Good things to eat / cook
... if you have a similar palate
Can you just believe it’s been 9 months since I’ve last been on here?! Jeez.
I hope you’ve been good! And thanks for clicking in.
A LOT has been going on - I feel like I’ve condensed 3 years into less than 1. There’s too much to unpack and it’s kinda drab, to be honest. A lot of life and circumstances and good things but also not-so-great things. But I can’t complain, especially since life is good on the two off days that I get to enjoy (it used to be 0 and then 1!!)!!
I’ve cooked leisurely in an enjoyable manner maybe like less than ten times in the past 9 months, and I had almost forgotten about it entirely. But much like muscle memory, (my brain cannot continue this sentence, i’m sorry. something about how lovely it feels etc, but does muscle memory feel lovely? or does it feel more like second nature?).
I got to go to the market the other day because I was craving one of my favourite fish curries ever, no less by Meera Sodha. It’s incredibly simple to make and seriously delicious when you use batang (spanish mackerel) and cook it perfectly.
I threw in some eggplant that I had in the fridge for weeks, and made a simple stir-fry of cabbage and long beans with mustard seeds and turmeric (which I believe is from her book too). I would like to eat this now. Look at that fish!
Another day, I made a clear-the-fridge slaw which was nice. It was crazy hot and I was craving a salad with sichuan flavours (a numbing chili oil-soy-garlic-black vinegar sich but with sesame too?), and had chicken which I saved from making chicken broth the day before, so in it all went. It was mostly “julienned” cucumber melon (dosakaya? which you can find in Indian grocers) which seriously just does not wither. I say “julienned” because it was all fine at the start and as I progressed, let’s just say the julienne wasn’t julienne-ing. I also threw in… I don’t know, chili, carrots, spring onion? celery?. And peanut butter instead of sesame paste into the dressing. Well it worked.
I made some really loose meatballs the other day as I had a kilogram of beef to use. The lazy bone in me feels much inertia in looking up recipes and then sticking to them to the tee on off days. After cooking repeatedly, with time, you’ll find that recipes are more or less the same. Meatballs are no different. You throw in whatever seasoning you like, use maybe panko or milk-soaked bread and/or eggs as a binder, put in alliums/herbs, shape them into balls, then call it a day. Depending on how tight you want a meatball, some people are into activating the meat glue or slapping the meat between hands. Cheese goes in sometimes - ricotta for luxury; parm for umami; some other shredded mozzarella/cheddar if you’re into that (personally, I’ve never). You could also flavour them with pesto or salsa verde or harissa. I’ve been loving adding bacon into meat mixtures recently and hope you will do that too.
Because of my lack of discipline which usually serves me adversely, the meatballs were aaaalmost too loose and I used a pan that I didn’t heat up long enough and *some* meatballs threatened to fall apart, but then I showed them who’s boss and they wisened up. Whatever you do, if you’re cooking for family / friends (who aren’t going to judge you), they’re 99.8% going to enjoy what you make (if it’s tasty - which you should always make sure of). If they belong to the 0.2%, you could consider dropping them or sit and think about why you are busting your ass cooking for them?
To finish, i think a nice way would be simmering the meatballs in a tomato sauce or braising them in a delicious stock with some beans (butter beans, chickpeas, whatever you like) or vegetables (fennel, onion, celery, fat-fried potatoes), then serving over pasta / rice / orzo or with bread on the side.
With tomato sauce, I personally feel that a goood amount of fat (butter, good extra virgin olive oil, nduja, shallot oil left over from frying shallots…) needs to be added to give a nice mouthfeel and round off the acidity (especially with crappy brands of canned tomato)!! With especially crappy brands of canned tomato, a generous splash of a sweet wine like a red vermouth works wonders. Please start with a soffritto and end with fresh herbs, needless to say.
I made a celery apple salad to go with and it was delightful, as I ADORE salads. It was basically sliced celery and apple with a honey mustard vinaigrette. For some reason, cookbook people are always writing recipes for 1 cup of vinaigrette (which is a lot in an asian household because did you know that eating raw food is considered barbaric in chinese culture?? I am admittedly a neanderthal.). But you can definitely make just enough dressing for your salad (say.. 4 - 6 tablespoons or something).
Here’s how:
Add ½ - 1 teaspoon of dijon/english or wholegrain mustard to a bowl (a 50:50 ratio is good, but it depends on what you like. Do you want more acidity from wholegrain mustard? Or do you want a little more of that mustard heat from dijon/english?
To that, add a splash of acidity - lemon / white wine vin / red wine vin / pomegranate molasses / rice vinegar and a nice pinch of salt and pepper.
If you’d like, you can add a wee bit of honey (this can always be adjusted later to taste, so better less than more now) or marmalade. If you have the korean citron tea on hand, which is essentially a marmalade, that’s good here too.
Whisk together, then TASTE. This is basically what your dressing will taste like, but a wee bit more intense. Because you’re going to emulsify oil. I use either canola or EVOO, depending on the flavour profile I want. But mostly EVOO. If it tastes good to you, you’re going to the next step now.
With a small whisk, whisking constantly, drizzle the oil in. Start with adding the oil drop by drop, then maybe a sliightly bigger glug. The safest way to know when the emulsion can take more oil, is when the vinaigrette does not look split (oil floating above rest of ingredients). Stop the second it does, then whisk vigorously and see if that emulsifies. If it does, you’re good to add more.
Stop adding oil when you are pleased with the consistency. More oil = thicker, which can be thinned down with water, if you’re pleased with the taste. Do not thin down too much as you want your dressing to DRESS and cling on to your vegetables, especially if your vegetables are wet (e.g. tomatoes, cucumber, fennel), not pool at the bottom of your bowl. Yup, salads are basically vegetables coated in flavour-packed oil. Nothing exactly “healthy” about a delicious salad, but certainly “healthier” than Arnold’s fried chicken. But we do love us a good meal of Arnold’s from time to time.
