Recipe
I used to add the rice too early. The oil would be hot, the sambal barely a minute in, and I’d tip in the cold rice because I was hungry and impatient. Every time, the same result: rice stained red but tasting of nothing much. Sharp. Raw. Flat where it should have been deep. It…
The first time I made Pad Thai, I ruined it before the wok was even hot. I’d left the noodles soaking while I answered a phone call. Ten minutes turned into forty. By the time I drained them, they were already soft, already surrendered. Everything I did in the pan after that was damage control.…
There are few meals as satisfying as Nasi Padang, a colourful feast where you choose from a variety of dishes to create your perfect plate. Over the years, I’ve explored Singapore’s Nasi Padang scene, especially in Kampong Glam, sampling everything from humble hawker stalls to renowned spots. This list highlights the best halal Nasi Padang…
The duck arrived and made a sound before I’d even touched it. Not the plate, the skin. When my fork pressed against it, there was a small, dry crackle, the kind you feel in your fingers before you hear it. That’s when I understood I wasn’t eating a soft meal. This was something with edges.…
There’s a container of rice at the back of my fridge most weeks. Cold, a little hard, forgotten from a dinner two nights ago. Some people see that and think of waste. I see the start of something better. Because leftover rice doesn’t want to be reheated. It wants to be fried. And when it…
The first vegetarian laksa I made tasted like coconut soup with chilli, not laksa. I thought I was doing it right, stirring paste into warm coconut milk with tofu puffs. It looked the part but lacked depth. Seafood usually provides that depth, prawn shells, dried shrimp, fish cake sweetness. I learned that depth can’t be…
If you think eating dim sum is all about har gow and siu mai, think again. Authentic Cantonese dim sum is a dazzling showcase of Chinese culture, filled with an array of flavors, textures, and traditions that run much deeper than the classics. For both seasoned aficionados and first-time food explorers, venturing beyond the familiar…
The first time I made aloo curry on my own, I burned the cumin. I remember standing in my tiny HDB kitchen, watching those little seeds go from golden to black in what felt like one breath, and thinking: this is harder than it looks. But here’s what that bitter, smoky disaster taught me, the…
The first time I made chana masala, I started with dried chickpeas at 7:30 on a weeknight, soaking and boiling like the recipe said. By the time the curry was actually done, it was nearly ten and I’d already eaten half a loaf of bread out of sheer hunger. That night taught me something I…
The first time we cooked a full Indian dinner on a weeknight, the curry, rice, and raita felt like three separate tasks—three pans, three timers, and a kitchen full of wonderful smells but chaos. The curry was good, the rice sticky, and the raita watery from being made too early. That night taught us a…