Singapore's TidbiTs

Have you ever wondered where the fragrant green colour in your kaya toast comes from? Or what gives rojak that unique zing? Often referred to as the 'Vanilla of the East', the pandan is a tropical plant commonly found across Southeast Asia and of course Singapore. It is an upright, green shrub with woody aerial roots and fan-shaped sprays of blade-like leaves. Traditionally, these leaves were woven into baskets used for cooking rice and meats. Popular local coconut milk rice dish, nasi lemak, has pandan-ish fragrance, with the pandan leaves tied into knots and cooked together with the rice. Putu piring, a Malay snack, also use small pieces of pandan leaves as garnish. And we all know the fluffy and greenish pandan chiffon cake! Wild pandan Botanically called pandanus amarylifolius from the pandanus family, the pandan leaves have been used to flavour or colour desserts such as cakes and sweet beverages. The leaves are pounded and strained (or blended with a little water) to y...

The calories rich but tasty teh tarik (or spelled as teh tarek) or pulled tea is a unique milk tea found in Malaysia and Singapore. It is made of black tea in combination with sweetened condensed milk (or evaporated milk for less sweetness, and tossing or dragging (tarik) the tea from one container to another at a height to create a frothy effect. This tea is usually drank while having roti prata . Well you can drink it with about any snacks or dishes or you can just sip it on its own as the teh tarik is like a dessert beverage by itself, full if sweetness from the condensed milk and sugar. There is also teh masala or the spice tea, but for locals here we tend to stick with the simpler teh tarik. Masala tea may appeal more to Indians. At many local coffee shops, teh-C is a lingo used to mean tea with evaporated milk to differentiate from the concentrated condensed milk. The letter C actually stand for ' cair ', a Malay word for diluted or unsweetened. That applies to kopi-C t...

Tau huay or beancurd is a whitish soft tofu usually added with liquid sugar. The sugar can be normal or brown sugar. One can also request for less sugar. Tau huay is a dessert sold at many soya bean chains such as Mr Bean and Jollibean. You can also find them at many drinks stalls in housing estates or at food centres. Tau huay is usually sold and eaten while still warm. Soya bean milk drink can be either hot or cold depending on preference. Tau huay and soya bean milk are typically sold for around $1.20 to $1.50 at chain soya bean stores. But if you go to hawker centre you can get beancurd for only 60 cents a bowl and soya bean milk for only 50 cents a cup. You can also find soya milk in packet or can drinks sold in many supermarkets islandwide but it is not the same as buying the original tau huay or a cup of freshly made soya bean milk at a hawker or food centre. Tau huay is delicious, relatively cheap and it's filling too. Bean curd Tau huay and soya bean milk from chain sto...