JAPANESE SHRIMP CURRY

16 April 2010

It’s TGIF and I am into the third day of a valiant attempt to reduce my oft-criticised overhanging belly.  Today I walked down Suntec City, through CityLink Mall all the way to Raffles City, exited and went through Funan Digilife Mall to Victoria Street.  I thought I would check out an old coffee shop at Armenian Street, one of the places where I got my ‘char kueh teow’ fix.  Alas, the entire block of old shop houses had been demolished and in its place stands a spanking new grey uninteresting building partially occupied. 

At least, I discovered the exact location of the Peranakan Museum. Until then, I had a vague notion it was somewhere at Armenian Street. (Pssst ... I am half Peranakan.)

I decided to go back to office by way of Stamford Road. As I was walking pass Stamford House, there at the last shop before Capitol Building is the Curry Favor (sic) Japanese Kitchen. Years ago Ann and Joan introduced me to this restaurant specialising in Japanese curry.  I enjoy the sticky Japanese curry.  It reminds me of the sticky Hainanese curry you get with your Hainanese curry ‘pung’ (rice) which our family really like. I went in and ordered the shrimp curry, this being a Friday.  I prefer the fried breaded pork cutlet curry.

Overall, I thought the curry, though enjoyable, was not as good as when I first had it. But then nostalgia has a way of colouring things. The 5 shrimps were a disappointment. They were a bit mushy, so definitely not fresh. The crab potato salad (the white lump on the plate) was good, soft and tasty. Just a yum. 

One thing I know for sure, if I continue my walk, I will always have two constant companions - wet armpits.

INDIAN ROJAK

15 April 2010

This is the second day of my walking regime.  From Suntec City, in office attire, I walked across the overhead bridge over Nicholl Highway to Beach Road.  Then down Middle Road to Waterloo Street.  Unlike my first walk which was rather random but ended with me eating a $16 ramen.  I had a secondary mission this time round.  Striding along Waterloo Street I finally arrived at Block 262 where Nan Tai Eating House is. And my favourite Indian Rojak stall.  It had taken me some 20 minutes to reach here. So a refuelling stop was called for.

“Rojak’ is a Malay word for mixture.  Indian rojak is just that – a mixture of mostly deep-fried food items like shrimp fritter, coconut fritter, tofu, fish cake, fermented soybean (“tempe”), potato, re-expanded dried cuttlefish, and many others.  You choose what you want and the seller deep fries them again and serves them garnished with slices of cucumber and onion and a spicy sweet potato sauce as a dip

I chose my favourite bits – the shrimp fritter, tempe, tofu and cuttlefish.  To me, the most important part of the Indian rojak are the shrimp fritter and the sauce as they define how good a particular rojak is.  The great thing about the shrimp fritter at this stall is that it is mostly shrimp with just enough flour to hold the shrimps together.  More often than not, the shrimp fritter you find at other outlets is mostly flour.  The crucial ingredient in the sauce is the pureed sweet potato unlike the watery peanut sauce you find elsewhere.

After recharging, I walked back through Bras Basah Road and passed the ‘Flirting Point’ at the Singapore Arts Museum (SAM).  No one was around to flirt with though. The whole loop took an hour, 20 minutes to walk to the rojak point, 20 minutes to eat and 20 minutes to walk back.  Can I sustain the regime? If I don’t succumb to stinky armpits first.

Ramen

14 April 2010

Today I had a bowl of ramen for lunch.  I did not go out specifically to look for ramen.  Today I started on an exercise regime by spending my lunch hour on a brisk walk.  To improve by well-being May has been cajoling me to take up some walking. She seems to think that my belly is dangerously overhanging my belt. So I decided that my lunch time is ideal for the exercise.  I walked from my office at Tower Three Suntec City to Funan DigitalLife Mall, taking about 15 minutes. Arriving at the Mall I was greeted by a huge sign with tantalising pictures of bowls of ramen proclaiming that they can be had at Bishamon, #01-18 in the Mall. I went to check it out. It is next to Ya Kun and MacDonald. Until today I had not eaten any ramen for more than a year, so was easily tempted. I went in and ordered the Assari Miso Ramen.

A chef’s recommendations, the Assari Miso Ramen is made with pork and clam miso stock and comes with about 4 small slices of pork, a half of a boiled egg, and a few strips of clam.  I must say that the stock is really delicious though a mite oily.  The pork is tasty and tender. The egg is done just the way I like it – the yolk cooked but with the centre just a little runny thus rendering the white still soft and spongy.  I washed the whole thing down with hot green tea.  Yum, yum.

But I was out of pocket to the tune of S$16.20 (ramen $12.80, tea $1, service charge $1.38 and GST $1.06). Was it worth the money? Well, you can get a bowl of wanton mee with ‘char siew’ for $3.50 in a food court.  But then, I did enjoy the ramen. So what value enjoyment?

Christmas Turkey

14 April 2010

I was in the grip of ennui. Didn’t feel much like writing, let alone blog. The thing that really kept me stirred was exploration in the Web. Then I began watching “The Big Bang Theory” when my daughter Ann told me about it and I got my laughs. I am again energised. The other day May, in one of our casual conversations, mentioned that she really liked Joan’s Christmas turkey.

We spent last Christmas in Perth (Western Australia) with our daughters, Ann and Joan, who are working there. Christmas in Perth is the same as in Singapore, and, as I believe, elsewhere in the world. It has been hijacked into a holiday festivity. The true meaning of Christmas is vague except to those who really believe. Last Christmas was an intimate family only affair, just us and the dogs, Harry and Rosie. We had our usual Christmas Eve dinner. Joan baked a Christmas turkey.

The great thing about Joan’s turkey was that it was moist and succulent. Most turkey I had eaten had been dry. As Joan explained to me, the trick to a moist baked turkey is to stuff butter under the skin of the turkey and to bake it in a roasting bag, making sure that its inner temperature does not go over 175 degree C. The traditional turkey stuffing appears grey, looks and tastes somewhat weird. We never did like it. In its place Joan stuffed a cut apple, some onions and fresh sage. They added a pleasing and subtle fragrance to the turkey.

The best part was eating that turkey with whole cranberry sauce perked up with orange zest. Yum, yum.