Original subtitles

[Mark] I'm a vlogger [joyful music]

who travels the world in pursuit of delicious food

and I've always been fascinated by Singapore.

Here, the obsession with food is real.

I'm exploring the extremes

of this food paradise

that marries cultures and

cuisines like no other.

From searching for soulful street food

to exploring the heights of fine dining.

It's a love affair with food

and I'm ready to eat.

[music fades]

[upbeat music]

Peranakan food is one of my favorcuisineieties of

that you won't find outside of this region.

Most Peranakans in Singapore

are the descendants of early Chinese traders

who married local women

of Malay or Indonesian ancestry.

Their food is something else.

It's a unique mix of Chinese and Malay flavors.

I can't wait to show you more.

[music stops]

[Mark] I'm here with Violet Oon

a Singaporean Peranakan.

She's a renowned chef

writer, restaurateur

but to many [peaceful music]

she's Singapore's Queen of Peranakan cuisine

and my perfect guide

into this little known culinary world.

I'm in for a special treat today.

Violet's invited me over to her home

to teach me more about

the foundations of Peranakan cooking

and she's personally prepared some of

her favorite dishes for me to try.

To somebody who has never had it before

how would you describe Peranakan food?

The perfect marriage of the East and the East.

And it started from the heartland of Malacca

and then Penang and Singapore.

Peranakan food was very home-based.

When I was a child, there was only one famous restaurant.

I came from a household

where my mother didn't cook at first.

And my aunts cooked.

You know, I love the food.

And my poor aunts...

I asked them to teach me to cook

because I was thinking, "What they're not here anymore?

Where am I going to eat this food?"

That's why I learned to cook.

Survival...

for my taste buds.

I would like you to taste three dishes.

One is with a Chinese base

and one is with a Malay base

and one is a dessert, a kueh.

[Mark] Great. [music stops]

Well, the first dish [joyful music]

is Chinese influenced.

It's called ayam tempra.

Ayam is the Malay word for chicken.

Then you have chili, sliced onions

and then you have limes.

And what makes it Chinese

is dark soy sauce.

So you're going to taste sweet, sour, salty

and this is like, my favorite dish.

So I'll give you a wing and then I'll give you

another piece [Mark laughing]

- and try the gravy. - [Mark] Oh yeah.

The gravy looks so rich.

Oh man, that is perfect.

[Mark biting and chewing]

Oh.

Oh, incredible.t is

[Mark] You do taste sweet and sour and yet it's not...

It's a different type of sweet and sour

because it's more of that acidic citrusy sourness.

- Because of the lime, yeah. - Yeah, that citrusy sourness.

Plus, the sweetness is not overpowering.

It's just like a perfect harmony.

- I'm so happy you like it. - [Mark] I love it.

It tastes so homely.

It's such a perfect harmony of flavors.

Yeah, that is delicious.

You're gonna wanna just keep licking your fingers and...

licking that bone until it's clean.

Yes.

[Mark biting and chewing]

- I love it. - That's nice.

In our Peranakan cooking, we have a Mdish influenced

and this one is very special to us.

It's called sambal belimbing.

Now, it's actually made up of a spice mix

which is shallot, chili

belacan, which is shrimp paste

and candlenut.

Flavored by kaffir lime leaf

which has a lovely aroma, [Mark sniffing]

And Mark, this is lemongrass.

In our culture, we'd smash it [pestle and mortar pounding]

and that releases the aroma.

You can smell it. [Mark sniffing]

The star turn is this fruit called belimbing

which is a sour fruit and...

Mark, would you like to lift up that branch?

So this is a belimbing plant. [Mark laughing]

It's a bit like a star fruit

but it has much more character to it.

You know, we don't have this fruit very often.

Have a bite.

[Mark biting] [Violet] It's cringe sour.

So crisp and so juicy.

It's such a wonderful... just sharp sourness.

It's the type of sourness that just...

- will wake you up. - Makes you cringe.

Yeah, cringe your eyes a little bit

but it's so good at the same time.

I love it.

Are you ready to have a taste, Mark?

[Mark] Yes, I can't wait.

So, it's got prawn and belimbing.

This is a very traditional version.

[Mark chewing]

[Violet] So, do you like it?

The belimbing is sour and acidic

to kind richnessast the

- of that thick coconut cream. - Yeah.

