Singapore's Islands of Food

Traditional Singaporean food begins at breakfast with a kopi and some kaya toast. Kaya is a local jam consisting of coconut, eggs and sugar. It is spread between two slices of white bread along with an almost alarmingly large chunk of butter. The toast is then dipped into a stirred mixture of soft boiled eggs, dark soya sauce and ground white pepper. There is simply no better way to start your day in Singapore.

When eating in Singapore it's always important to think ahead. With more food than time, you should conserve and not fill up too much, especially at lunch. That's why you should definitely go for some satay. Skewered beef or chicken cooked over a wood or charcoal fire for that extra smoky taste, dipped into satay sauce that's not too spicy to exclude sensitive palates. It makes for a perfect summers day dish. Also good for lunch is Roti Prata.

 Roti prata, simply meaning 'flat bread' was originally just a flour based pancake cooked on a grill and then dipped into curry. It's evolved over time to be a dish all of its own, with fillings such as onion, cheese and mushroom being added. A bowl of curry sauce will still be provided for your dipping pleasure. Those with bigger stomachs at lunchtime might want to have some laksa. Famous all over the world, this is actually a traditional Peranakan dishes, so eating it in Singapore is eating it direct from the source.

Tamarind Prawn/Assam Prawn Recipe

Ingredients:

8 oz shell-on prawns
1 1/2 tablespoons tamarind pulp
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cooking oil

Method:

Mix the tamarind pulp with 4 tablespoons water. Extract the juice from the tamarind by pressing the pulp.

Remove the heads of the prawns. Devein the prawns by slitting the back. Rinse prawns with water and pat dry with paper towers. Add the tamarind juice and pulp, salt, and sugar into the prawns and mix well with your hand. Marinate for 15 minutes. Remove the tamarind pulp before cooking.Heat up a wok and add cooking oil. As soon as it’s heated, drop the prawns into the wok and pan fry until cooked and slightly burnt. Dish out and serve immediately.

Cook’s Note:

Some recipes call for dark soy sauce but I always do without the dark soy sauce as it will make the prawns too dark in color, and hence less appealing in presentation. You can also leave the heads on, for photography purposes, I had them heads off. You can also pan-fried the prawns with the tamarind pulp if you wish.