Must Try Singapore Street Food

One of the local dishes that has been acclaimed to represent Singapore is Hainanese Chicken Rice which is an exquisite dish that highlights cooking using less seasoning but in the most accurate manner.

Perfect poached chicken is used in the dish, which is boiled, typically by placing the whole chicken into rather hot water until is fully cooked, the meat is juicy and rich in taste. It is accompanied by warm rice in chicken broth – the rice seasoned with ginger, garlic, and pandan leaf that has an aromatic flavor.

The dish is typically accompanied by a trio of sauces: a spicy chili sauce, a ginger paste, and a black soya sauce each infuses a different flavor into the resultant curry that together forms a complete range of flavor palate.

Not only is the chicken tender, but the Hainanese Chicken Rice also served with slices of cucumber and sometimes a bowl of light chicken soup are both rich in textures and flavours. Originally from Hainan province in Southern China, it has migrated and developed into the ultimate culinary delight most especially in the warm lig_charm and warm embrace of Singapore.

Chilli Crab, regarded by many as Singapore’s de facto national delicacy, is a Spicy dish involving seafood, especially crabs. Delicious sweet meat mud crabs are grilled and nestled in a robust dense spicy tomato sauce that has flavors of ginger, garlic, and chilies.

The fiery red gravy is a mixture of chili paste and tomato puree each plate garnished at times with fermented shrimp paste known as Belacan. Its flavor is sweet, sour, and spicy and due to the interplay of various components, the taste is harmonious and gives a pulsing effect.

Exclamation The crab meat soaks all the flavors in and there are the crunchy fried mantou buns served on the side for you to scoop up the thick sauce – a must-order to make sure you get every last drop. expand_more Best when consumed with the company, this fried ‘chicken with rice’ is truly a bang that sums up the essence of the Singaporean culinary scene for a group of diners.

Fish Head Curry is incredibly delicious and very spicy, many people when first encountering this dish or hearing the name will guess wrong. Well-known in South Asia, especially in Kerala, Goa, and Andhra Pradesh for its preparation, it enables the usage of the fish head which is very tasty and ensures there is no wastage.

Robust and sour, the head usually that of a red snapper or pomfret is cooked in a bold curry gravy. This non-vegetarian curry is usually prepared with a combination of spices such as turmeric, coriander, chili, and fenugreek, added to which is coconut milk to make it rich and sour.

Tomatoes, onions, and at times okuma all enhance the textural aspect of the food due to their vegetable nature. The end product creates one of the most delicious curries one is capable of tasting, the fish head meat is soft and the head itself is tender due to all the collagen it includes.

The head – it can be served whole for optimal theatrical appeal, however, it simply flakes off and looks mouth watering for the appetite of the adventurous gourmet. Best served with plain parboiled rice and for a Tamilnadu-style nonvegetarian specialty, try it out with steamed rice, appams, or crispy fried idlis.

Contrary to the name fried carrot cake in Singapore may involve stir-fried beansprouts, tofu, and potatoes and doesn’t resemble anything like carrot cake as known in Western countries. This local favorite, normally coming from rice flour mixed with radish and then deep fried to make it crunchy on the outside, consists of shredded white radish cake.

The eggs are beaten and dispensed on the batter and this gives the batter some fluffy regions. The true highlight, however, is the chili for preserves that include preserved radish also known as ‘chai poh’ for its saline taste the dish is flavored with other condiments to give it a more outrageous feel.

Fried carrot cake comes in two main styles: For a light color, try the “white”, containing just eggs and radish, while the “black” is made with a sweet dark soy sauce that gives the dish a darker, caramelized result. Served piping hot, it is a favorite amongst those who buy street food or indulge in hawker center items, best eaten for breakfast or as a snack.

Char Kway Teow is a delicious stir-fried flat rice noodle that is one of the popular dishes in Southeast Asia especially in Singapore and Malaysia. This dish’s name reveals its preparation technique, which goes by the Hokkien term for stir-fried (char), and its starring ingredient: broad, flat rice noodles known as kway teow in the local dialect. It is a dish that exhibits tradition and innovation in both ingredients and preparation techniques.

They prepare wide flat rice noodles kentia – stir-fried at high temperature in a wok and a fabulous orchestra of spices. You are likely to get big, juicy prawns, Chinese sausage which is exotic, and bean sprouts that are naturally grown, and chives that are harvested just before preparation.

The main recipe of this food comes from the way how it is dressed up, which consists of light soy sauce, thick soy sauce, and chili paste while it may also include the fermented shrimp paste known as belacan.

This is usually finished with a smoky “wok hei” flavor which is got through high heat usage which adds depth to this dish. Char Kway Teow is one of the quintessential dishes of a hawker center or several markets as it is easy to find yet it consequently reflects the flavors of Southeast Asia.

Unlike kongbazha which is a Fujianese much-shopped meat roll that is deep-fried like Ngoh Hiang. Originally from Thailand, it’s similar to numerous other regional dishes in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, for example. The standout here is always a rather tasty filling that normally relies on seasoned ground pork or pork and shrimp. This filling is agreed to be seasoned occasionally with the "five-spice powder" to create a distinct taste.