But together, it's a perfect balance.

Well, in our culture

there's something called kueh

which is a Malay word for and in Chinese as well.

So this is kueh kochi

and it's got coconut with palm sugar

called gula melaka.

They are formed into balls

and then rolled in glutinous rice skin.

So these are already rolled.

And are yoyours?y to make

Let's see here. Let me get a pivot point here.

Insert it into the banana leaf

and then you drop a pandan leaf in.

OK.

Thank you.

Tuck it in and then we wrap it up

and then you get a beautiful cone at the end.

Oh yeah, ishort little bit

but I think we're gonna have to make it work.

- You've done it! - And then we set it down.

And you're going to steam this for 15 minutes.

Perfect... [Mark laughing]

Chomp into oit. please open

Thank you.

I'm going to unwrap the package.

Have a taste and see how it is like.

[Mark] I love how it takes on the shape of that...

- [Violet] The cone, right? - [Mark] Yeah, exactly.

And so, that ball of gula melaka

and the coconut are all within...

- Inside. - Inside.

Delicious.

That gula melaka, that palm sugar, has this...

It's not a sharp sweetness, it's msweetness.ellow

- That caramel-ey kind of - And that contrasts

with this glutinous rice.

Oh, it's wonderful.

So do you like our Peranakan food?

- I love it. - Thank you...

So earlier on, you mentioned that you're...

I mean, you really started cooking

to preserve the tradition and the recipes

of Peranakan cuisine.

Now that we're going forward are you optimistic?

Oh, I'm very optimistic.

Now there's a proliferation of Peranakan restaurants

which gives me real hope that it will go on.

It's such an attractive food and people have discovered it.

I hope to be a point of reference

where the younger chefs who are so creative

can just use it and play with the food.

[music stops]

[upbeat music] [pestle and mortar pounding]

[Mark] Chef Malcolm Lee was the first Peranakan chef

to earn a Michelin star

with his breakout restaurant, Candlenut.

Chef Malcolm's culinary journey began

helping his mom and grandma in the kitchen growing up.

And the food at Candlenut serves as a reflection

of these delicious childhood memories.

I'm here to see how this local chef

has elevated these familiar flavors

thrusting Peranakan cuisine

into the fine dining spotlight.

So Mark,kitchen. to our

You know, the best way to introduce you

to Peranakan cuisine is to cook it.

The dish that we are going to do today

is the buah keluak

also known as the black nut

which is the dish that we are very famous for.

Actually, it's a seed

but do not eat the fruit or the seed raw

that means, unprocessed

because it's poisonous.

This hprocessed. been

It has been boiled and buried with ash and banana

leaves for 40 days.

All right, so this has been kind of toxins.d of its

Already, it's fermented.

We have to soak these nuts changing the water every day.

This is what we get after three to five days.

All right, this may look like nothing

but it's going to taste fabulous.

Awesome.

Most people usually do it [peaceful music]

with chicken

but the recipe that I'm going to show you today

is going to be done with pork.

This is a recipe from my Aunt Caroline

and she says that

the porkrichnessot more

in terms of the flavor and texture as well.

It just allows the flavor to absorb into the pork

a lot better. [music stops]

[upbeat music] All right, Mark, let's start

the hard work right now.

We need to dig our way in to extract it.

[pestle smashing]

[Malcolm] This is what we are looking for.

- [Mark] That color. - [Malcolm] Yeah.

You can give it a sniff.

[Mark sniffing]

Almost, I'm smelling, like

a little bit of a mushroom aroma to it.

And we need to take out the filling.

So now, you try.

- OK? - All right.

[hammer smashing]

[Mark] This one has a really dark chocolate cake

kind of color to it.

[Malcolm] All right, so this is the paste

that we are going to use in the dish later.

We're going to have to strain it one time

because there's some bits of shell inside

and you don't want someone to chew on it

and get a broken tooth.

And next, we are going to prepare

one of the foundations for a lot of Peranakan dishes

which is called a rempah

or simply means a spice paste.

I usually like to pound the dry chili first.

[pestle and mortar pounding]

I'm just going to put the shrimp paste inside now.

[pestle and mortar pounding]

[Mark] Oh yeah. That gives it a little bit of texture.

[Malcolm] OK, now we're gonna add garlic.

[pestle and mortar pounding]

All ingredient.final

- OK. Wow. - We're almost there...

