Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: My tiny kitchen

I always find something funny about a dish that is named after a region, but in fact doesn’t exist or even known by anyone who lives in that region. If you know someone who grew up in Macau or Hong Kong and ask them about Singapore Fried Noodles, most likely they will tell you, without even a pause, that it is rice noodles stir-fried with pork, shredded onion and flavoured with curry. Grew up eating Singapore Fried Noodles, it was one of the things I knew about Singapore when I was small. All this changed when I first landed my foot in Singapore. After strolling through the long stretch of food stalls, I found different kinds of appetizing stir-fried noodles and not of them was cooked in curry. Disappointed, I found out from ET that Singapore Fried Noodles never existed in Singapore.

Well, if something doesn’t exist in the region after it is named, it doesn’t mean it does not exist at all. Every so often, I will whip up my own version of Singapore Fried Noodles. When you know a place or a person by a certain way, sometimes you want to keep knowing them that way.

This recipe makes 4 servings and you will need:

- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 20 large and thinly slices of pork. I use the pre-sliced pieces that are made for hotpot because they are usually very tender:

- Rice noodles enough for 4 people. I like to use the ones made in Taiwan. Taiwanese people are known for making good rice noodles:

- Chicken stock
- Japanese rice wine
- Ready-for-use curry sauce. I used the one made by Lee Kum Kee:

1. Marinate the pork with:
- 1 tbsp of brown sugar
- 1 tbsp of onion powder
- 1 tsp of salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp of Japanese wine

2. Julienne the bell peppers and onion.

3. Cook the rice noodles in boiling water until soften, which takes about a few minutes after the water boils. Drain the noodles and rinse them under cold water for 5 minutes. Drain them again. Divide the noodles into 3 batches.

4. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and stir fry the pork until it is almost cook but slightly pink. Set aside.

5. In a pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil and stir fry the bell pepper and onion for a few minutes until they just start to become soft. Add in a pinch of salt and black pepper.

6. In a non stick pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add the first of batch of noodles and stir fry for a minute. Add 3 tbsp of curry sauce and thoroughly mix the sauce into the noodles. If the noodles become dry, add in the wine and chicken stock, a few tablespoonfuls each time. When the curry sauce has been thoroughly incorporated into the noodles, add in 1/3 of the pork and 1/3 of the bell pepper and onion. Continue to stir fry until everything is well mixed. The noodles should not be dry. The noodles should be moist but not wet enough to have sauce sitting in the bottom of the pan.

7. Continue step 6 with two remaining batches of noodles.

Location: Kolkata

Author: My Husband

I asked some of my India-based colleagues if they ate Chinese food, and the response was an overwhelming “Yes!” One of them volunteered that many Indians love Chinese food, but he goes on to explain that Chinese food in India is different (i.e. much spicier) than that available elsewhere. This really piqued my curiosity, so one evening, I suggested to D and M that we have dinner at Chinoiserie, the Taj’s Chinese restaurant.

The entrance is a bit nondescript for a fine-dining restaurant…

But the table setting and stemware certainly didn’t look out of place.

The head chef – originally from Hunan – at Chinoiserie actually came by the table to take our order personally. Frankly, I think he was just happy to have the opportunity to meet some people with whom he could converse in Mandarin.

Before our main dishes arrived, we were given some pickled veggies to whet our appetities.

Before long, our mains arrived. Like Sonargaon, the waiters divvied up the food between the three of us. However, the portions at Chinoiserie were more generous and as a result, there was enough food remaining for seconds and thirds.

Stir-fried veg. with mushrooms. Tasted like regular stir-fried veggies to me.

Lemon chicken. This was a deep-fried chicken cutlet dressed with a sweet/tart lemon sauce, very much like what Hon’s serves. I remember thinking that the Hon’s version actually tasted better.

Stir-fried Spicy Lamb. This was probably the best dish of the evening; the meat was tender and the spiciness added an extra kick to it. As you can see, it doesn’t look appreciably different than any stir-fried meat dishes in North America…

I think the chef tried to make the dishes a little more “Chinese” for us, so we didn’t get to experience the Chinese-Indian fusion flavours described by our colleagues. Since the food wasn’t much different than that available back home, we only visited Chinoiserie once.

Location: Kolkata

Author: My Husband

The Taj is an excellent hotel, and most of the restaurants in the property were correspondingly excellent. Sonargaon, the Indian restaurant, was where my colleagues and I ended up having dinner most often.

The décor is quite elaborate, with the designer trying to create the look and feel of a rural house.

The photos below show one of our dinners there. The waiters actually divvied up the portions onto our plates, which we found novel at first. But then, it became quite impractical as each of us ended up being over/under served. On subsequent visits, we told the waiters to just leave the food on the table.

Instead of the trio of chutneys typically served in Vancouver Indian restaurants, Sonargaon provides a plate of pickled pearl onions, onion slivers, as well as cucumber and carrot sticks. For the more adventurous, there were also two super hot chilli peppers.

Papadams were nicely crispy and spicy, though my colleague M thought they were a little too spicy.

Raan Sonargaon. This is a tandoor roasted leg of lamb finished in a curry sauce, and is a northern Indian dish. The meat was tender, and the curry a little milder than the Kosha Mangsho (below). This is consistent with what I have been told: that northern Indian dishes tend to be less spicy compared to their southern counterparts.

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