The Food Canon

Nearly 6 million people living, travelling, studying and working in a small area of 719.1 km².

By now, some of you may know what "ABC" soup is.

I am not sure how that name came about but in my household, it simply meant pork ribs soup with potatoes, white onions and tomatoes. Add some salt or soy sauce and that's about it. The meat combines with the veg to produce natural umami flavours (and so, I read somewhere) and this explains why this soup is so simple and satisfying.

I am not sure whether you need a recipe for this soup. Perhaps I should at some point.

This recipe is a braised version of this soup. It is more of a stew actually. Cook it all in a pot and serve it with rice. I use my favourite pork ribs cut come from the longer ribs section. In markets here, it costs about 15 to 16 dollars per kg.  

Anyway, here is the recipe.

Ingredients

2 kg pork ribs, cut into 1.5 inch in length
1 kg yellow potatoes
3 sticks of medium-sized carrots
2 large white onions

2 tablespoon light soy bean paste ("tau cheong")
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
15 pieces of white peppercorn
2 tsp of corn flour
500 ml water
2-3 stalks of coriander leaves for garnishing
2 Tbsp of oil

Preparation

1. Peel and cut the garlic into slices. 
2. Peel of the skins and quarter the carrots, potatoes and white onions. 
3. Crackle the white peppercorns. 

Cooking

1. Heat up the oil in a pot. Add the garlic slices.
2. After a minute, add the soy bean paste and crackled white peppercorns. 
3. After  minute, add the pork ribs. Stir-fry for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the soy sauce,  sugar and water. Stir and simmer. 
5. After 15 minutes, add the potato and carrot chunks.  
6. After 10 minutes, add the white onions. Simmer for another 10 minutes. 
7. Test the ribs to make sure the meat is tender enough. I the meat if falling off the bones, I will consider it overcooked. 
8. Garnish with coriander leaves and eat with rice. 

Feel free to vary the ingredients. Add white radish, tomatoes, mushrooms if you like. Instead of pork ribs, chicken can be used too. It is a simple and homey dish, suited for the simple and comforting dinner dinners.

Who cares what you wear?

I find wet markets fascinating. Don't you?

I used to follow my Mother regularly as a young boy. There I learn that a good cook needs to know how to market his or her produce. That was of course before the advent of convenient supermarkets. Even with the likes of NTUC and Cold Storage today, our wet markets are irreplaceable for the variety, freshness and competitive price of the produce.

And there is also the wisdom of the sellers to tap on. The experienced ones can tell you which farm or area in Australia the produce comes from.  Often all I need to ask is, "Mr Tan, what is good today?"

I was surprised  - and perhaps I shouldn't be - when a friend in his late thirties told me that people his generation hardly visits the wet markets here. I suppose most avoid them because it is assumed that wet markets are crowded, smelly and dirty. And... "no air con lah."

I find that strange as the wet markets here are mostly very clean.

Those we have here are a far cry from the ones I went to, while accompanying my Mum as a young boy. Her favourite market was at Sungei Way in Petaling Jaya (Malaysia), which used to be a village area on the outskirts of the city. However, the dirtier the market was, the cheaper the produce would be. As my Mum was marketing for her food business, this was important.

I can recall the potholes of smelly fishy water which everyone had to navigate around. And when there was a mis-step, my slippered feet could feel the slimy cold water oozing in.

Squid, ikan kurau and kembong flavoured feet. Squishing as I walked. Boleh pengsan.

Now, that is history. It really is. Faint not. The wet markets today in Singapore are hardly wet or smelly.

I find it a very pleasant experience walking the market aisles early in the morning.

The birds are chirping away merrily. The air is fresh and crisped. The butcher is chopping the meat in rhythmic fashion. The fish monger sharpening his knives in swishing motion along with the sound of rustling newspapers being crumpled for wrapping services. And there is the constant chatter and laughter all around, in all kinds of dialects and languages. Nice and very local.

You can almost sense that everyone is about to break into a song, like the way they did in the opening scene of The Beauty and the Beast: Bonjour! Bonjour!

And you wonder why they are trying to Sheng Shiong away all our local wet markets.

Ok, I am getting carried away. If they do sing, they are more likely to break out in a Hokkien song or Cantonese opera. And oh well, a few do look unfriendly and depressed, like Liverpool or Arsenal fans in recent times. Don't you cross them. Don't show off your Man U shirt. The sharp looking meat cleavers are in their hands, not yours.

