Sugar and Spice and all things nice

Battered and Deep fried chicken wings with sweet chilli dip

Singapore was extremely hot, unbelievably humid and very wet all throughout December and my experience was thwarted by the constant sweating and inevitable fatigue that followed. The heat was exhausting to the point that it inevitably reduced my usually insatiable appetite.  However eating out is a national past time here & so it was difficult to say no to meals out!

The number of options for restaurants was overwhelming but having had my fill of Chinese in Hong Kong, I was happy to go for more Indian/European places where you could try and choose some low carb, low fat and low sugar options! It was hard to choose healthily in most places in Singapore as most menus had fattening food combinations. Somehow I managed to stay away from their beloved Chicken Rice and Laksa Noodle based combos but it did not mean I lost any weight – if anything my muffin tops grew more muffin tops and I felt I was walking around with a ring of middle fat that could keep me afloat in a swimming pool.

In this city, people tend to move from air con mall to mall through an underground labyrinth network taking them from designer shops to food halls throughout the town centre. These food halls are a head ache inducing bombardment of cuisine options from all around the world and it is near impossible to make a choice as there are so many counters. I was however NOT spoilt for choice as invariably none of them were actually very healthy. Lots of things were deep fried and most dishes were loaded with sugar.

Food & culture in Singapore is a melting pot of Indian, Chinese, Indonesian and Malaysian. They like their spicy chilli hot dishes but they balance the heat with sugar – so much so that it mostly left my teeth set on edge! I found that most meals were heavy carb based – huge portions of noodles or rice & the sauce to go with it had loads of palm sugar and coconut based ingredients like coconut milk/cream/oil etc. – saturated fats galore.

Fat Brothers Satay Stand at a Hawkers Market

Satays for example are an Indonesian creation where the meat is marinated with grated palm sugar and chopped chillies. The meat is then stuck onto skewers and grilled before being served with a sweet peanut sauce, again full of palm sugar.  Sambal is the main chilli paste that every household and kitchen in the country makes daily. This is a sweet and hot paste that accompanies many dishes as a condiment or is the basis of many a curry sauce. Again it contains tooth ache inducing amounts of palm sugar along with copious amounts of mind blowing hot chillies! No doubt Dentists will have their work cut out here!

Sugar and Chilli paste - sambal

The hawkers markets provided the cheapest and varied options. Most were based around Chinese influences with lots of Dumplings and Deep Fried foods. Some had everything from Indian to Thai to Pizzas – definitely more interesting than fast food joints but I am not sure they were any better for hygiene or health. I always wonder where they get their cleaning water from and how often the tiny kitchen counters are actually cleaned at these markets.  The best choices in these markets were the BBQ [even if the marinades or sambal sauces are sugar based] as the food would be char-grilled and hopefully all the microbes would be nuked before consumption!

After learning Indonesian and Chinese cookery, I decided that I would rather try my hand at some Malay cuisine while I was so close to Malaysia. I decided to try a cooking class that taught their most favourite dishes. Malaysian food has more Indian influences and is more curry based. Ask any Malaysian what their best ever meal includes and Beef Rendang always comes on top of the list! This king of curries is a rich delicious stew prepared for every special feast or celebration. 

Beef Rendang

Here is the recipe – I recommend that you make this if you have an excellent exhaust system in your kitchen/ can cook outside/ if it is summer and you can open all the windows of the kitchen AND if you have a pressure cooker.... Oh and you will need a morter and pestle OR a food processor/blender for the paste.

Ingredients:

•  8 – 16 dry red chillies soaked in water until soft or 6 – 12 fresh red chillies
• 12 shallots
• 3 garlic cloves peeled
• 1 inch ginger peeled
• 1 inch galangal peeled
• 1 stalk of lemon grass bruised [remove the hard outer layers]
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp of Oil
• 4 tbsp of grated coconut dry roasted till light brown
• 5 Kaffir lime leaves torn up
• 1 tbsp of palm sugar grated
• 1 and ½ cup of coconut milk
• 500g of cheapest cut of Beef diced into bite size portions
• [Other optional items – may be difficult to get: turmeric leaves and pandan leaves – bruised and used as flavouring – not to be eaten]

Slice and then pound together  the chillies, shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass and mix in the turmeric powder or use a blender to make the paste

Toast the grated coconut in a dry wok until golden

Mix the coconut into the spice paste

Add a pinch of salt to the dry wok then add the oil

Fry the paste in the oil for 10 minutes until it becomes darker

Add the beef and cook for 5 minutes

Add the Kaffir Lime leaves, coconut milk, salt and sugar

Cover and simmer for 1 and ½ hours or for 1 hour in the pressure cooker

Adjust the seasoning once the beef is cooked and serve with Basmati rice

This rich dry and thick curry is a joy to eat and a special occasion dish. I also tried Chicken and Lamb Rendang out in Kuala Lumpur and I must say they were also pretty damn special. You can make the curry to your taste and reduce the number of chillies and up the coconut or sugar content to get a milder version.

Mild Chicken Rendang

Lamb Rendang