Last year, I participated in a project initiated by industrial designer Hans Tan to find out what made hawker tableware in Singapore so colourful. It included an online survey that asked people in Singapore if they associated their favourite hawker dishes with particular colours, and if they prefered an array in each hawker centre or simply white. This culminated in a book, which also covers the events that led up to this vibrant (perhaps even jarring) element of our hawker culture, and discusses its future in the face of various — e.g. manpower — challenges.

When we embarked on this project, all new — and many old — hawker centres had adopted standardised tableware comprising only two or three colours. If there is a time to assess the value that tableware colours bring to Singapore’s hawker culture, it is probably now.

The book, Hawker Colours: Melamine Tableware in Singapore, comes in five colours that mimic the tableware’s. It is available for sale here: https://shop.inplainwords.sg/product/hawker-colour

Blurp: “They refer not to the green of chendol or the red of mee goreng but the riot of colourful melamine plates and bowls in which many hawker dishes in Singapore are served today. Red, green, yellow, purple, pink, and more!  

These colours defy conventional aesthetic sensibilities, and yet they have become entrenched in local hawker centres and coffee shops. Hawker Colours: Melamine Tableware in Singapore retraces their origins and mass adoption, and asks what value they still hold as the trade adapts to the changing needs of the city-state.”

Mdm Eileen Chin has been cooking since she was a child. It used to be a chore that fell upon her, just as it would have on the daughters of other Chinese families, but after she got married, Mdm Chin gladly did it for her husband and three kids. One of her specialties is Hakka Yong Tau Fu – a variety of bean curds, like tofu and tau pok, stuffed with a mixture of minced meat and fish paste. The 60-year-old learnt the dish from her mother, who made it on every Chinese New Year’s eve. On that day, the employees at her father’s medicinal hall would join them for reunion dinner.

During the sixties, it was common for the towkays to show appreciation to their employees by treating them to a dinner. There were hundreds of beancurds to prepare, and Mdm Chin was made to stuff the meat into every one of them. Until today, Yong Tau Fu reminds her of this dreadful chore. But there was one Yong Tau Fu making session that was particularly memorable for Mdm Chin. Leading up to the festive period, her family would receive many cans of abalone as gifts. One year, her housemaid got creative with the expensive ingredient. She stuffed the remaining fillings between two slices of abalones and steamed them. They were, as it turned out, “impossible to chew”. Mdm Chin and her sister threw away the abalone and ate only the minced meat. “We got into serious trouble with our mother,” she said.

Nowadays, Mdm Chin hardly cooks Yong Tau Fu as it takes at least three hours to get it done. Besides, there’s no one at home to eat it. Now that her daughters are married and her son hardly comes home to eat after work, she has switched from cooking three dishes and one soup for dinner to the time-saving grilled chicken with salad. Yong Tau Fu is only made upon special request, not by anyone, but her children.

Yong Tau Foo filling
Chinese dried mushrooms X 8 pieces
Water Chestnut X 8 pieces, diced
Minced pork X 700g
Fish paste X 500g
Fish sauce X 3 tbsp
Pepper X 2 tbsp
Oyster sauce X 4 tbsp
Salt X 2 tsp

Sole fish/ Tik poh X 12 pieces, each about 10cm long and 5cm wide.
Soak the mushrooms in cold water. Dice when they have softened.
Deep fry the tik poh till it turns golden brown. Leave it to cool then break it into powder form.
Mix the tik poh and all the other ingredients together.

Bean curds
Tofu X 10, slice diagonally into half
Tau pok X 15, slice diagonally into half
Tofu skin

Stuff the filling into the Tau pok. Using a spoon, dig a little hole in the tofu and stuff about a spoonful of filling into it.
Lay the tofu skin on the table. Scoop about two spoonfuls of filling and lay it on one end of the tofu skin, leaving about 2cm of distance from the sides. Fold in the tofu skin and roll. Dip some egg white or water on the tip of the tofu skin to seal the roll.
Steam the beancurds in batches. Tofu takes about  7-10 mins Tau pok takes about 15 mins (since it carries more filling)
Deep fry the tofu skin until it turns golden brown

Stock
Soy beans 100g
Cuttlefish head X 10 or whole palm size cuttlefish X 2
Cabbage X 1

Rinse the soy beans with water.
Soak the cuttlefish in cold water until it softens. Wash the cuttlefish.
Wash the cabbage.
Add soy beans and cuttlefish into a pot of water and bring to boil. Allow it to simmer for 2 hours. Add the cabbage into the stock, and also the bean curds when you are ready to eat.

For those who work late and have no ready dinner at home, we recommend you store some Kimchi in the fridge. The versatile fermented vegetable could be cooked with rice, made into soup with pre-packed stock, beef and tofu, or added into Korean instant noodles to spice it up – all in less than half an hour. It is a refreshing and spicy awakener that can be kept for up to three months.

Two weeks ago, I made about eight kilos of Kimchi, entirely from scratch. It was my second time after picking it up at the Korean Tourism Board. The procedure may be tedious but the final product is likely to turn out like what it should be, unlike Nian Gao or Beef Wellington. So here is a very detailed Kimchi recipe together with the simple instruction to cook Kimchi Fried Rice.

Note: Bear with the initial tedious procedure of Kimchi making. The rest will be a cinch.