This is then rolled into what looks like a bean curd skin and is then shaped like a sausage. They are then steamed for a time to cook gently and further deep fried until they become crispy Again, these wrapped rolls are then steamed for gentle cooking before deep fried until crispy. It then needs to be served with chili sauce and sweet sauce to complement and contract the taste of Ngoh Hiang. Fried squid is well-known and can be a snack/function food at parties, a main dish, or even used as an ingredient in other dishes such as fried bee hoon.

Laksa is a savoring noodle soup that is considered a traditional Singaporean meal and presents the remarkable multiculturalism of Singapore’s food culture. The taste as well as aroma of this dish have both Chinese, Malay, as well as Straits-born origins making for one heart-warming bowl of deliciousness.

In its more conventional form, a touch of thick rice noodles or vermicelli plunges in a spicy coconut milk soup augmented with tastes of lemongrass, galangal, and dried shrimp paste. The broth looks like a beautiful, rich sunny colour and it has a thick enriched creamy texture.

Steamed rice is usually served with a vast quantity of shrimp or fried fish cakes, delicious chicken and/or tofu skin, and different textures in every spoonful. You can then add fresh bean sprouts in a handful and fresh herbs for garnishing and finally, the lime juice adds an invigorating taste.

This main dish is normally served with a spoonful of sambal chili in the center of the serving plate and a sprig of Vietnamese coriander (laksa leaf) which can be varied to one’s spicy taste. The thick and rich coconut milk base added to the lip-numbing heat and the delightful savoriness that comes with soy sauce put Laksa on the list of Singapore’s most influential street foods and is worth trying for any adventurous eater.

Durian, the fragile and highly prized “King of Fruits” causes a heated desire as well as loathing depending on the endowment, and for good reason, it is a local favorite for its custard-like texture that bears an odor nearly as pungent as one’s imagination.

This greenish-brown fruit is shaped like a spiky ball and is well-known for its unpleasant smell that many do not fancy; it is said to smell like rotten onions or turpentine and it is hence banned from many public facilities including hotels and other modes of transport.

Unlike others who might shy away because of the smell, fans of durian embrace it are an essential factor for the fruit. Behind the prickly skin, one finds what appears to be a soft and light yellow creamy texture like custard that surprisingly provides a rich and different test of sweetness backed up with a bit of saltiness and bitterness at the same time.

The texture is velvety and creamy and it can be said, that its consistency is somewhere in between a custard and butter. The taste of the fruit may also differ depending on the type of durio and these range from being sweet to sharp, strong, and almost toxic sometimes.

The Fruit is commonly eaten fresh in Singapore though it can also be found in recipes for several food dishes such as ice creams, puffs, pancakes, and even as a garnish for fried rice. It is enjoyed most when it’s in its full season which is from June to August and many people of all the seasons enjoy it at stalls that sell the fruit. However, being able to eat durian remains greatly associated with Singapore’s food scene, and is believed that whoever dares to taste that exotic fruit, will pass it as a ‘foodie’.

Satay is a popular local food found on the streets of Singapore and it is a juicy, succulent, and angelic food; a clear indication of the blended melting pot of Singapore. This is a dish of skewered and barbecued meat chunks, chicken, beef, and mutton more often marinated with veggies and spices, grilled to a smoky crisp on a charcoal fire.

That can also be a marinade based on sweet soy sauce as well as turmeric coriander and cumin, mixed with garlic, which adds in depth of aroma to the meat. When barbecued to an optimum tenderness, satay used to be accompanied by a thick paste of ground peanuts which is spicy and sweet, offering an opponent and a creamy context to the grilled dishes.

From the above descriptions, this skewered chicken is served with fresh cucumbers and onions – which provide that raw, crunchy contrast to counter the satay – as well as ketupat, compressed rice cakes that can soak up the heavy flavors.

Satay in essence is said to hail from Indonesia, though the country of Singapore has been known to incorporate this particular dish and include it in hawker centers and night supermarkets. Raw satay can be eaten at any time of the day as a snack or a full meal, and it represents the kicked-up street food culture of modern Singapore with spices, smokiness, sweetness, and saltiness all rolled into one meaty stick.

These Singaporean noodles represent the best of Singaporean flavors that have been doled out in bowls scattered in the streets. Meaning minced meat noodles in Teochew dialect, Bak Chor Mee is a highly flavorful dish using springy noodles that is often accompanied by a dashingly satisfying, tangy, and savory sauce.

A rich taste is attributed to the ritual use of ordinary black vinegar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and chili paste. What is unarguably great about Bak Chor Mee though is the relative lavishing of minced pork accompanied by soft slices of braised mushrooms, pork livers, and at times minuscule pork meatballs.

Sometimes the dish comes with crispy cracked lard skin and green scallion as well the crunchy and firm bean sprouts paired with fish cake or fried fish dumplings to give different textures.

There are two popular styles of Bak Chor Mee: the stir fry type which is made by combining the sauce and the noodles plus the ingredients on a frying pan and the soup type which is made by preparing the ingredients and the noodles and then placing them in a bowl of clear glossy looking meat or chicken or vegetable based soup.

This dish, which is so uniquely Singaporean, reminds me of the richness of its cultural precincts, particularly the hawker centers, best eaten again in the morning as breakfast or else a filling meal at any point in the day.