Wet markets today: Clean and smoking not allowed

Fresh and cheap

The fact is, most of the time, the produce here is cheaper and fresher than those found in the supermarts. And more importantly, knowledgeable and experienced veg sellers or butchers can tell you what is good for the day, deal with your questions and share all kinds of helpful tips for cooking. I have learned a lot from them. And if you are a regular customer, they will throw in some bunches of spring onions and coriander leaves for free.

When I was learning to cook Nasi Ulam, the makciks at Geylang Serai Market were very friendly and helpful. The many stalls also sell herbs that I am not acquainted with. Just ask. "Makcik, ini masak apa?" (Translation: How do you cook this?) You will never get this kind of service in supermarkets.

So which are my favourite markets? Tekka top the list due to the variety of produce (Chinese, Malay, Thai, Indian) and the reasonable prices. Likewise Geylang Serai. Lots of unusual Malay produce there and all types of palm sugar from Indonesia.

Heartland markets are generally a lot cheaper. Kid you not, you can buy a huge bunch of spring onions for just a dollar. You may think that the few stalks of the same at NTUC, nicely packed and going for $1.20 is cheap. Visit the wet markets and you will know the difference. Chinatown Market is good for some items that is not sold elsewhere, such as parang fish paste and yes, lots of frogs and toman fish. The prawns there are generally cheaper. Good range of crabs too. Markets near suburbs are generally more expensive i.e. Ghim Moh and Bukit Timah. It is okay to spend a bit more for the convenience if you live near them. And these days, in most wet markets, you can get fresh salads and meats for Western style of cooking.

When two professors visited me recently from Canada, one of their top priorities is to visit our wet markets. I would have done the same if I am abroad. There is nothing like observing new produce which represents the land and cuisine culture of the people. Wet markets can be touristy spots.

And did I say that the wet markets are some of the few places left where you can dress like you are at home? Shorts, singlets, stained shirts, rolled up trousers and slippers are all welcome.

So, don't give the wet markets a miss. Let yourself and your family experience this important bit of our local culture. Visit them yourself occasionally and don't send your domestic helpers to do the marketing all the time. You will find it enjoyable, educational and inspiring.

And if you do bump into me, excuse my attire.

Gorgeous

When my wife turned 50 recently, I offered to cook her something. This was her only request: chap chye. It turned out fabulously well.

I will share with you what went into it.

First off, the cabbage I like to use is the white long cabbage from either Malaysia or China. It is sometimes called Napa Cabbage or Wong Bok. It is very cheap here. It has thick crispy stems which can be luscious and sweet when braised. I have tried other types of more expensive cabbage variations but I still prefer this. Just remember that the leafy part will cook faster than the stem. Tthe logical thing to do is to separate these two and cook the stems first. In fact, the key to good chap chye is to braise the cabbage well. It needs to be soft enough and yet not breaking apart.

For the mushrooms, the variety I like the most are Korean Shitake Mushrooms. I buy my dried shiitake mushrooms from the Yong To Fu stall (6-46,/47) at Lucky Plaza. It is thick, has a firm chewy texture and intense flavour. It is like a cross between Chinese and Japanese Shitake Mushrooms. You can sample the cooked mushrooms which they sell at the stall. During peak hours, the queue can be long.

As for the sauce base, for my Mum it was always white fermented bean curd (fu yi). And I agree with her. It just go so well with the white cabbage. I know the white beancurd is meant for dipping and the red variety for cooking. While generally true, the former is simply delicious for this recipe.

As for black fungus, the Tibet Wild Black Fungus is good. It is more expensive than the normal black fungus but it has a nice texture and there are no hard parts that needs to be trimmed and discarded. Remember that a small amount goes a long way when rehydrated. You can buy this fungus at medicinal Halls or online at Qoo10. 

As for bean curd sheets (foo chook) I used the flat variety which is normally used for desserts. The important thing is to deep fry it first. Likewise, the bean vermicelli needs to be fried first. 

You can add lily buds but I didn't for this lot.

Ingredients
serves 10

50g bean vermicelli
2 pieces dried beancurd sheets
15 Korean dried mushrooms
20 small Tibetan black fungus
2 long white Chinese cabbage (Wong Bak/Bok Choy)
6 pieces red fermented bean curds (2cm x 2cm cube), mashed finely
15 pieces of small dried scallops
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 liters of water
Sugar and salt
Coriander Leaves for garnishing

Braising in the wok

Ikan Sumbat using Selar Fish - This recipe was shared at the O.P.E.N. kitchens event. Click here for some videos of the event where you can see the fish stuffing and frying in action.

Ikan Sumbat using Cencaru