HERITAGE FEASTS HERITAGE A Collection of Singapore Family Recipes Family A Collection of Singapore This cookbook focuses on how heritage food forms an indelible link between one’s sense of history and one’s sense of family. Through vivid life stories of 30 prominent personalities who have, in different ways, made significant contributions to Singapore and 59 heritage recipes shared by them,Heritage Feasts highlights that, by learning and passing on your own family’s treasured dishes, you too are helping to strengthen and extend the fine threads of history and family. HERITAGE Heritage Feasts also encourages the modern family to create new shared moments and continue traditions of familial feasting around the dinner table. In A Collection of Singapore Family Recipes this book you will find an invaluable collection of true-blue Singaporean dishes, all beautifully illustrated with sumptuous pictures by award-winning photographer Edmond Ho. These include a family favourite from acclaimed jazz singer Claressa Monteiro—the oxtail soup by her mother, the dry mutton curry which Subhas Anandan’s mother whipped up for the renowned criminal lawyer’s long-awaited homecoming, a rare recipe for sambal buah keluak, taken from the notebooks of Mrs Seow Poh Leng, the original inspiration behind playwright Stella Kon’s acclaimed monodrama Emily of Emerald Hill, and a comforting tomato soup which filmmaker Eric Khoo enjoyed as a child. A meaningful cookbook project commissioned in celebration of Miele’s 111th anniversary, Heritage Feasts is the work of industry veterans—including FEASTS food magazine editor Joyceline Tully, local food expert Christopher Tan and top lensmen Edmond Ho and Mervin Chua—and is a rare platform for the Text by Joyceline Tully & Christopher Tan Photography by Edmond Ho & Mervin Chua promotion of Singapore culinary traditions. This project is supported by: Heritage Feasts A Collection of Singapore Family Recipes Editorial Director: Koh Yuen Lin Editor: Annette Tan Sub-Editor: Iori Chua Writers: Joyceline Tully, Christopher Tan Photographers: Edmond Ho (Jambu Studio), Mervin Chua (Aperture Ink), Lynn Chen (Photograph on Page 22), Contents Justin Loh (Photograph on Page 24) Designers: Ken Chin, Richard Tan 06 Miele: An Introduction Art Director: Alghani Soepono (Cover & personality profiles) Food Stylist: Prisia K 10 Milestones in Singapore Food History Recipe Tester: Dulcie Ng Associate Publisher: Priscilla Tan 14 What is Singapore Food? Published for Miele Pte Ltd by Ate Media Pte Ltd 20 Spring & Harvest 19 Carpenter Street #04-01 Singapore 059908 www.ate.bz 50 Birthdays Copyright © Miele Pte Ltd 78 Feasts & Faith Text copyright © Joyceline Tully & Christopher Tan. Design copyright © Ate Media Pte Ltd. The recipes in this book are the copyright of the individual personalities. 118 Unions & Partings Photography copyright © Edmond Ho, Jambu Studio (Cover; Pages 6 - 9; 36 - 49; 64 - 77; 94 - 117; 132 -143; 146 - 157 & 170 - 207). Photography copyright © Mervin Chua, Aperture Ink (Pages 22 - 35; 52 - 61; 63; 80 - 93; 120 - 131; 144 & 160 - 169) 158 Comfort Food & Family Fare Some photographs have been published previously, and are reprinted here with the kind permission of the following: Pages 12 & 13, National Archives of Singapore; Page 22 © Lynn Chen; Page 24 © Justin Loh 208 Ingredients List Special thanks to Salad, Schott Zwiesel, The Link Home and The Touch for the tableware and glassware featured on the cover; to Jenggala, Salad, Strangelets, Style Nordic, Wedgwood and Jambu Studio for the tableware and props featured on the 214 Index recipe pages; and to J's Salon for providing the location for Claressa Monteiro (Page 126). The publishers also wish to thank all contributors for their time and efforts. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, such as photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of Miele Pte Ltd, Ate Media Pte Ltd and/or the copyright owners. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information and facts mentioned in this book is accurate and correct at the time of printing. Changes may have occurred since this book went to print. We will not be held liable for any damages, loss, injury or inconvenience arising in connection with the contents of the book. ISBN 978-981-08-7400-1 First printed December 2010 Printed in Singapore Heritage Feasts | 4 Heritage Feasts | 5 mountain climber & part of Singapore’s first Women’s Everest Team JOANNE SOO “With every step we took, we learned a little more about ourselves. We didn't conquer the mountain; we conquered ourselves.” It is peaceful, serene and stunning at the top of a mountain, but ask Joanne grew up on his signature dishes such as chilli crabs and chicken Joanne Soo what she misses when she is 6,000 metres above sea curry, all of which packed plenty of spice. “He