OK? Shallot.

[pestle and mortar pounding]

Hey Mark, that looks very good already.

- All right! - How's your arm doing?

- Oh, I'll be sore tomorrow. - I can see...

[both laughing]

- That was a workout. - I can see that.

[Malcolm] So I'm going to scrape allbowl. out into a

See the spice paste?

- [Mark] Oh, yeah. - It's ncreamy. sticky,

- [Mark] So much flavor. - [Malcolm] Yeah.

What we're going to do now

is to continue to develop flavor.

We're going to fry the rempah

[mixture frying] to caramelize it.

The shallots, the garlic...

the aroma imout.ately comes

Oh, I wanna bathe in that [Malcolm laughing]

[Mark laughing]

OK, now we are ready to add

the pork to the rempah.

New aromas are emerging.

Yeah.

A bit of that pork and pork lard coming out.

[Mark] Yeah.

Combiningpaste.the chili

So, right now, we're going to put

the buah keluak paste

the black nut paste in here

and it's gonna change again.

That's such a special ingredient.

You can smell it already.

It's those earthy notes that start to come out.

We're just going to add more aromatics.

We have the lemongrass

the kaffir lime.

All right, after this, I'm just going to add water.

[Mark] Wow.

[Malcolm] Allow it to braise for about two hours.

OK, Mark. The only thing we can do wait. now is to

But we're gonna go to the dining room

and we're going to serve some dishes from our menu

and I hope you enjoy them.

Oh, fantastic. [music stops]

[peaceful music]

We've prepared some dishes here today.

And so, here we have a wing bean salad.

The traditional way is a lot more heavier in style

but I decided to do something a bit lighter

and add inherbst of fresh

like mint leaves

and sliced lemongrass [knife cutting]

And the dressing, I kept very simple

with a calamansi lime [liquid pouring]

[Mark chewing]

Oh, yeah.

It's so refreshing.

The lime gives it almost an orange juice

kind of citrusy brightness.

The wing beans [knife cutting]

have a kind of similar texture to, like, boiled green beans

in that they're refreshing has that crispness to it.

The shallots come in.

You've got the herbal touch with the coriander

with some mint in there

and then the lemongrass is justbackground. the

That foundation of aroma is really good.

And Mark, the next dish we're going to try

is the crab curry.

It's done with some turmeric

galangal

and also lots of coconut milk

and finished with calamansi lime.

OK.

Loaded with crab.

[Malcolm] And this was a dish that we created

nine years ago.

And the moment it was on the menu

it's like we couldn't remove it at all.

- [Mark] So, unchanged? - Unchanged, yeah.

[Mark] That sauce is so thick from that coconut milk.

Oh, wow.

That is just amazing.

The sweet, stringy crab

the thick, rich coconut cream

and milk just coming together.

The flavor of those spices

the galangal, the turmeric

the lemongrass

the citrusy-ness of those lime leaves.

But everything in a perfect harmony

a perfect balance.

Nothing, like, overpowering each other.

This, to me, is a type of food that I absolutely love.

From what I've been learning about Peranakan food

is that it's very much a home-based cuisine.

- Yes, it is. - How did you learn

Peranakan cooking? [music stops]

Well, I learnt the hard way

by suffering [joyful music]

with my mom and grandma's teaching.

They really taught me the foundatfoodof all this

from the ingredients to the preparing.

At the same time, it's that patience

and attention to detail.

Yeah, so that all really from my family.

What inspired you to take Peranakan food

to a fine dining level?

You know, actually, interestingly

my journey started off

really wanting to learn more about Western cuisine

because that was kind of the cool thing, right?

But after a while, I realized

if I'm spending so much time

learning about other people's culture

then I should be spending time

learning about our own our own culture and recipes.

So that was the turning point.

If I learn this

I want tpeople. it with

And hence the restaurant was born.

And also, the food that we present

has also taken a slightly more contemporary touch.

All right, this is all the hard work

that we did just now.

It's ready for you to try.

This is our pork buah keluak

done with the soft bone

that has been cooked down into this dry curry state

and it's really, really full of flavor.

[music stops]

[Mark] Look how moist and meaty it is

on the center. [peaceful music]

You can see the fibers of the pork.

Oh, it's just... That pork is just completely

fall-apart tender.

