Singapore Style Thai Chicken Curry

Thai cuisine apparently is becoming  a part of Singaporean cuisine, namely, tom yam style soup, Thai style fish-head curry and Thai cze char places are a prime example.   But what constitutes Singaporean Thai cuisine and what is the fundamental difference between authentic Thai cuisine and Singaporean Thai cuisine?  I have devised a Singaorean style Thai chicken curry but don't know what the difference is.  Singaporean style Thai cuisine -what are the essence?  This is off the topic but the big difference between Singapore-Malay style curry and Thai curry is that although they share a lot of ingredients in common, I have never seen a recipe that adds candlenut aka buah keras in Thai curries.  (Candlenut sort of resembles macadamia nuts in flavor and appearance and it's so-called because they are used to make candles).   Maybe I am wrong about this but take for example Thai's adaptation of Penang curry aka geng panaeng.   To thicken the curry, normally one would use candlenut but in geng panaeng, peanuts are used as a thickener and also as a flavoring agent.  Very interesting considering, Malay and Thai share borders. 

Coconut Prawn 椰子虾

車エビは非常に高価な食材だが、一度シンガポールシーフード料理に取り入れてみたかった。トーストした香ばしいココナッツフレークと何故か錦糸玉子をバターで味付け。西洋と東南アジアの統合だが、シンガポールには、この統合料理が増え続けている。フュージョンという言葉は使いたくないが、どこかに西洋のエッセンスを入れ込んだ料理はシンガポール料理にいいアクセントを与えてくれる。

Japanese shrimp called -kuruma ebi, is a very expensive ingredient, used exclusively for sushi and tempura.  At times, the high quality ones are sold at 2000yen per piece or roughly 25SGD.  The one I bought is not that expensive but still expensive.  It has a distinct sweetness so I decided to make coconut prawn with kuruma ebi.  I thought the sweetness and toasty flavor from the coconut complements the sweetness of the shrimp.  The addition of butter is a crucial ingredient which binds all the essence together.

Herbal Chicken 药材鸡

Not a lot of Cze Char places in Singapore serve herbal chicken.  And I think not a lot of Singaporeans eat this dish very often.  Very humble dish where chicken is lightly marinated with Shao Xing Wine, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and salt then double wrapped with mix of chinese dried herbs -double wrapped with parchment paper and foil.  The parchment paper ensures that the liquid and steam do not escape and the foil act as a shield so that the parchment paper do not rip so easily.  What I did on top of this, is that I put the wrapped chicken in a pan and sealed it with a dough so that the nice aroma of herbs will not escape and that the chicken will be cooked in this divine steam.  The chicken is then slowly baked in a low flame for an hour and a half (depending on the size of the chicken).  When the chicken is nice and ultra-tender, it is done.  What's nice is that the chicken retains its shape because it is double wrapped -this technique could be applied to other meat dishes like pork belly.  When I went to Hawaii just few weeks ago, I had a dish called laulau pig at a famous local restaruant called Ono's near Ala Wai.  In fact the food was so awesome that I went there 3 times during my 6-day visit.  Anyways, the pork belly is wrapped in taro leaves called lu'au numerous times so that the pork will retain it's shape after indefinitely steamed (6hours or so).  So, the only herbal chicken I had in Singapore is at B. K. Forture at 887 Bukit Timah Rd., out of nowhere.  I wonder what B. K. stands for.  Photo below, herbal chicken and together with chef and my buddy Shiro in the kitchen.

Ayam Bakar 烤鸡

North Bridge Rd.　にシンガポールの老舗のナシパダン屋がある。そこの名物がアヤムバカーを再現してみた。アヤムは鶏、バカーはBurnするという意味だ。この料理が興味深いのは鶏を一度スパイスとココナッツミルクと煮込み、その鶏を炭火又はオーブンで焼くところであ。煮込んだ鶏を香ばしく焼き上げるというのは手間がかかる。白いココナッツソースとのコントラストもいい感じだ。

I once had a good coconut gulai (curry) dish down at North Bridge Rd and the preparation to me was quite interesting.  Ayam Bakar -so the dish was called, literally translated as "burnt chicken," is a nasi padang dish where chicken thigh is braised in coconut milk and spices till tender and then the chicken is taken out from the sauce, burnt in the oven or burner or on the BBQ.  This is a very unique technique.  First of all, the sauce gets a nice flavor from the chicken juices and the chicken gets a nice distinct smokey flavor from burining on top of the BBQ.  In French cookery, you catch the chicken juices on a pan with mire poix (aka onion, carrots, celery) when you roast them in the oven,  and the drippings are made into gravy or sauces.  The malay technique is a great alternative, I think.

Soto Ayam 香辣的鸡肉汤

ソット・アヤム(soto ayam)はシンガポールマレー系のチキンスープだ。主に、チキン・もやし・春雨orビーフン・ロントン（longtonお米で出来たキリタンポのようなもの）・ポテトミートコロッケ（Bergedel・バーゲデル又はPergedel）。ちなみにこのコロッケのような揚げ物はシンガポールでは一般的にCutletカツレツと呼ばれている。特にスペシャルな料理という訳ではないが、シンガポールマレー人にとっては懐かしいお袋の味といってよいであろう。私もマレー系の料理人の家へ訪れた時、ソットアヤムをご馳走になった。とび抜けて個性のある料理ではないが、ホットする胃にやさしい料理だ。さて、この料理はもともとインドネシア料理と解釈している。オランダがインドネシアを植民地にしていた頃(１６００年ー１９４０年）に生まれたクロスオーバー料理だ。日本の素朴なコロッケによく似ているが、パン粉を使用しない。日本でいうとコロッケ蕎麦のような料理だ。ちなみに、マレー語ではスープの事をSopと書くが、インドネシアではSotoだ。

Soto Ayam, like any other chicken soup, is truly a humble dish and a comfort food.  But to make this dish from scratch, you need patience because you can't make it in a flash like stir-fried dishes.  While you extract the goodness from the chicken and spices (coriander, clove, cardamom, star anise), you need to work on potato-beef paties aka bergedel or pergedel daging -a wonderful dutch addition to this fabulous soup of Indonesian origin.  This bergedel is very similar to Japanese style croquette minus bread crumbs.  I used to buy freshly deep fried beef&potato croquettes from a meat vendor when I was a kid for a snack -brings back good memories.