INDIAN ROJAK

Serves 8

Rojak means mixture in Malay and there are two versions of this dish in Singapore—Indianrojak and Chinese or Malay rojak. The Indian version consists of many different fried fritters—up to 12 different kinds—some boiled ingredients and a few raw vegetables served with a sweet and spicy dip made of sweet potatoes and peanuts. In the 1950s and 1960s, itinerant vendors selling Indian rojak would carry the cooked sauce and ingredients in huge pots hung on the ends of a bamboo pole slung over their shoulders. Many of these vendors moved on to using motorcycles with sidecars in the 1970s, but today, itinerant vendors are a thing of the past. Many of these itinerant vendors came from Thakkalai in Tamil Nadu. The original recipe for the sauce included sweet potatoes as a thickener, but many stalls selling Indian rojak today use biscuit crumbs to thicken the gravy.

Rojak Gravy
Chilli paste 100 g (3½ oz)
Red chillies 4
Garlic 3 cloves
Ginger 50 g (1⅔ oz)
Shallots 150 g (5⅓ oz) peeled
Water 100 ml (3½ fl oz)
Cooking oil 3 Tbsp
Tamarind pulp 200 g (7 oz), mixed with
1.5 litres (48 fl oz / 6 cups) water and
strained
Sweet potatoes 850 g (1 lb 14⅓ oz), peeled,
steamed and mashed until smooth
Salt 2 tsp
Jaggery (palm sugar) 150 g (5⅓ oz),
chopped
Peanuts 150 g (5⅓ oz), roasted and pounded
White sesame seeds 3 Tbsp, roasted

Prawn Fritters
Plain (all-purpose) flour 150 g (5⅓ oz)
Rice flour 80 g (2⅘ oz)
Egg 1
Salt 1 tsp
Water 200 ml (7 fl oz)
Orange-red food colouring (optional)
a few drops
Small prawns (shrimps) with shells
300 g (11 oz)Cooking oil for deep-frying

ROTI PRATA

Serves 6

Roti prata is a crisp pastry traditionally served with lamb or dhal curry, but many stalls selling this dish offer variations today such as roti prata with banana slices, drizzled with chocolate or strawberry sauce, roti prata with ice cream or roti prata with a sprinkling of cheese. As a child, I enjoyed eating roti prata with coarse-grain sugar or sweetened condensed milk. Roti prata is Singapore’s version of Tamil Nadu’s parota which is slightly thicker, although some believe thatroti prata originated from Punjab.

Plain (all-purpose) flour 500 g (1 lb 1½ oz)
Salt 1 tsp
Margarine 2 Tbsp
Sweetened condensed milk 1 Tbsp
Warm water 170 ml (5⅔ fl oz)
Melted ghee 100 ml (3½ fl oz)

1. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Add margarine and stir until mixture looks crumbly.
Slowly add condensed milk and warm water and mix well into a dough.
2. Knead dough without adding extra flour until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and
forms a soft ball. Continue kneading until dough is slightly sticky, about 10 minutes.
3. Cut dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Coat balls lightly with melted ghee
and place in a bowl. Cover and set aside for 3 hours.
4. Oil the work top and hands to avoid dough from sticking.
5. Flatten each ball into a very thin sheet using your palms and finger tips. Stretch the
dough and thin it further by pulling the edges. If the dough sticks to your fingers or work
top, add more oil to prevent sticking.
6. Oil the surface of stretched dough and fold it into a square.
7. Heat a frying pan and place folded dough on it. Cook until browned in spots before
turning over to cook other side. Prata should be crispy.
8. Using the palms of both hands, crush the hot prata to fluff it up. Serve immediately with
curry, sugar or sweetened condensed milk.

NOTE
• Roti prata stalls in Singapore also serve roti prata with egg as a variation to the plain prata.
To make egg roti prata, break an egg on the surface of the stretched dough at step 5, puncture
the egg yolk and spread the egg before folding it into a square. Continue with steps 6 and 7.
• Another method of making roti prata is to thin out the dough, then oil and roll it up like a coil
before flattening it. Repeat to coil and flatten the dough at least twice before frying the prata.

