never knew "chwee kueh" as "chwee kueh". Being Cantonese, I was taught that it is called "buud zai go" (砵仔糕) or "little bowl cake". A "buud" is a shallow bowl and is also associated to the bowl used by monks to ask for alms, and it is made of clay.

In Hong Kong, they also sell "buud zai go". They look like this:

Other than the shape, nothing else is the same (they still use clay molds though...). The size is bigger, and they tastes sweet. Usually eaten as desserts or snacks, the original versions are made with rice mixture and sugar. My ancestral town "pan yu" (番禺) is famous for cane sugar and it is common for the southern Chinese to use cane sugar in it's "brown" state, hence creating a brownish "buud zai go" in addition to the white ones that uses white sugar. As time passes, red beans and other sweet ingredients (even chocolate!) are added to make it even more appealing and less simple.

Over in Vietnam, I was introduced to a Hue dish called Banh Beo for the first time when I visited Tib Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City (This is a MUST go restaurant in HCMC... but more on that another time).

 Don't they look familiar? Also rice cakes... but in saucers. They have toppings of dried shrimp, scallions and fried shallots, rice vinegar and oil. You add fish sauce (nuoc mam - common in the Viet, Thai regions) and Vietnamese fresh chilli before eating it. Absolutely fantastic (I dare say my favourite version among the 3 regions)! Firstly, the dried shrimp is packed with flavour which is brought out nicely with the light fish sauce. Fresh Viet chilli has a nice fragrance to it and packs a powerful punch (really spicy!). But the key that ties all the flavour together is the little bit of vinegar. I've tried the Banh Beo at La Viet restaurant in Singapore and they are a far cry from Tib's (mainly because they didn't use dried shrimp). Oh, almost forgot, Banh Beo means "Water fern cake"... and they typically have a "dimple" in the middle... exactly the same explanation why chwee kueh is called chwee kueh. ;)

So, coming back to Singapore... must chwee kueh be the chwee kueh that we know? Can we have some innovation for product differentiation? Of course! Someone should experiment with different toppings... or like the ones in Hong Kong, put the additional ingredients into the kueh itself. All sorts of variations can be created... simply because the "kueh" is a pure canvas, white, almost tasteless and smooth in texture... just waiting for creative additions to make a masterpiece.

Bak Chor Mee (pork noodles)

Added a new stall to my "like" list of Bak Chor Mee: Parklane Noodle House at Bras Basah Complex food court.

What do I like about it? Very good soup that is a result of cooking with pork bones and pork. Typically, popular stalls will have better soup since the larger quantities call for more meat to be cooked. If you want to start a stall selling Bak Chor Mee, you have to "invest" in your soup. Noodle wise, it's very Teochew style with black vinegar which I like. They also allow you to add more vinegar and/or whole garlic yourself (both I love).

Quite a bit of variety on the menu too. Will definitely return to try. Yumz...

Margaret Drive Hawker Centre

Channel 5's Our Makan Places Lost & Found 4 did a two-parter on my beloved Margaret Drive Hawker Centre!!!

For Part 1, you can watch it here.
Part 2 will be shown on 5 Feb (Tuesday) on Channel 5 at 8:30pm! They will be showing Hai Kee Char Kway Teow uncle!!! :)

For store listings, check out my page. Some info needs updating... so if you know any news, do drop me a note.

Kopi revisited

Managed to patronize Rui Xing kopi stall again (had to take leave off work!). See earlier post.
Their kopi is strong and hence can be super addictive. Still long queue.

Difference between coffee (like espresso, americano etc) and kopi (Nanyang or South-East Asian coffee) is in the roast. Understand that in Vietnam, they roast their coffee beans with corn. For Nanyang coffee, butter is usually added. I once had a service captain who adds a little butter to the regular coffee to make it "smoother" and tastier. Not quite the same IMHO... would have preferred to use Nanyang coffee beans directly. Anyway, this means that different varieties can be created if someone studies into different possible additives that can be used for roasting the beans. In that way, product differentiation can be achieved and price differentiation can be made (ie., possibility of higher profits). I would love to visit a coffee roasting facility one day...

Due to the usage of butter, one tends to feel more thirsty after a cup of kopi, especially if you have it with condensed milk. The liquid is also denser compared to western coffee. I like it when Black Canyon Coffee from Thailand served a small tiny glass of Chinese tea with the coffee. I was told back then that the tea will help to cleanse the palette from the bitter coffee aftertaste. But I think it will also help to neutralize the "oil" in our kopi. So, if I start to sell kopi, I'll serve a small glass of water with lemon juice. That would be great service and will set me apart from other coffee joints. You read it here first!!