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There are twelve of us. Usually we are teachers, doctors, parents, lawyers but today we are all enthusiastic amateur cooks on a culinary adventure. We’ve pitched up on Pulau Ubin, the second largest of Singapore’s off-shore islands, to learn how to cook traditional local dishes. As an added bonus, we’ll be doing our cooking not in a modern kitchen but in a traditional kampong or village house. The master-mind behind our adventure is Ruqxana, a former engineer turned cooking teacher with lively brown eyes and an infectious love of food and food folklore. As we savour the typical Malay breakfast of red beans cooked in sweetened coconut milk, she fills us in on Singapore’s kampongs. “In Singapore today, 80% of people live in high-rise apartment blocks but forty years ago, most lived in kampong houses just like this one. The villagers got most of their food right outside their door – everyone grew vegetables and collected herbs from the jungle. They kept chickens and had a fishing boat. If you wanted fruit, you just stepped into the garden and had your pick of mangoes, rambutans, durians and jambu. “But as the islanders have left to work elsewhere all but a handful of the old houses have been pulled down. The Abdullah family has owned this house for over 200 years but they don’t know how long they will be able to keep it. So let’s enjoy it while we can and start cooking.” On the menu are two all-time local favourites: nasi lemak, a delicious combination of rice cooked in coconut milk and spices accompanied by fish, egg, cucumber, peanuts and a take-no-prisoners chilli sambal and ice kachang, a desert of shaved ice sweetened with syrup and a variety of toppings. In addition, Ruqxana has promised us an appetiser made with prawns bought from the island’s prawn farm that she declares will be irresistible. Next to me, a student named Helen declares emphatically, “Not for me, thanks. I don’t eat prawns.” Ruqxana replies with a gentle smile, “Let’s wait and see.” We start with an introduction to the spices that will flavour the rice. Elegant stems of dark green pandan leaf, small rolls of cinnamon bark and dried cloves are passed around for us to smell. Next, a colourful lesson in ginger – and some useful food folklore. We are all familiar with the ginger known locally as Chinese ginger but few of us know its cousin, galangal or blue ginger which has a spicier aroma and tougher texture. Then there’s turmeric, also a member of the ginger family which explains why it’s known as yellow ginger or kunyit in Asia. Most of us have cooked with powdered turmeric but we didn’t know about its other uses. “Indians have used it for centuries as a beauty treatment for the face,“ Ruqxana tells us, ”plus it stops cuts from bleeding and helps ease the pain of bruises and arthritis.” Last are the less familiar ingredients for the chilli sambal – dark brown discs of gula malaka (sugar made from the sap of the sugar palm), tar-like tamarind pulp that makes a refreshing sour juice and fermented fish paste, belachan, that will be toasted over an open flame, Seeing us hesitate about intensifying the belachan’s already powerful aroma, Ruqxana quickly points out that we can’t skip this step. “It’s practical,” she says. “Heat kills the bugs that remain in the belachan after fermentation. “ With the introductions over, it’s time to get down to business. We split into groups and divvy-up the tasks of chopping onions, grinding spices, toasting the belachan and cleaning and gutting the fish. Half an hour later, our nasi lemak is almost ready. But before we tuck in, Ruqxana cooks the prawn appetiser for us. At first glance, this dish doesn’t appear to be anything special, just a combination of unpeeled raw prawns tossed in a wok with butter, garlic, fresh coriander and peppercorns. The secret, we discover, lies in dry roasting and grinding the peppercorns just before cooking. A few minutes later, as our tastebuds register the tang of the pepper against the sweetness of the prawns, everyone agrees that this is one secret they’re glad they know. Now it’s time for our nasi lemak. Using a cup to form a neat dome, we place the rice in the centre of the plate. We arrange the other ingredients around it, creating a palette of white, caramel brown, cool green and rich red. Pretty as it is, though, it’s the taste that counts. The murmur of appreciative “umms” and “ahhhs” once we start eating is a sure sign that everyone is delighted with what they’ve achieved. Finally, the old-fashioned ice shaving machine is wheeled into place and we line up to try our hand at cranking the handle. Now, you might think that a dessert based on shaved ice would be a fairly bland. But you’d be wrong. If you add the evaporated milk, rose syrup, red sweet beans and creamed corn along with tapioca, grass jelly and palm fruit to your ice, you’ll have not only a riot of colours and textures but a sweet treat that will please even the most hardened sugar-hound. As we head back to the wharf, swapping notes about where to buy the freshest spices and when we’ll repeat our new-found recipes at home, Ruqxana looks around for Helen. “What do you think of prawns now?” she asks. “Irresistible,” is the emphatic reply. Back to TheTraveler.
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