MEE GORENG

Serves 4

Mee goreng basically means fried noodles in Malay. Noodles are of Chinese origin and so I believe mee goreng, which is always associated with the South Indian Muslims, evolved from Chinese noodle recipes. In the mid 1970s, a version of mee goreng called Ponggol mee gorengwas introduced by a Chinese businessman. The dish was said to have been prepared with tomato and chilli sauces, dried prawn (shrimp) paste, spices and almost 12 herbs! It also included seafood like squid and prawns. The Indian version of this dish uses minced mutton, peas, bean curd, potatoes and Chinese flowering cabbage. Some food stalls today use a very red tomato sauce to flavour the dish which tends to colour the noodles red.

Minced mutton 200 g (6 oz)
Chilli powder ½ tsp
Garam masala powder 1 tsp
Salt 1½ tsp
Chilli paste 1½ Tbsp
Tomato sauce 2 Tbsp
Dark soy sauce 1 Tbsp
Cooking oil 3 Tbsp
Onion 1, medium, peeled and cubed
Green chilli 1, sliced
Ginger-garlic paste  1 Tbsp
Meat curry powder 2 tsp
Tomatoes 125 g (4 oz), medium
Chinese flowering cabbage 200 g (7 oz)
cut into 5-cm (2-in) lengths
Bean sprouts 200 g (7 oz)
Frozen peas 100 g (3½ oz), thawed
Fresh yellow noodles 500 g (1 lb 1½ oz),
rinsed and drained
Firm bean curd 2 pieces, fried and cubed
Potato 1, boiled, peeled and cubed
Eggs 2, medium, lightly beaten with
a pinch of salt
Calamansi limes 5–6, cut into halves

1. Place mutton, chilli powder, garam masala powder and ½ tsp salt in a pan. Cook over
medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until meat is cooked and dry. There is no need to
use any liquid to cook the mutton.
2. Combine chilli paste, tomato sauce and dark soy sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat cooking oil and sauté onion and green chilli until onion is soft. Add ginger-garlic
paste and curry powder and sauté over low heat until oil separates. Add tomatoes and
sauté for 1 minute.
4. Add remaining 1 tsp salt, Chinese flowering cabbage, bean sprouts and peas and sauté
until Chinese flowering cabbage leaves are just done.
5. Add noodles, chilli paste mixture, cooked minced mutton, fried cubed bean curd and
potato cubes. Stir-fry over high heat until well combined.
6. Push noodles to the side of the pan and pour beaten egg in the middle of pan. Leave to
cook until egg is just set, then scramble it along with the noodles.
7. Adjust salt to taste as desired. Dish out and serve with calamansi limes.

NOTE
• Omit the mutton and replace with 250 g (9 oz) peeled prawns if seafood is desired.
Add the prawns after sautéing the onion and green chilli.
• Leave out the meat or prawns completely to make this a vegetarian dish

TULANG(BONE STEAK)

Serves 6

This dish is available from some Indian Muslim stalls. It is a dish of mutton or beef bones, usually marrow bones, stewed in a spicy red gravy until the meat and tendons are soft and almost disintegrating. Most stalls provide a good helping of bread to mob up the gravy. I am not certain of the origin of this dish, but it could have been an ingenious idea of an Indian Muslim stallholder who had many bones left over from making mutton soup. Although I am not a big fan of eating marrow bones in public, I do indulge in this occasionally at home. The reason is because you have to suck the bones hard or pound the bones on the plate to get the rich fatty marrow out and a lady with her face or blouse covered with red sauce is not a pretty sight. To get around this, some stalls provide straws for sucking the marrow out. This is my slightly healthier version of the dish.

French loaf as desired
Marrow Bones
Garlic 80 g (3 oz)
Ginger 120 g (4 oz)
Red chillies 80 g (2⅘ oz)
Water 300 ml (10 fl oz / 1¼ cups)
Mutton marrow bones 1.5 kg (3 lb 4½ oz)
Lemon grass 2 stalks, crushed
Salt 1 tsp
Water 3 litres (96 fl oz / 12 cups)
Cinnamon 2 sticks, each about 6-cm (2½-in)
Cardamoms 10
Star anise 1
Ground turmeric 2 tsp

