CHIU CHOW COMFORT FOOD

Singapore has a lot of Chiu Chow traditions in her cooking and fish soup, fish ball noodles, fish congee are among the most popular street eats. I can never pass one of these joints without stopping for a taste break. It is simple ingredients prepared in the simplest manner. Walking past the Lavender Street Food Court I asked for the most popular one and was pointed to Mr Chew's who I was able to learn from.

Everything revolves around the soup base, he told me, which is stock from a concoction of fish heads, tails, fins after being filleted. Next to this thick stock is a pot of boiling 'something' to dilute the base, which I suspect has MSG in it. I ordered the Red Snapper soup for S$6 (ordinary fish is S$4 only) and while the fillets were being poached he prepped the bowl with soya sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce, julienne of Chinese lettuce, finely chopped Chinese parsley stalks ie 2 to 3 inches from the roots which carry the most flavor per my Thai Wandee training, crispy fried garlic slices and sweet preserved turnip cubes. In a separate saucepan the poached snapper fillets are brought to a boil one last time in the diluted stock, before pouring the whole lot into the bowl. Adding to it a sprinkle of freshly chopped scallions and Chinese parsley leaves another creation is ready, preferrably tongue burning hot.

Comfort food par excellence, quite doable at home too. Try it!