Going vegetarian does not mean eating boring old salads. Woon Tien Wei, chef and artist-in-residence at café Food#03, shows how veggie meals can hit the sweet spot.
Makes 1 cup
2 cups laksa leaves
2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
½ cup olive oil
½ cup cashew nuts
There’s something familiar and old worldly about Mulligatawny soup – literally ‘pepper water’ in Tamil – an English version of a traditional curry that packs a substantial punch.
Created with a rich and diverse blend of spices, this classic Eurasian dish is the symbolic representation of the hybrid culture from which it derives. Full-flavoured and hearty, Prawn Bostador gives credit to its Portuguese roots while a generous dash of well-loved local spices and chillies add a fiery slap that gives the dish its name.
By QUENTIN PEREIRA
Eurasian food is ‘traditional’ fusion cuisine that goes back to the days of European colonies in India, Malacca and other parts of Asia. In Singapore, many Eurasians can trace their roots back to the sixteenth century when Portugal established a colony in Malacca. Eurasian cuisine is a glorious mix of Asian and European flavours and can range from fiery hot chilli-mustard vinegar-based curries to mild cinnamon-garlic-onion flavoured stews.
Valued for their restorative properties, tonic soups are a distinctive part of Cantonese cuisine. While savoury soups are recognised for their nourishing qualities, sweet soups – or tong shui – are well-loved for not only being a refreshing treat but also good for the body. This is a twist on a conventional dessert that is often served as a cooling pick-me-up with eggs – this time; hard-boiled eggs instead of stirred eggs give it extra substance.
Cooking time: 1 Hour
Serves: 4–6
Terry Tan
BY TERRY TAN
While Western culture often views sweets as a treat, the Chinese have a rather different idea. Foods are assigned properties based on a theory of Yin and Yang – yin being ‘cooling’ foods that decrease the body’s heat and yang being boosting foods that raise it. The ideal is to eat from both groups of food to keep the body in balance. Sweet herbal desserts or tong shui – literally ’sweet water’ – is part of the balancing act of a meal.
