My very cool ironman boss in Singapore is sadly leaving us to go back to the London office after a 6 year blast in Asia. He is the most open-minded ang moh I know when it comes to food - knowing exactly how to order his grilled sotong at Pagi Sore and working deftly through fatt-choy-covered-giant abalones at CNY lunches. On Monday, we were talking about how he would sorely miss the food in Singapore after leaving. So I shared with him how, out of deprivation while living abroad, one could create the whole hawker centre menu out of the amazing pre-mixes sold here.So this entry is for (i) Roger (ii) my erstwhile fellow migrants in HK (carry on the tradition, my countrymen!) and (iii) this accidental chef to remember those happy days by... :)
Now, a "Laksa Party" became a generic term for a food gathering of Singaporeans and their friends from the world over, where the main items on the menu were constituted by local dishes. It didn't need to, but often included laksa. A typical menu would be (i) nasi lemak (ii) laksa, (iii) sayur lodeh (vegetable curry) (iii) rendang (iv) rojak, and if we had the rights tools and executioners, chilli crab!
Laksa
The Prima Taste Laksa premix is still the closest to the real thing that one could get, if a tad more expensive than the other brands. The truly wonderful thing about it is that it has everything you need to make the gravy base, including coconut powder, and even has a pack of sambal chilli and chopped laksa leaves! No problem even if you are living in Central Europe! Instructions are very easy to follow and you can get a great sauce in 15 minutes flat.The challenge is in finding the right kind of noodles. The short transclucent noodles that we get here cannot really be found anywhere else. I have experimented with vietnamese rice sticks, sichuan dandan noodles, even pasta. It may not in the end be such a big issue anyway, as the gravy sauce really does go down well with most things. The key thing to note is that the noodles should not be cooked too soggy. I have found plain yellow egg noodles to be the most popular with the folks. After that, it's about finding everybody's favorite "liao" to put into the noodles. Shrimp and mussels are a main feature (I have thought of putting "hum" or raw clams, but Hepatatis scares did constrain me).
The "liao":
Hard boiled eggs, halved
Tau Pok (fried beancurd, but if you can't find these, regular tofu cubes, lightly stir fried first, will do)
Fish cake, sliced(or fishballs if you can't find)
Enoki Mushrooms (Philly's favorite!)
Anything else really, to soak up the gravy!
Nasi Lemak
This became my favorite thing to cook in Hong Kong because I could prepare the rice and other ingredients ahead of time and transport them to the party venue more easily than laksa or curries (my hobbit sized apartment became too small to host large parties).
Preparing the rice: you need raw rice, coconut milk and pandan flavoring (I've been lucky enough to always find pandan leaves in the Wanchai market, but one should have a bottle of Pandan essence on standby just in case they are extinct in your location. Or you could grow a Pandan plant in a greenhouse). Wash the rice, and pour half part water, half part coconut milk over it in the rice-cooker. Tie a bunch of pandan leaves in a knot and leave it in the cooker while the rice cooks (for about 20 minutes).
Again, there's an infinite variety of things you can eat nasi lemak with. Egg, white bait fried with peanuts, sardines, or dry rendang curry etc. For an authentic touch, cut up some squares of banana leaves to place on the serving plates (remember to wash them first with hot water, there are often spiders!) - you can get these at Thai or Indonesian provision shops in the Central/Wanchai markets.
Rojak
This was a surprising favourite with our non-Singaporean friends. After getting over the initial skepticism of eating cuts fruits and you tiao with shrimp paste and chilli, I think they had a whole lot of fun with the rojak bowl. The rojak paste can be bought in bottled form for $1.50, and I used to buy them here to give as gifts to my Hong Kong friends. Sometimes just a good selection of cubed fruit (Thai water apples, guava, pineapple) lightly dipped in the rojak sauce can make a good side salad dish with nasi lemak or curries. Pound some peanuts until they are fine for sprinkling over the fruits.
And of course, the most important ingredient of all, good food-loving friends at the party!
:)
