Crab bee hoon is a Singapore zi char dish that is usually served in a claypot with mud crabs and thick bee hoon. The soup taste similar to our fish soup as it also has evaporated milk added to the broth. It is an extremely easy to cook dish and you will be surprised how fast and quick to whip up this yummy and delicious Singapore delicacy!
As a kid, I always loved thick curry gravy that is drizzled over my rice. I had a special love for Hainanese curry rice as the goofy thick curry sauce that comes with the deep fried pork cutlet is such an amazing match! The Hainanese pork cutlet crispy crust is traditionally made crushed crackers that is used as breadcrumbs to coat the pork chop. The curry rice is usually served with chap chye and fried egg.
Samsui chicken looks pretty much similar to the steamed chicken that comes in our Hainanese chicken rice that you usually eat except that we usually dip the chicken with a fragrant garlic ginger sauce instead of garlic chilli sauce. The cooking method of the chicken is pretty close to chicken rice’s poached chicken. Samsui chicken is known to be a luxurious dish that is prepared by the samsui women only once a year on Chinese New Year.
You can find steamed pomfret fish in any Teochew porridge places. It is a almost like a soul dish of Teochew cuisine. The fish is dressed in seasoning sauce that is packed with distinct flavours coming from the salted mustard and plums. My favourite pairing will be with a hot pipping bowl of porridge!
When you attend a Chinese wedding banquet dinner, you will always see Chinese roast chicken as part of the banquet course. Chinese roast chicken is a favourite dish in banquets and Chinese new year diners. It is actually very easy to make at home! You can dip it with some five spice barbecue salt or with a garlic chilli sauce!
Nyonya chilli is traditional perankan chilli that is made using fresh chillies and it is often packed with a good combination of spices and citrus flavour. It is prefect for Assam fish and seafood. The sauce can be pre-made and store in fridge for a couple of weeks.
Chinese braised pork belly is one of my grandma’s favourite dish to make. The pork is simmered for a long time so that the fats in the pork will just melts away in your mouth. The trick to making the prefect Chinese braised pork belly (dong po rou) is patience! Although it requires long hours of cooking time, but it is definitely worth the time!
Hot and sour soup is a common appetiser dish found in Chinese/ Dim sum restaurant. It is a thick slurry soup packed with julienned ingredients such as tofu, mushrooms, fungus and meat. If you like an extra spicy kick to this dish, you can add in bird’s eye chilli to gear up the heat level!
Hor Fun is a favourite zi char noodle dish among the Singaporeans. It is basically a stir fried rice noodles drenched with a thick gravy made from soup broth and seafood. You would be surprised at how easy it is to make this famous dish at home!
Chicken Cacciatore is a simple and traditional Italian comfort food to cook as a family dinner dish. Cacciatore means hunter in Italian which means that the dish is prepared in a hunter-style manner where you throw everything (vegetables and meat) in a big pot and you serve it as a one pot dish!
Gimbap is a korean style sushi roll where gim means seaweed and bap means rice. It is very different from the Japanese sushi because Gimbap uses only sesame oil and salt to season its rice while Japanese sushi uses sugar, salt and vingar.
Pasta is Italian staple food. It is just like rice to Asian. Other than its meat balls and ragu pasta, in the south east of Italy you can also find sumptuous seafood dishes made using fresh seafood coming in from the coast.
COOKING FOR THE SOUL
