I was in Singapore recently visiting a friend who lives a stone’s throw away from the old Chinese wet market, a marvellous cornucopia of Asian produce in Tiong Bahru. The variety and freshness is remarkable.
My friend, after living and shopping there for ten years, has her favourite suppliers who know her well. They always welcome her pointing out which ingredient is freshest or what is just in season, throwing a few extras into her bag as only market providores do.
I loved discovering, what were for me, more unusual ingredients such as torch ginger, a very attractive, long green stalk with a pink ‘flower’ which we peeled and finely sliced to reveal its mild gingery flavour. There was a great variety of tiny Asian greens the size of my thumb, bean shoots minus the raggedy ends, huge bunches of rambutans still attached to their stems, likewise fresh peanuts in their shells as well as the freshest herbs in abundance. Vendors selling beautiful seafood, butchers offering all sorts of mysterious cuts of meat, and poultry vendors stocking a variety of birds were all part of the crowded mix in the market.
Visiting fresh food markets while we’re travelling can be as frustrating as it is inspiring. I always want to try the fabulous ingredients and wish we were able to cook up a storm in our hotel room. My friend’s lovely, if not a little hot, Singapore kitchen allowed me buy whatever took my fancy.
Her recipe for Otak Otak is now a favourite. A blend of herbs, spices and coconut cream in which we marinated prawns and salmon then wrapped the lot in banana leaves and cooked them on the chargrill. This was accompanied by steamed rice tossed with fresh coriander leaves, grated fresh coconut, and torch ginger (use only the pink ‘flower’ peeled and finely sliced) and a big bowl of steamed watercress, baby bok choy and bean shoots with a soy and sesame dressing.
Ain’t travelling grand!
Rosie
OTAK OTAK
Serves 6
450 gm salmon, (or any fish) skinless fillets, cut into 1/2cm pieces
450 gm raw prawns, peeled, deveined and roughly chopped
12 banana leaf pieces 15x15cm each (available from Asian and other greengrocers)
24 toothpicks
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
SPICE PASTE
1 bunch coriander, roots and stems cleaned and roughly chopped, leaves reserved
4 golden shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 ¾ teaspoons shrimp paste
1 ½ teaspoons ground turmeric
2 tablespoons coconut cream
1 ½ tablespoons tamari (or gluten-free soy sauce)
3 stalks lemongrass, white tender part only, chopped
85 gm fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
70 gm ground almonds
2-3 red birds eye chillies (to taste), seeded
½ bunch green onions (shallots), finely sliced
Place all spice paste ingredients except sliced green onions in a blender and process until smooth. Fold in the sliced green onions. Fold the fish into half the spice paste and the prawns in the other half.
Using gloves, immerse the banana leaf pieces into a bowl of boiling water. Wipe clean and dry and while still warm, brush with vegetable oil. Divide each Otak Otak mixture into 6 portions and place each one in the centre of a banana leaf. Fold the sides towards the centre and secure with toothpicks.
Preheat a char grill (or barbeque) over a medium heat and cook the Otak Otaks for 3-4 minutes each side until banana leaves are charred and the filling cooked through.
Serve in the banana leaves with dipping sauce on the side.
DIPPING SAUCE
2 long red chillies, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons Japanese rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons tamari or (gluten-free soy sauce)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, lightly roasted
Reserving one tablespoon of sesame seeds, place all other ingredients for the dipping sauce into a blender and process until smooth. Fold in the reserved sesame seeds.