FOODS
Singaporean cuisine is indicative of the ethnic diversity of the culture of Singapore which originated from Malaysia, as a product of centuries of cultural interaction owing to Singapore's strategic location. The food is influenced by the native Malay, the predominant Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Peranakan, and Western traditions (particularly English and some Portuguese- influenced Eurasian, known as Kristang) since the founding of Singapore by the British in the nineteenth century.
Chinese Dishes
Bak Chang savoury glutinous rice dumplings, usually filled with pork, mushrooms and stewed egg, steamed in bamboo leaves. It is Chinese food in origin, but a longtime favorite in Peranakan cuisine.
Bak chor mee minced pork noodles; egg noodles with minced pork or chicken and other ingredients, served dry or with soup; usually the flat, tape-like mee pok noodle is used; a variation on fishball noodles.
Bak kut teh pork rib soup made with a variety of Chinese herbs and spices.
Ban mian hand-made flat noodles served with vegetables, minced meat, sliced mushrooms, and an egg in an anchovy (ikan bilis)-based soup;
noodle variations are common, Ban mian usually refers to flat, long noodles.
Chai tow kway carrot cake, also known as Char kway radish (or daikon) cakes that are diced and stir- fried with garlic, egg, chopped preserved radish, and sometimes with prawns that comes in black (sweet dark soy sauce) or white (savory) versions, with a chili paste.
Char kway teow thick, flat rice flour (kuay teow) noodles stir-fried in dark soy sauce with prawns, eggs, beansprouts, fish cake, cockles, green leafy vegetables, Chinese sausage, and some fried lard.
Chwee kueh steamed rice cake topped with preserved radish; usually eaten for breakfast.
Drunken prawn prawns cooked with Chinese rice wine.
Duck rice braised duck with rice cooked with yam and shrimps; it can be served simply with plain white rice and a thick dark sauce; side dishes of braised hard-boiled eggs, preserved salted vegetables, or hard beancurd (tau kua) may be added.
Har Cheong Gai chicken wings fried in a batter with fermented shrimp paste.
Hum chim peng a deep-fried bun-like pastry sometimes filled with bean paste.
Kaya toast a traditional breakfast dish; Kaya is a sweet coconut and egg jam, and this is spread over toasted bread; combined with a cup of local coffee and a half-boiled egg, this makes a typical Singaporean breakfast.
Kuay chap / kway chap a Teochew dish of flat, broad rice sheets in a soup made with dark soy sauce, served with pig offal, braised duck meat, various kinds of beancurd, preserved salted vegetables, and braised hard-boiled eggs.
Min Chiang Kueh a thick chewy pancake with a ground peanut and sugar filling; other variations include grated coconut and red bean paste; this traditional snack also is served in blueberry, cheese, and chocolate varieties.
Pig fallopian tubes a dish comprising stir-fried pig Fallopian tubes with vegetables and sambal.
Pig's brain soup a Singaporean soup dish comprising pig brain with special soup herbs.
Pig's organ soup a soup-based variant of kuay chap.
Popiah Hokkien/Teochew-style spring roll or rolled crêpe, stuffed with stewed turnip, Chinese sausage, shrimp, and lettuce.
Singapore fried kway tiao a dish featuring fried thick, flat rice noodles flavoured with dark soy sauce commonly available in some Chinese restaurants in Canada and the United States, also is not found in Singapore. The closest dish related to it found in Singapore would be char kway teow, or a variation of it.
Singapore Sling the cocktail developed in Singapore's Raffles Hotel, is not very common in Singapore either. While it was invented in Raffles Hotel, and can still be found there, it is not easily found at most bars around Singapore however.
Singapore style noodles a dish featuring fried rice vermicelli flavoured with yellow curry powder, is not commonly found in Singapore. It is popular with Chinese takeaways in the West as well as Hong Kong. The close relative to this dish is fried bee hoon (thin rice noodles), which comes in a wide number of variations across ethnic lines.