Gravy
Cooking oil 2 Tbsp
Onions 2, peeled and diced
Chilli paste 2½ Tbsp
Tomato purée 3 Tbsp
Dark soy sauce 1 Tbsp
Tomato sauce 5 Tbsp
Sugar 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Tomatoes 2, large, sliced
Cabbage 60 g (2¼ oz), finely shredded
Potato 1, medium, boiled, peeled and diced
Frozen peas 100 g (3½ oz), thawed
Green chillies 2, sliced

1. Prepare marrow bones. Place garlic, ginger, red chillies and water in a blender and
process until smooth. Pour into a deep pot.
2. Add bones and remaining ingredients to pot and cook over medium heat until meat is
tender and almost separates from bones. Takes 1–1½ hours. Top up with more water
as necessary.
3. Remove pot from stove. Discard whole spices and retain about 1 litre (32 fl oz / 4 cups)
stock. Set aside.
4. Prepare gravy. Heat oil and sauté onions until soft and lightly browned.
5. Add chilli paste and sauté over low heat until oil separates and chilli paste no longer
smells raw.
6. Add rest of ingredients, bones and stock. Boil until gravy is thick and coats bones.
7. Dish out and serve hot with bread.

SOP KAMBING(Mutton Soup)

Serves 8

Every region in India has some form of mutton soup. Some believe that mutton soup is an aphrodisiac and at one time only the Moghul kings indulged in it. Mutton soup is served as partof the meal and in India, it is typically poured over rice. Any leftover soup is then slurped directly from the bowl. Soup spoons were unheard of in Indian cuisine before colonisation.

The Indian Muslims, who came to Singapore to do business, brought with them their own versions of mutton soup and soon the soup was served with crusty French loaf. The original version of the soup was made with concentrated stock, but many food stalls today thicken thesoup with rice flour. The soup is also served with a sprinkling of fried shallots and chopped spring onions, clearly a Chinese influence.

Mutton rib bones 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz)
Water 3.5 litres (116 fl oz / 14 cups)
Salt 1½ tsp
Ground turmeric 1 tsp
Meat curry powder 1 Tbsp
Cooking oil 3 Tbsp
Cinnamon 2 sticks, each about 3-cm (1-in)
Cardamoms 10
Cloves 6
Onions 2, peeled and thinly sliced
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Coriander leaves (cilantro)
40 g (1⅓ oz), chopped

French loaf or rice as desired
Paste
Green chillies 4
Ginger 60 g (2¼ oz), peeled
Garlic 60 g (2¼ oz), peeled
Coriander seeds 2 Tbsp
Fennel seeds 1 Tbsp
Cumin seeds 2 tsp
Mint leaves 50 g (1⅔ oz)
Coriander leaves (cilantro) 50 g (1⅔ oz)
Tomatoes 3, medium
Water 250 ml (8 fl oz / 1 cup)

1. Place ingredients for paste into a blender and process until fine.
2. Place paste, mutton bones, water, salt, turmeric and meat curry powder into a pot and
boil until meat starts to fall off the bones. Takes 1–1½ hours.
3. Heat oil in a pan and fry cinnamon, cardamoms and cloves until very aromatic.
Add onions and curry leaves and sauté until onions turn golden brown.
Add to pot of boiling soup.
4. Add coriander leaves and boil for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat.
5. Dish out and serve hot with French loaf or rice.

SINGAPORE INDIAN FOOD

Indian Muslim Hawker-style Dishes

1.SOP KAMBING (Mutton Soup)

2.TULANG (BONE STEAK)

3.MEE GORENG

4.ROTI PRATA

5.INDIAN ROJAK

Mojito Mocktail

SERVES 4 •  

Although I no longer drink alcohol because of its lack of nutrients, I love a fancy cocktail as much as the next girl. Here’s a healthy twist on one of my favorites. For a festive touch, top this tart drink with an emerald-colored slice of lime and a sprig of mint.

2 cups ice cubes

½ cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves

3 limes, peeled

¹/8 teaspoon stevia

1 cup water

1 quart sparkling water

Lime slices, for garnish

Mint sprigs, for garnish

Prepare 4 glasses by placing ½ cup of the ice in each. Set aside.

In a high-powered blender, puree the mint, limes, stevia, and water until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the pulp. Pour ¼ cup of the mojito mixture into each glass. Fill the remainder of each glass with sparkling water and stir. Garnish each glass with a slice of lime and a sprig of mint and serve.