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Recipe book on classic Singapore hawker dishes launched

SINGAPORE — When he set out to create recipes for Singapore’s classic hawker dishes for his final-year project at Temasek Polytechnic (TP), Mr Desmond Shen learnt that even the brand of soy sauce used could make or break a dish.

Temasek Polytechnic students demonstrate how chendol jelly is solidified with cold water at a recipe book launch yesterday (Oct 13). Photo: Temasek Polytechnic

Temasek Polytechnic students demonstrate how chendol jelly is solidified with cold water at a recipe book launch yesterday (Oct 13). Photo: Temasek Polytechnic

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SINGAPORE — When he set out to create recipes for Singapore’s classic hawker dishes for his final-year project at Temasek Polytechnic (TP), Mr Desmond Shen learnt that even the brand of soy sauce used could make or break a dish.

The Baking and Culinary Science (BCS) graduate, like his course mates doing the same project, also went around tasting the local hawker dishes based on online reviews, chatting up hawkers to find out more about the dish and its history and experimented with different ingredients, as part of their efforts to perfect their recipes. They even pitted their creations against dishes from top-rated hawkers in blind taste tests.

The fruits of their labour have been compiled into a recipe book, Singapore Hawker Classics Unveiled: Decoding 25 Favourite Dishes, which was launched yesterday (Oct 13).

Each recipe begins with an introduction of the dish’s origins and significance in Singapore’s context, and includes facts on the chemistry behind why certain ingredients react a certain way when cooked, such as the way brinjal thickens curries.

The recipe is also presented alongside an alternative representation of the dish. For example, the Malay dessert bubor cha cha was reinvented into coconut granita with sous vide osmanthus sweet potato cubes — though instructions for preparing these alternatives were not included, as the book was meant to draw attention to classic recipes.

Mr Shen, who graduated in 2013, felt apprehension when he was assigned the project as he had always preferred western food. “But as a Singaporean, we have to learn our local dishes well so I took up this challenge,” he said. The complexity of creating fish head curry took him by surprise, but he managed to master the dish and even came up with a twist on the dish — baked curry fish rice.

Speaking at the book launch, Ms Petrina Lim, course manager for the BCS diploma programme, felt that appreciation for hawker food has dwindled among the young, and hoped the book will help raise awareness and encourage the younger generation to preserve local food heritage.

Adding that developing the book has been “a learning journey” for those who were involved, Ms Lim said that the team of 40 staff and students at TP also rediscovered their own passion for Singapore’s food heritage in the process.

Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh, who was present at the launch, praised the amount of research and effort that has been put into curating the book. “This is part of a growing movement to raise interest and conservation in our food heritage, and to appreciate not just the food but the people behind it,” he said.

Forty-eight copies have been donated to the National Library Board to be placed at all public libraries. The book retails at S$34.25 at leading bookstores and e-retailer sites.

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