Soon kway a white vegetable dumpling with black soy sauce.
Turtle soup soup or stews made from the flesh of the turtle.
Vegetarian bee hoon thin braised rice vermicelli to which a choice of various gluten, vegetable, or beancurd-based delicacies may be added.
You Tsia Kway fried dough crullers similar to those served in other Chinese cuisines around the world.
Singapore Malay Dishes
Acar pickled vegetables or fruits with dried chilli, peanuts, and spices; this condiment also has Indian and Peranakan versions.
Assam pedas seafood and vegetables cooked in a sauce consisting of tamarind, coconut milk, chilli, and spices.
Bakso, also Ba'so meatballs served with noodles.
Begedil or Perkedel mashed potato mixture that is fried into patties, eaten together with mee soto.
Belacan not a dish in itself, but a paste made from shrimps commonly used in spice pastes.
Curry puff also known as epok-epok, a flaky pastry usually stuffed with curry chicken, potato cubes, and a slice of hard-boiled egg and s ometimes sardines are used in place of chicken.
Dendeng paru a dish of "dried" beef lung cooked in spices.
Goreng pisang bananas rolled in flour, fried, and eaten as a snack.
Gudeg Putih white curry jackfruit.
Gulai daun ubi potato leaves stewed in coconut milk.
Keropok deep fried crackers usually flavored with prawn, but sometimes with fish or vegetables.
Ketupat rice cake that is steamed in a square-shaped coconut leaf wrapping and usually served with satay.
Lemak siput shellfish cooked in a thick coconut milk- based gravy.
Lontong compressed rice cakes (see ketupat) in spicy vegetable soup.
Otak-otak /otah spicy fish cake grilled in a banana leaf wrapping.
Sambal not a dish in itself, but a common chili-based accompaniment to most foods.
Satay grilled meat on skewers served with spicy peanut sauce and usually eaten with ketupat, cucumber, and onions.
Soto ayam a spicy chicken soup that features chicken shreds, rice cakes and sometimes begedil.
Singapore Indian Dishes
Appam fermented rice pancake.
Curry the basic Indian vegetable or meat gravy. It is now ubiquitous in local Chinese and Malay 'traditional' cuisine.
Dosa rice and lentil pancake. Commonly served as a
"masala" version that includes spiced potatoes and served with different types of sambar.
Fish head curry iconic Singapore dish, invented by Indians (specifically one Mr. Marian Jacob Gomez, from Kerala) for the Chinese palate which values textures.
Indian Mee goreng Chinese yellow noodles, prepared 'Indian style' and fried with spices, minced meat, green peas and potatoes.
Indian Rojak salad of deep fried battered potatoes, eggs, seafood, tofu and other items. Served with a hot and sweet chilli sauce. The dish does not exist in India and is unique to Singapore and its region.
Murtabak Roti Prata stuffed with minced chicken, mutton, beef and/or sardines.
Murtabak originating from the Middle East, this Indian-Muslim dish today consists of folded roti prata dough stuffed with spiced minced meat, onions, and egg and often is served with curry.
Nasi biryani popular Indian Muslim dish of saffron rice and meat. It is sold by both Indians and Malays, and is essential at Malay weddings.
Pickle Indian pickle of mixed vegetables. Now also served by Chinese and Malays with their traditional food.
Roti John a split, panfried baguette topped with egg, minced mutton and onions, and served with ketchup.
Roti prata a local evolution of the Pakistani and Indian paratha is popular for breakfast or late night supper; this dish is enjoyed by all Singaporeans and commonly served with sugar and curry and a plethora of modern variations are available including egg, cheese, chocolate, masala, durian, and even ice cream; ideally it should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the dough is flipped to attain the right texture, then cooked quickly on a greased stove.
Soup kambing a local Mamak (Tamil Muslim) dish of spiced mutton soup.
Soup tulang a local Mamak (Tamil Muslim) dish of mutton or beef bones stewed in a spicy red sauce with the intent of eating the marrow.