The... I mean...

all of those components and spices

the rempah, and the...

especially that buah keluak

is so aromatic.

You just...

Smells incredible.

[Mark chewing]

Yes!

Oh, this is...

this is the dish.

The pork is so tender it just melts in your mouth.

I mean, it's almost hard to describe

because it's so complex.

You really prominently taste the flavor

of the buah keluak.

A little bit earthy

a hint of chocolaty notes

a hint of bitterness

even a hint of sweetness.

It's jusflavor.nsed with

And then, all of that [food stir-frying]

wrapped up within that pork

that's just been simmered [broth boiling]

The oils have just absorbed into the nut.

It's just a flavor overdose.

Peranakan food sometimes

it looks very simple.

The colors may not look particularly...

you know, may not jump out at you

but the flavor is so good.

For me, it's the best food in the world.

Something I believe can be up there

with the other famous cuisines of the world.

And everyothis.ould enjoy

For sure.

[jazz music]

And here it is, our dessert

the buah keluak ice cream. [music stops]

[joyful music]

There's layers of flavor

with the salted caramel at the bottom

chocolate crumble that has mixed with some chili.

The ice cream itself

is made from the earthy buah keluak

and finished with the warm milk chocolate sauce.

[Mark] Wow, look at that chocolaty goodness

on the inside.

I'm gonna make sure to get

a little bit of everything in one bite.

The flavors are building.

They keep on coming.

Wow, this is a beautifully done dessert.

Not too sweet.

And I never thought that as we were scraping

those buah keluak nuts

that it would ever translate into something sweet

into a dessert like this.

Chef Malcolm, I think thdemonstrationing

of how you're taking a traditional ingredient

but then reinterpreting it in your own way.

I think that's what we always strive to do.

You know, being a very traditional cuisine

it's difficult to find that balance, you know.

Being too traditional

you may end up not being able [knife cutting]

to connect with the current generation

but if you take it too far

and then it kind of loses its soul.

Definitely. And Chef Malcolm

this is a surprising and delicious ending

to this outstanding meal.

[Malcolm laughing]

Wow. [music stops]

[upbeat music] [Mark] While the complexity

of Peranakan food lends itself well

in the hands of a fine dining chef like Malcolm

the flavors of this cherished cuisine

are not lost at hawker centers either.

There are different kinds of

Peranakan-inspired hawker dishes

but Malcolm tells me the one he can

never say no to [music stops]

is laksa.

[peaceful music]

[Mark] Old Nyonya is run by Tony and Ruby

a husband and wife team.

Tony, a former civil servant

and Ruby, a former salesperson

quit their day jobs to start this stall.

Old Nyonya serves hearty bowls of laksa.

In Peranakan culture

the women are referred to as "nyonya"

and it's the nyonyas of this community

who created this special cuisine.

[fire burning]

There is a lot of prep that goes into making laksa

if you still do it the old school way

which this place does.

The broth, which is the soul of the dish

requires a tedious process if made from scratch.

First, ingredients like shallots

chilies and a whole lot more are blended.

[blender running]

The blend is then fried with sambal

a kind of chili paste.

This creates a mouthwatering, fiery mixture.

It's then combined with a concoction

containing lemongrass [food dropping]

rock sugar and a secret sauce.

It's left to sit for two hours [broth boiling]

[coconut milk pouring] then coconut milk

and fried tofu are added. [tofu dropping]

Once the broth is ready

it's ladled over blanched rice noodles

and garnished with ingredients like

prawns, bean sprouts and a hard-boiled egg.

Laksa is, like, one of my favorite things

so I can't wait as well. [music stops]

Oh, here we go!

- Oh, nice. - Thank you.

Immediately as she set it you can just smell that aroma.

- [Malcolm] Yeah... - OK, so tfirst?hat broth

[Malcolm] Yeah.

[both slurping]

[joyful music] Oh, that is...

warm and comforting.

It's creamy from the coconut milk.

That foundation of all of those herbs

and that chili paste.

Oh, it's just so tasty. What do Malcolm?k, Chef

It's like an explosion of flavors inside.

You have the layers of the chili spices

and then the creaminess at the end.

And the finish is so

well balanced. [music stops]

Now we mix the laksa leaves

and the sambal chili together in the broth.

[joyful music] Oh yeah, I can smell that laksa leaf.

Yeah.