Ingredient

2 Chinese cabbages, about 1.5 kg to 2 kg each

Method

Peel off the dirty leaves on the outer layer. From the root, slice the cabbage into quarters, but only halfway through, and then use your hands to tear them apart. This will prevent the leaves from breaking into many tiny pieces, which happens when you use a knife to slice through.

*Note: Choose a cabbage that is green on the outside. If it is white, it means that the cabbage is not sweet. It is normal if the leaves inside are yellow. Do not wash the cabbage now. You’ll have a chance to do it later. Do not chop off the root. You’ll need it to hold the leaves together.

Ingredients for Salting

Sea salt or coarse salt
100 ml of water
A large pail

Methods

Pour water into the pail. Add a handful of salt into the water and stir.
Over the pail, sprinkle one handful salt on every piece of cabbage. Lay the salted cabbage in the pail, and repeat the same step on the remaining cabbages. Stack the cabbages and leave it for 4 hours. 4 hours later, check the stem of the cabbage. If it bends without breaking, it’s ready.

*Note: Apply the salt on the stem, not the leaves, or it will be too salty. When stacking the cabbages, make sure that the inner side of the vegetable is facing up so that it does not lose all its water content. Since the salt congregates at the bottom of the pail, bring the cabbages at the bottom to the top every one hour so that they will not be saltier than the rest.

inner side facing up

Washing

Once the cabbages are ready, you need to remove the salt. Fill the pail with tap water and clean every piece of cabbage leaf. Transfer the cabbages into a basket and pour away the water in the pail Repeat the process at least one more time. Once you are done, put the cabbages in the basket and allow the water drain for an hour.

*Note: Do not soak the cabbages in the water for too long to retain the natural sweetness of the vegetables. After the second washing, tear a small piece of cabbage to taste. If it’s still too salty, wash them again until you are happy with the level of saltiness. When you stack the washed cabbages in the basket, make sure that the inner side of the vegetable is facing down, so that they can drip dry thoroughly.

Ingredients for Seasoning

200 ml water
1.5 tbsp glutinous rice flour (you could also use plain flour or rice powder)
15 cloves of garlic
Old ginger, thumb-size
5 red chilli
50 g sugar
70 ml fish sauce
200 g Korean coarse chilli powder
White raddish, palm-size, sliced into strips
8 sprigs of spring onions, sliced into strips
1 onion, sliced into strips

Methods

Mix water with glutinous rice flour over low heat until the mixture has a gluey texture. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool. Blend garlic, ginger and red chilli with a little bit of water. Prepare a big pail. Pour the glue, the spice mixture, sugar, fish sauce and chilli powder into the pail and mix well. Try the sauce with one piece of cabbage leaf and add more fish sauce or chilli powder according to your liking. Throw in the onions, spring onions, and radish and mix well.

Rub the mixture on every piece of cabbage, starting from the largest leaf. Stuff the onions, spring onions and radish near the root between every two leaves. Once you are done, hold the cabbage by its root and lift it up. Grab the leaves with the other hand, but leave the last, largest leaf dangling. Fold the cabbage into half and wrap it with the last piece of leaf. Pack the cabbage into an air-tight container. If you prefer your Kimchi to be a little bit sour, leave it to ferment in room temperature for about 24 hours. If not, pop it into the fridge immediately.

*Note: When you keep the cabbage in a container, make sure that the inner side is facing up so that the cabbage does not release too much water as it ferments. Use a container that the cabbages can fit nicely into. If there is too much air in the container, the Kimchi will be more sour than it should be. Homemade Kimchi like this can last for about 3 months. But it becomes more sour by the day.

A few months ago I was invited to a media event and there Chef Willin Low taught us how to make his rendition of Pesto Pasta. Besides the usual suspects like basil and parmesan cheese, he also added laksa leaves, salted fish and dried shrimp.

What I love most about the recipe is that there’s not specific quantity. Chef Low left it to us to concoct our own preferred flavours…

Ingredients

Garlic, chopped
Laksa leaves
Chinese parsley
Basil
Salted fish
Dried shrimps
Candlenuts
Pine nuts or Sunflower seeds
Bird’s eye chilli
Parmesan cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice
Spaghetti

Methods

Blend everything except the noodles and lemon juice until smooth.

Cook the pasta and set aside the leftover water.

Heat up a pan and add some olive oil. Fry some chopped garlic. Throw in your favourite seafood and then the pesto paste. Add 2 tbsp of the leftover pasta water and use your spatula to loosen up the paste.

Add the cooked spaghetti, mix well with the sauce and then turn off the fire.

Squeeze lemon juice over and  serve hot.

2 tbsp cooking oil
1 bulb garlic, chopped
30 g old ginger, sliced
1 tbsp grounded black pepper
750 g or 4 medium-size pieces of oxtail
3 tbsp oyster sauce
pinch of salt
2 tbsp sugar
280 g carrots, peeled and cubed
280 g large onions, peeled and cubed
400 g potatoes, peeled and cubed
250 g celery, cut into bite size
170 g tomato paste
600 ml water
200 ml red wine

Methods

1. Heat pot, add oil, garlic and ginger and pepper. Stir-fry until fragrant.

2. Add oxtail and stir-fry for another 3 mins.

3. Lower heat to medium, add oyster sauce, salt, and sugar and cook for 5 mins.

4. Add carrots, onions, potatoes, tomato paste, water, and red wine.

5. Allow mixture to boil and then turn down the heat. Leave to simmer for another 2 to 3 hours, depending on how soft you want your oxtail.

8. Serve with baguette or rice.