You got this.
Ok, now where to eat?!
I don’t even think I’m writing about anything new here, but ya know. Let me live.
The ever-popular Dearborn at New Bahru for breakfast.
This place needs no introduction. The girl at the next table told her parents “I’ve been wanting to try this shit for ages”, and that about sums it up. Beat the crowd; go in before 9am and have the egg and potato dish. I was good with just that but because I knew I wouldn’t be back anytime soon (it takes a colossal amount of effort to wake up early on an off-day, not because I didn’t love the food), I overdid it and ordered us three dishes. We also had the breakfast sausage sandwich (a little gamey, if you are sensitive to gaminess) and the prosciutto muffin and we had a swell time. Thanks for existing, Dearborn team.
Dolcetto at Conrad Orchard
I think Dolcetto gives lots of places a run for their money. I LOVED the build-your-own panini bar. Good ingredients, good bread, good prices. I had.. some sort of cold cut with taleggio and tomato on the semolina bread and it was, obviously, stunning in its simplicity. Some people say that you can’t go wrong with a sandwich, but hey - you really can. If you’re not sure how to make a solid one, just opt for one of their staples on the menu. We ate here two days in a row and just couldn’t believe how much we enjoyed it.
The second day, I had a maccheroncini or something in tomato sauce with parmesan and basil and it was divine. (and very filling!) Side note, we passed on the coffee because it was a little above what we wanted to fork out. But if you take a bird’s eye view, considering the value in the food, it all evens out. They have happy hour from 12-7pm too. What’s not to love??
Dolcetto is not new on the scene at all - the last time I visited was maybe 3-4 years ago, but rediscovering it sure makes it even better.
Overbrod at Anchorpoint
As my colleague pointed out, “[I’m] obsessed with this place”. This is one of those places that makes me feel like I’m a complete impostor and I don’t actually know how to cook. But then again, that makes sense as I’m not a chef at all.
The first time we went, we had reindeer stew (I think) which was incredible. The second time we had lunch, we had the smorrebrod which were all really sublime. The smoked salmon one? Good god. That tomato fennel soup?! Come on!! I always think the pinnacle of cooking is making something simple really stand out.
Seoul Noodle Shop (several outlets, we went to Tanglin)
Another place that needs no introduction because it got viral on tiktok or something. We attempted to queue a few months back, but I was running on 3 hours of sleep and was just not having it after 35 minutes of queueing. Overheard while in the queue previously “oh this place is famous cuz it was on tiktok but then my friend said not nice leh”. Singaporean haters be hatin’. To the left, for everyone’s sake.
The broths were delicious. But I’d decline to comment on the kimchi, if you were curious.
Hiang Ji Roasted Meat & Noodle House, Holland V
Love the noodles, love the meats, love the portion size, etc etc. The soy sauce chicken is delicious, but if you are not into star anise, you may not like it. I look forward to eating here when I get the chance.
Kin Leaw Chill at Tanjong Pagar
We had this just yesterday and duuuude. I love thai food so much. I love eating it, I love attempting to cook it. (But do I even know what’s good just because I travelled to Bangkok a couple of times? Obviously not?!) I recalled that I used to get all excited going to Golden Mile for “Nam Ngiew Chiangrai”, to have nam ngiew/ngiao and sai oua / isan sausages. I particularly loved the isan sausages there. They were coarse, chewy with pork rind, sticky with glutinous rice, and funky in the best way. To my horror I realised I have not eaten that in so long and have no idea where the stall went and ohmygod I must find another place to eat this.
A search on Google led me here and oh boy, I can die happy. Ok maybe after one more visit here. The owner, a Thai lady, told us she’s from Chiang Mai and was just warm and lovely (and asked me why I went there to eat this). Can’t wait to be back to try the Khao Soi. The tom yum was great, the stewed pork in my nam ngiao was so tender, everything was great, please go. (and not expensive at all!)
Cheese from The Cheese Ark
Fun fact (that you didn’t ask about but I will tell you): Years ago when I was switching careers, it was between being a baker and a cheesemonger. I had actually chosen to be a cheesemonger and wanted to work at The Cheese Ark and got in touch. But because they were in the midst of moving to Stirling Road, the conversation was put on the back burner and when Ai Ming eventually got back to me saying she could hire me, I was elbows-deep in dough. I always wonder where that would have led me.
Anyway, the Blaumeise is ridiculous. As is the Brebette. I held off on getting the Baron Bigod and regret it slightly now, but I did get the piemontese hazelnuts, which is one of those things that make you really pause and be grateful for how incredible nature can taste, and that people like Ai Ming really pursue what they’re passionate about. Because her selection is too good.
We got to enjoy the cheeses with Taiwanese apple mango (another food to die for), cherries and apples. AND this crazy-ass delicious Spanish cheese our friends gifted us. I don’t even know what it is but it is deeply savoury and moreish and nutty and is amazing with the piemontese hazelnuts. It comes in a bottle with triangular slices marinating in oil. OK I googled it for your sake - it is queso Zamorano and it’s made from sheep’s milk (ok, what, i am even more impressed; none of that gaminess, just pure buttery delight).
It always strikes me that humans, whichever part of the earth they inhabit, tend towards the same food (e.g. cheese, noodles, flatbreads) and have the intrinsic smarts to refine food that they produce. I’m constantly in awe.
You know what, I was going to include a short something about a baked pasta but it’s baked pasta and it’s glorious and it deserves a post on its own.
Till then!
xx
M.