Tandoori marinated meat, usually chicken in a mixture of spices and yoghurt and cooked in a clay oven.
Teh tarik liiterally 'pulled tea', named after its preparation technique compared to the cappuccino because of its frothy top.
Vadai spicy, deep-fried snacks that are made from dhal, lentils or potato.
Singapore Cross-cultural Cuisine
Ayam buah keluak a Peranakan dish of chicken stewed with spices and Southeast Asian black nuts.
Cereal prawns prawns that have been stir fried with sweetened cereal.
Fish head curry a dish created by Singapore's Malayalee (an Indian ethnic group from Kerala) community with some Chinese and Malay
influences that includes the head of a red snapper (ikan merah, literally "red fish") stewed in curry consisting of varying amounts of coconut milk and tamarind juice with vegetables (okra and eggplants are common) and it usually is served with either rice or bread.
Kari debal a Eurasian Singaporean curry dish with Portuguese and Peranakan influence includes chicken, cabbage, sausage, and bacon bits stewed in a curry sauce.
Kari lemak ayam a Peranakan chicken curry with a coconut milk base.
Kueh pie tee a thin and crispy pastry tart shell filled with a spicy, sweet mixture of thinly sliced vegetables and prawns is a popular Peranakan dish.
Laksa thick rice noodles (bee hoon) in a coconut curry gravy with prawn, egg and sometimes with the addition of chicken, tau pok (beancurd puffs) or fish cake is Peranakan in origin; a specifically Singaporean variant (as opposed to shared by Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine) is Katong laksa; raw or lightly blanched cockles also are usually added to the dish and the cutting of the noodles, both being a distinctive trademark.
Mee goring yellow egg noodles stir fried with ghee, tomato sauce, some chilli, egg, vegetables, and various meats and seafood may be added.
Sambal kangkong a dish of leafy green vegetables (water spinach) fried in sambal.
Tauhu goring fried bean curd with sweet sauce is served at many Malay stalls.
Tutu kueh steamed rice flour pastries with a sweet shredded coconut / peanut filling.
Singapore Seafood Dishes
Black pepper crab hard shell crabs cooked in a black pepper sauce.
Oyster omelette an oyster omelette mixed with flour and fried, garnished with coriander leaves.
Sambal stingray/hang hir smothered in sambal and served on banana leaf, also known as ikan bakar in Malay, is unique in Singapore and very common in Malaysia.
Singapore Desserts
Cheng tng a light refreshing soup with longans, barley, agar strips, lotus seeds and sweet syrup, served hot or cold, analogous to the Cantonese Ching bo leung.
Ice kacang a mound of grated ice on a base consisting of jelly, red beans, corn and attap seeds, and topped with various kinds of coloured sugar syrups such as palm sugar, rose syrup and evaporated milk.
Kuih / kueh small cakes or coconut milk based desserts that come in a variety of flavors, usually having fruit such as durian, banana, or sometimes pandan and commonly in Malay, Indonesian, and Peranakan cooking; Kueh lapis is a rich, multi-layered cake-style kueh using a large amount of egg whites and studded with prunes;
Lapis sagu is also a popular kueh with layers of alternating color and a sweet, coconut taste.
Or-ni a Teochew dish consisting of yam paste, coconut paste and ginko nuts, a popular dish in Chinese restaurants.
Pulut hitam a creamy dessert made of black glutinous rice and served with coconut cream Tau suan, mung daal beans in jelly, served hot, with dough crullers.
Popular Singaporean drinks
Bandung rose syrup with evaporated milk.
Chin chow drink sweetened drink with grass jelly.
Kopi-O a cup of coffee without milk.
Kopi-Siew Dai it is a coffee request for less sugar.
Sugar cane juice usually taken fresh from farms and ground into a freshly blended juice.
Teh halia tarik ginger tea with milk pulled (tarik).
Teh-C-peng tea with evaporated milk with ice.