Kaya Toast

Breakfasts are the most important meals of the day, like the battery power in us. The best breakfast to us, is not to dine at the finest restaurant or savour the most expensive sharks fin soup. We enjoy simplicity. The best breakfast ever is the humble beginnings of our ancestors, toast.

The Kaya Toast. It is one of the most loved breakfast dishes of Singapore. Many Singaporeans refuse to eat other breakfast dishes other than Kaya Toast. It has been introduced for over 40 years ago, yet still remains as a favourite by many, young or old, proving that it has stood the test of time.

Kaya is spread on top of bread, traditionally toasted over charcoal to give a crunchy and crispy, thin texture. Kaya, is a traditional spread made of egg, sugar, coconut milk and is flavoured with pandan. There is also a slice of butter accompanied with the Kaya, instead of spreaded butter.

It is normally eaten along with 2 half-boiled eggs and either a cup of coffee or milk tea.
Kaya Toast is important to many Singaporeans, espeically the elderly. This dish helped to portray and reminisce about their own childhood and life experiences. Through this, that we are able to see the sentimental value of this long lost tradition to these elderly.

How the Kaya Toast came about is due to the Hainanese. In the past, many Hainanese worked on British ships at cooks. When they settled in Malaysia, they sold the food they made to the locals. They soon recreated the meal, replacing the western jams with local coconut jams.

This shows that the community back then was poor and were not wealthy, which explains the reason that they had substitute western jams with local jams.

Our lives have since then changed for the better. The western jams that were expensive back in the day could be easily picked off the shelf of our supermarkets at a affordable price now. It shows Singapore’s evolution from a small and underdeveloped island to a cosmopolitan and prosperous city.

Kaya Toast, is like a mirror, reflecting Singapore’s long history and hardships we had to go through. Only if we were able to appreciate the simplicity, would we learn how to better cherish the things we always take forgranted in life.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_toast
www.kaya.sg/kaya.htm
http://sixthseal.com/2006/03/kaya-toast-house-of-coffee-and-toast
http://ieatishootipost.sg/2007/08/tong-ya-coffee-super-crispy-kaya-toast.html

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hainanese chicken rice, or locally known as Chicken Rice, is tender soft chicken (steamed or roasted) served on/with fragrant rice. It is accompanied with light soy sauce, coriander leaves, sesame oil, and a flavourful garlic-chilli dip. It is commonly sold in food centres but can be found in posh restaurants and even in school canteens.

Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe was brought over to Singapore by the Hainanese immigrants in the 1850s. The Cantonese were greatly influenced by them then and made their own adaptations. The Cantonese version of Chicken Rice allows you to add other meats such as roasted pork.
Hainanese Chicken Rice is just as famous across the border in Malaysia (Penang and Malacca) and Thailand. However, every country has it’s own adaptations and is different to suit the taste of it’s
people. (E.g. Malacca’s Hainanese Chicken Rice’s rice is in the shape of a golf-sized ball.)

Singapore’s version of Hainanese Chicken Rice is known to many foreigners. It has even been listed as one of the World’s 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN Go in 2011! Hainanese Chicken Rice is a iconic dish of Singapore, reflecting the lifestyle of Singaporeans and a dish that all fellow Singaporeans, whether rich or poor love. We believe that this dish will be here for many more years for the tummies of all Singaporeans! :-)

Source: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_910_2005-01-11.html

Char Kway Teow

Char Kway Teow is a popular dish in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. It is flat rice noodles and some yellow noodles and is stir-fried over very high heat with dark soy sauce, belachan, prawns, cockles, bean sprouts, egg, Chinese sausage and fish cakes.

Char Kway Teow is unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content. It was a cheap source of energy and proteins, therefore gaining popularity from many of the coolies and other immigrants who has physically challenging jobs. The dish was first sold by fishermen, farmers and cockle-gatherers.
The Char Kway Teow in Kampar, Perak, Malaysia, is served with cockles but with no prawns (although prawns may be available on request). According to old Kampar Char Kway Teow sellers; this is because Kampar was not near any source of fresh prawns. In Singapore, char kway teow has evolved into a healthier version with more vegetables and less oil. Furthermore, the greens and bean sprouts gives off a fresh, crunchy texture that makes the dish taste even more unique from other dishes of the cuisine.

From how the dish’s evolution, we can see how it reflects the different lifestyle we have at different geographical location and periods. In early Singapore, we could tell that many wanted to save money and were not educated on the importance of health. However, as Singapore developed and education was made available to many, Singaporeans are more health conscious and make it an effort to eat healthily.

Whatever the changes we have in our local foods, we believe that Singaporeans will feel attached to them and feel very at home when enjoying the simple delicacy.

(Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_kway_teow,
http://popularfoodsg.com/char-kway-teow-singapores-best-noodle-dish)