always nagged me and level, and she’ll tell you it is home-cooked food, preferably spicy. “Once my elder sister to learn from him but unfortunately, we never did…It’s you get higher up in the mountains, all you would have is instant a great shame.” noodles, freeze-dried rations and energy bars,” she says. For festive occasions, especially during Chinese New Year, her That is exactly what she and her five team mates survived on during father would prepare yusheng (raw fish salad), restaurant-style, the last leg of their Everest expedition. In May 2009, they became which impressed his two young girls. Joanne recalls other favourites the first Singaporean women to reach the summit of Mount Everest, among her dad’s dishes: ayam goreng fried to crisp, juicy perfection; a phenomenal achievement that capped five years of planning and steamed egg with salted egg and century egg; and French beans with training. “With every step we took, we learned a little more about minced pork. It’s simple home-style fare, but for Joanne, they are the ourselves,” she recounts. “We didn't conquer the mountain; we ingredients of fond memories—of her father, family and her childhood. conquered ourselves.” “These days, my mother does the cooking. It is not the same, but I go For this tanned, athletic go-getter, the world’s highest peak was just back to eat with her. Home-cooked food is still the best,” she chimes. the beginning. Since the Everest expedition, Joanne has gone on other climbing trips and is in the midst of planning an expedition to Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, one of the famous Seven Summits and the highest mountain in South America. “Everest is the pinnacle of the climbing world. Now that I have climbed it, I want to use my experience to help others scale these peaks,” she enthuses. Joanne’s family is supportive of her career, even though they didn’t understand it initially. Unfortunately, her father passed away six years Joanne's dishes: ago and never got to witness his daughter’s Everest success. “My father was the family cook, and a very good one,” she says. “He had Salt-Baked Chicken, page 144 worked as a cook for more than 10 years.” San Wei Zheng Dan (Three Varieties of Steamed Eggs), page 180 Heritage Feasts | 164 Heritage Feasts | 165 San Wei Zheng Dan (Three Varieties of Steamed Eggs) Homey flavours were what Joanne Soo craved when she and her team mates undertook their successful climb to the summit of Mount Everest in May 2009. This humble dish of steamed egg ranks high as one of her favourite comfort foods, which her father used to prepare. SERVES 4 - 5 AS PART OF A 1. Prepare the necessary equipment for steaming: ideally a large wok with a steamer attachment, filled MULTI-COURSE MEAL with enough water to generate steam. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Or if you have a steam oven, pre-heat it to 90 degrees Celsius. 2 hardboiled salted duck eggs, diced 2. Cover the bottom of a flat, deep-sided heatproof dish with an even layer of diced salted duck eggs, 2 century eggs, diced century eggs and sliced lup cheong. (Alternatively, you can divide it between 4 - 5 small dishes.) 1 lup cheong (Chinese waxed sausage), julienned 3. Beat the eggs with a pair of chopsticks. Combine with the stock (unsalted homemade chicken stock would be ideal). Add a pinch of salt to taste. Be careful with seasoning if you are using store- 2 large eggs bought stock. 400 millilitres chicken stock 4. When the mixture is well blended, pass it through a fine meshed sieve and pour it over the diced ¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste) eggs and lup cheong. Hold the sieve as close to the base of the heatproof dish as possible. Pouring 1 teaspoon light soy sauce (or to taste) the egg mixture from a great height creates bubbles in the custard. Cover the heatproof dish with ½ teaspoon sesame oil (or to taste) aluminium foil. 1 tablespoon chopped spring onions 5. Steam the dish over high heat for 5 - 10 minutes, then reduce to a low-medium flame and steam for an additional 15 - 20 minutes. Alternatively, steam it in your steam oven for 30 minutes. 6. The length of time required will vary depending upon your equipment. The finished custard should be wobbly and set, but not hard. 7. Sprinkle some soy sauce and sesame oil over the finished custard as well as some chopped spring onions. Serve immediately. Heritage Feasts | 180 Heritage Feasts | 181 playwright STELLA KON “We are basically migrant people who came here and adapted...Just take our food for example–what is in it that is not borrowed?” From the age of three, Stella Kon grew up in a sprawling mansion ancestral heritage,” says the soft-spoken 66-year-old whose family is named Oberon, under the watchful eye of her grandmother Polly, intimately tied to Singapore’s history and evolution.