[Mark slurping]

- Actually it even got c- Yeah..

As I stirred that around

I think maybe it unleashed some of thcream.a coconut

More creamy... [Malcolm laughing]

you do taste the laksa leaf...

- Yes. - Which gives it more of a...

just a hint of a minty, coriander taste.

And then the sambal does

bump up that heat level just a little bit.

- Yeah, it is. - It's great.

And then now, we go straight to everything else.

Now we go all in.

Good, huh?

Yeah. Oh, that's...

- That's the bite right there. - Yeah.

With the noodles...

they're really slippery.

Yeah. It just glides down your throat.

Yeah, they just kind of glide down. [Malcolm laughing]

[Mark laughing] But it's very good...

But yeah, all the flavors just come together.

The slippery noodles, you taste that...

kind of shrimp paste flavor to it.

You've got that laksa leaf

and then just the creaminess of the coconut milk.

- [Malcolm] Exactly. - That's wonderful.

That's why laksa is

one of my all-time favorite dishes to eat.

Comforting.

Yeah, and it ofst reminds me

home, family [music stops]

and happiness. [Malcolm laughing]

- [Mark] Happiness. - Yeah.

Hello! [joyful music]

[Mandarin] How's the laksa?

- Very good! - Is it OK?

Nice, yeah.

- Please sit and join us. - Amazing.

Yeah, have a seat, please!

How did you get into this line of work?

When he was still working in the office

he would prepare and cook a lot of food over the weekend

and share them with his colleagues on Monday.

His colleagues said his food was really delicious.

I was doing that for more than ten years.

One day, I told my wife

"Why don't we open a stall and see how things go?"

That's how we started this business.

How's your life different now than before

when you worked in an office? [music stops]

When I had my office job, I could take days off

or take annual leave to go on holidays

or just to take a break. [joyful music]

But now, we have no holidays

and we don'off.ke any days

We need to work every day.

We work long hours in the hot weather.

It can be over 35°C here at the stall.

What drives you to keep on going?

We have lots of regular customers

who tell us that our food is amazing.

They would ask when our rest days are

so they wouldn't come down on our rest day

and be disappointed.

Sometimes, I'd see customers, even tourists

holding up their bowl to down the broth

or slurping the entire bowl of broth with their spoon.

They'd drink the broth down to the last drop.

And Mark, as we just heard

you know, Aunty Ruby and Uncle Tony

they put in so much time and effort

into making a bowl of laksa like this

and it's delicious, right?

We can really taste it.

I believe with the time that they put in

it is as complex as any

you know, world-famous noodle dishes

and we should recognize that.

Your effort is very much appreciated.

The laksa is amazing.

It takes a lot of effort to make this dish

but this is where our passion lies

so we will persevere.

Especially when we see customers coming back

because they enjoy our food so much.

So, no mattgetsow tough it

we'll keep the business going.

[music stops]

[chill lo-fi music]

It's sundown and I've found a place

that serves Peranakan-inspired cocktails.

It's a restaurant bar called Cherki

within Singapore's central business district.

I've ordered up a cocktail

which is called Dancing in the Moonshine.

It's a rum based cocktail

which is a reimagination [shaker tin shaking]

of a Malay dessert [cocktail pouring]

called bubur cha cha.

And so there are some of

those signature flavors in there.

There's yam, there's pandan

and coconut milk.

Served with a spoon.

So, that definitely means

we're gonna need to scoop and drink.

And that's where the rum kicks in.

When you drink it from the straw.

Fruity.

It has great flavor of that coconut milk

and it's just very refreshing

and has a really nice kind of tropical feel to it.

Oh, this is a sweet ending [joyful music]

to all of the delicious Peranakan food.

My experiences with these Peranakan chefs

really reminded me of home

where my mother-in-law would spend hours

making curry pastes from scratch.

I really love

the combination of ingredients that go into Peranakan food

and the mix of cultures that it represents.

I love even the different mix of dishes

that all make a family meal complete.

I really believe that Peranakan cuisine

is one of the lesser known cuisines

but it is a food that you have to try

when you're in this region of Southeast Asia.

If you don't, you're missing out.

Can't believe we got down

to the bottom of the bowl so quickly.

And that bowl is clean. [music stops]

- Yes. - Cleaned out.

[upbeat music] Cleaned out.

[music stops]