Wabbidashery… aka, The Heritage Heaven Tour

[louisbosco]

with the Lunar New Year just gone by, life has been hectic.

The Food

Ever since I've moved back, I've been helping my grandparents, these past couple years only my grandfather, with the food prep needed. Also learning to dissect and fillet a fish. We use Pomfret, a fish generally found in South Asia. the small ones are the every day fish. The bigger ones have to be pre ordered for special occasions. This one here is about 1.5 to 2kgs which we use 4 over 2 days for about 20 people

NgohHiang translated to fried meat rolls. a staple at our new year dinner. Basically, minced meat, prawns, egg, water chestnuts and crispy dried flat fish are mixed, then wrapped in beancurd skin to be steamed and then deep fried.

Traditionally, most people have steam boats. Yonks ago when I was a kid, we used charcoal steamboats. As the elders got old and time gone by, most people have electric ones with some kind of hot plate for BBQ. Food is prepared and you cook them in pork bone stock. Dishes consist of meat, fish, seafood and whatever you can think of. The soup at the end usually ends up sweet and delicious with all the food being cooked through it.

Not too mention snacks, for nibbling while your relatives gossip about their lives over the past year. This little bake cheese snack being one of my fav.

Bonus question why did the chicken cross the road?
I was very close to ending a generation..

[louisbosco]

Been trying out the time lapse feature on the insta360. but I realised it's better to speed up a normal video as there's much more information..

YouTube has listed copyright due to the soundtrack I added. it might be blocked in some places, I hope not. but I've got no idea how to get around this..

[Giles]

Bonus points for using "Yonks".......:-)

[pechelman]

going through that spiral parking garage ramp was pretty slick with the rotating camera.

tell me more about those baked cheese snack things though?

[louisbosco]

@pechelman Thanks. most of it was the insta360 editor doing its work. I just input the directions on the other bits..

I wish I could know more about those cheese tarts! all I know is, every year I look forward to having them at my aunts place. something about my uncle's old Indonesian business partners giving it to him every year during Lunar New Year. I haven't been able to find anything close to it anywhere else.

my guess is baked cheddar cheese stuff. Salty, creamy, flaky and addictive..

[louisbosco]

@pechelman this would be the closest

https://food52.com/recipes/39061-kaastengel-indonesian-kue-keju-cheese-cookies-cheese-stick?srsltid=AfmBOopRgVQO9UNNbRvziQXclobLm7sa4ewK-9h2tto1AlsVtv1m_e3U

[pechelman]

thanks @louisbosco!
Those sound fantastic. Will add to the list of recipes to make.

[Oaktavia]

@louisbosco cool update, I enjoyed reading about the food. Your part of the world I know next to nothing about, so I learned today.

[louisbosco]

@Oaktavia interesting idea. perhaps I could share more about hawker culture when I get the chance..

[Oaktavia]

@louisbosco that would be cool because I have no idea what that is my friend.

[louisbosco]

@Oaktavia basically, street food. South east Asia was built on street food culture..

[Oaktavia]

@louisbosco thats rad

[louisbosco]

Suns out. Buns out.. ️

[Aetas]

@louisbosco
The Wabbidashery is serving you well!

[mclaincausey]

@louisbosco that’s funny—as so often occurs, we have our version of that in the south of the USA

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/cheddar-cheese-straws

[louisbosco]

@mclaincausey damn. that actually looks good. but I don't have the patience of baking

[mclaincausey]

@louisbosco they are good and I’m with you. I just buy from these guys

[louisbosco]

The wabash goes to Sepang Internatioanl Circuit but sadly doesn’t make it on track..

[louisbosco]

back to food content. about the food in singapore....

Singapore was a coastal port city during British colonial era, part of the straits settlement in south east Asia. with that, it brought merchants and people from all over the globe, particularly southern china. it's main heritage is based on cantonese, teochew, Hakka and hokkien culture, all of which are regions in southern china. in addition to that, there's also peranakan (mixed chinese/ Malay) and eurasian cuisine..

gone are the days of hawkers and merchants selling food by the singapore river and makeshift stalls. in the modern era, they've all been relocated into what we call hawker centres, food courts or coffee shops. there are plenty of stalls selling the same food, both equally as good. but people here treat this like their religion and will swear by one over the other.

this ones called prawn noodles. the soup is cooked with pork bone and prawn shells over hours. noodles is then mixed with lard, shallots, chilli sauce and tomato sauce. topped with sliced pork and prawns. for me, no veggies or beansprouts.

now the most discussed dish. chicken rice. highly fought over topic between Malaysia and singapore over who invented the dish.
chicken is poached and cooled once cooked to retain the gelatine of the fat so that it's glistening. rice is then cooked with the stock from the chicken to give it its fragrant flavour. to be eaten with chilli sauce and this simple sauce can make or break the dish..

finally a nice night ride over the skyline of the marina bay sands and the singapore flyer..

[tody]

@louisbosco now i'm hungry!