Our knowledge of Asian cuisine was limited to ramen soups, noodles, and rice dishes before moving to Singapore, so now we are open to sampling all new, unknown and most unusual foods.
In our trip to Chinatown I had my first Satay, barbecued beef and chicken pieces served on the shish kebab style wooden sticks with chopped onion, cucumber and ketupat (Malay rice cakes often wrapped in coconut leaves) and accompanied by a dip of spicy and sweet peanut sauce. Satay is quite original, as it is a combination of heavy and oily meat and sweet but spicy and aromatic peanut sauce, a very strong fresh onion taste and a very plain rice cake… It is a dish unique to Singapore and it has its roots in Malay and Indonesian archipelago.
Satay
Another typically Singaporean dish I tried in our local food court is Laksa, a dish consisting of noodles, fishcake, prawns and chopped bean sprouts served in a spicy coconut-based soup. Its creamy coconut gravy makes it quite rich and chili seasoning adds a very spicy savor. There are many variations of Laksa such as a lighter version of the dish known as assam laksa, more appealing to a Western palate… Laksa comes from the Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay elements found in Malaysia and Singapore, and to some extent from Indonesia.
Laksa (also known as Curry Laksa/Laksa Lemak)
Singapore’s food diversity is amazing, because if you are not in a mood to experiment with Southeast Asian cuisine, you can always find more familiar foods almost everywhere in town:
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