Since the pandemic struck, home-based food businesses have mushroomed in Singapore, some out of necessity, while others the product of aspiring cooks who chose to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

Tan Ziying belongs to the latter camp. Jaded and burned out after 10 years in the insurance industry, the 33-year-old decided to quit her job as a financial lines underwriter to start home-based business TrulyTeochew selling her 84-year-old paternal grandma’s traditional cuttlefish Teochew porridge last November.

Starting the business using grandma’s 50-year-old cuttlefish porridge recipe was a natural choice. “I noticed that no one is selling [this sort of] cuttlefish porridge in the market, so I thought it’s a good opportunity to share this unique taste with everyone else,” Ziying tells 8days.sg, adding that it’s a dish that she would always crave. TrulyTeochew is also her way of honouring her dementia-stricken grandma’s legacy as a great home cook.

It’s kinda like pao fan

Unlike Teochew porridge where rice grains are cooked in liquid until they become soft, this is prepared and served pao fan-style (‘submerged rice’ in Mandarin).

The dish is made up of three components: steamed white rice bathed in braised shredded cuttlefish, pork belly, and shiitake mushrooms, the pork-based broth, and garnishes including fried tau kee strips, shredded Chinese celery, and chopped chillies. To eat, heat up the broth, pour over the rice, and finish with the garnishes.

While it bears great similarities to pao fan, Ziying doesn’t quite like it when customers compare it to the popular hawker dish. Or worse, when they ask her why her porridge doesn’t come with the usual pao fan garnish of crispy fried rice puffs or why she doesn’t offer a seafood option (most pao fan are served with seafood).

“Pao fan is so popular now that they think this is pao fan too. I am not offended but I will tell them that this is not pao fan but a unique dish that my grandma came up with 50 years ago. Back then, there was no such thing as pao fan. This is just rice over soup, so don’t benchmark against pao fan,” she says.

Ziying with her grandma

Recreating the dish from memory

Despite her love for the dish, prior to starting the business, Ziying had only cooked the cuttlefish porridge once, around eight years ago, when she learned the recipe from her grandma.

Ziying’s aunt took over the kitchen after her grandma fell ill and while her aunt still makes the porridge, she substitutes pork with chicken to accommodate her Indonesian Muslim helper.

So, when Ziying wanted to start TrulyTeochew, she had to recreate the taste of her grandma’s porridge from memory.

“It was really by trial and error. I picked the ingredients that I know for sure are in the dish and just kept experimenting and tweaking the recipe. I wanted to offer the pork broth version ‘cos it is the most authentic. But I swapped out certain ingredients like rock sugar, which I felt gave the dish an artificial sweetness,” she says.

She spent around two months perfecting the recipe and was over the moon when she finally got her aunt’s stamp of approval.

“My family members say it is very close to grandma’s version, like 99 per cent there. 99 per cent ‘cos I didn’t use rock sugar,” she laughs. “When I finally achieved the taste, I was very happy ‘cos this is something that is very close to my heart.”

She’s been getting raving reviews from customers too, with some telling her it’s comfort food that tastes familiar. “These simple words really mean a lot to me. The satisfaction I get from this business is so much greater compared to what I have received in the past 10 years in my job, and it’s what keeps me going,” shares Ziying.

The cuttlefish porridge is priced at $9 and available from Mondays to Saturdays, with a limit of 30 bowls each day.

Other than porridge, Ziying also offers sides like braised abalone with bok choy, hot wings, and fried spring rolls to pair with the dish.

TrulyTeochew also offers sides like braised abalone with bok choy (centre)

Business “dropped drastically” when dine-in measures eased

Though sales were a little slow when TrulyTeochew first started, business steadily picked up and it sold up to 50 bowls a week last month.

However, as soon as dine-in restrictions were eased to allow groups of 10 diners on March 29, there was an “immediate drop” in orders.

“Business had just started picking up last month. I was getting a lot of new customers then two weeks ago, orders dropped drastically. I sold just seven bowls of porridge last week,” sighs Ziying.

“It is really jialat. Sales fluctuate a lot, but F&B business is like that. You have good days and bad days.”

Considering opening a hawker stall

Ziying says the latest challenge has reaffirmed her view that she needs to open a brick-and-mortar stall if she wants to do this long term.

She is already on the lookout for a hawker stall, preferably in the Tiong Bahru, Queenstown or Bukit Merah areas which are near her home.

“It takes time to find the right location and stall and you are not likely to be successful on your first or second bid, so I am starting to look around now and do some market research. If I give myself a year to decide if I want to open a stall, I might lose out in terms of getting the right location,” she notes.

Cuttlefish Teochew Porridge, $9

Each component of the dish is great on its own. Unlike pao fan, where the broth is rich, this soup, made by simmering pork broth flavoured with mushrooms, cuttlefish, and other “secret ingredients”, is light with a natural sweetness from the meat. It reminds us of our mum’s homecooked soups.

The steamed jasmine rice, generously topped with an umami-rich mixture of braised fat-streaked pork belly, shredded cuttlefish, sliced shiitake mushrooms, scallop, and lashings of gravy, may taste a bit salty, but when mixed with the broth and garnishes, the porridge is a perfect balance of flavour and textures. It's moreish, wholesome and comforting.

According to Ziying, the rice tastes even better the next day so you can order extra bowls and refrigerate overnight.

Order at least one day in advance via https://trulyteochew.cococart.co/. More info on Instagram.

Photos: TrulyTeochew