Cooking Singapore hawker centre food

Singapore's traditional hawker centres bustle with activity all day long, serving hundreds of thousands from that nation of foodies everyday. For a few dollars, one can get a filling meal of one's choice from a vast buffet of options.

During my short stay there (and each time I went back), my staple was always the combination of 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (century egg and lean pork rice porridge) and 菜头粿 (steamed Chinese radish cake omelette, which Singaporeans call "carrot cake"), with a hot, fresh mug of smooth Singaporean coffee (ideally served in a glass mug). Good for any meal or heavy snack; I practically lived on this stuff. Breakfast time, Singapore style.

Making the rice porridge is really easy. I put 1.5 cups of soaked long-grain rice and 5 times the volume of water into a pot, along with 6 sliced garlic cloves and about an inch of peeled ginger thinly julienned, boiling and simmering for a few hours until the rice easily broke up on stirring. I then stirred in about 500g of lean minced pork, 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, and a little salt and ground white pepper for further cooking until the pork was done and the rice had almost completely disintegrated. It needed frequent stirring to prevent settling. Right before serving, I was cutting up some century eggs and chopping scallion.

There was enough to go around for 10 heavy portions. I served it up hot and fresh in bowls, each with a few cubes of century egg, a sprinkling of some chopped scallion and ground white pepper, and drizzle of sesame oil and soy sauce. A great breakfast and a great comfort food.

The fried carrot cake is not nearly as easy as it looks. Those cubes in the omelette? Those are not cubes of radish. They're cubes of a radish cake, which I had to painstakingly prepare by finely shredding and straining dry 600g of daikon/mooly radish, stir-frying with half teaspoons of salt and white pepper until soft, mixing with 2 cups of Asian rice flour whisked into 2 cups of water, and steaming until it set into firm cake. Which THEN had to be cooled and chilled. Oy, vey.

I wish my cake were firmer, because the cubes did not fry as well as I hoped, turning into lumps in the wok. Anyway, after browning the lumps a little with 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic, I added 8 eggs beaten with half teaspoons of salt and white pepper, and cooked until the eggs set. Just prior to serving, I stirred in a quarter cup of sweet soy sauce, a quarter cup of chopped scallion, and 2 teaspoons of sambal oelek.

I served it with some more sambal oelek on the side, garnished with chopped scallion. I guess I need to refine the cake-making process to get the perfect cubes of radish cake you see in the pictures, but it turned out more or less okay.

And of course, no Singaporean meal at my place would be complete without a mug of hot, rich, freshly-brewed Singaporean coffee from my little stash.

Dance of the Devadasi by Maayavi at Madinat Theatre

Maayavi Dance Drama Concepts' Indian classical dance spectacular Dance of the Devadasi was a through entertainment experience, from start to finish. I'd never before seen a combination of drama and Bharatnatyam, and the plot of this dance drama, centered around the tropes of youthful ambition, budding love, jealous scheming, dashed hopes and tragedy overcome, was heartwarming and familiar, and propped up the dance sequences well.

I did feel that there was a bit too much going on with the lights; I would have preferred something more subtle in that department. Some of the music was embellished with contemporary percussion and effects; I would have preferred more classical music, but the event seems to have been marketed as a fusion thing, so I should have probably expected this to happen. Also, the dialogue was pre-recorded and dubbed into the play, which was a little awkward and unnatural-sounding at times.

As far as what we came for, namely the dancing, the dancers performed well, especially lead dancer Bhakti Harish as the titular devadasi. The scene in which she performs for the visiting prince was, I think, particularly grand and well-executed, including a nice duet dance.

Launch of Capsule Arts Dubai studio in Al Quoz

Dubai's newest art spot, the Capsule Arts studio/gallery in Al Quoz, launched last Thursday with an event that was appropriately decorated with the works of over 20 artists. The organization was founded almost a year ago, and deals in art prints and commissions.

The launch party was held in their new studio, a hangar-sized warehouse with a partial second level, located near Oasis Centre. So many attended, it might as well have been a post-summer arts community regroup event.

Noush like Sploosh (L) and Fathima Mohiuddin (R)

Arcadia Blank (L) and Lama Khatib Daniel (R)

Kate Toledo (L) and Jill Thomas Whatley (R)

Some of Dubai's most well-known contemporary artists were represented among the displays on the walls of the space that night, including a good number of pop pieces and drawings, and even one section of graffiti (via photography).

Fusion piano by Malika Omar at Al Fayrooz Lounge

I dropped by Al Fayrooz Lounge in Madinat Jumeirah to enjoy some nice piano music from fusion pianist Malika Omar before an evening show at the nearby Madinat Theatre. It was still too hot for the outdoors, so I relaxed under hypnotic conical ceiling fans, sipping my brew.

Ms Omar's piano pieces are perfect for the atmosphere of the place. Derived from both occidental and oriental inspirations, her pieces shift back and forth between movements, including frequent changes in tempo and melody to keep monotony away. I even thought I heard extracts of Bollywood tunes worked into some of those classical styles. Quite relaxing, really.

The Robert Hooke revival by Dr J. Michael McBride at NYUAD

I had read a little about Robert Hooke, but Dr J. Michael McBride's talk about this English polymath at New York University Abu Dhabi really blew my mind. Dr McBride has definitely done a thorough job of researching the man, covering practically every milestone in life of this under-appreciated giant of the Royal Society and science history.

Apart from being a gifted illustrator from an early age (and a would-be painter, but for his physiological aversion to oil paint), as Dr McBride showed with several slides of Hooke's incredibly detailed scientific drawings, Hooke was also responsible for seminal work on optics (including microscopy and telescopy), physics (making him the namesake of a spring action law) and mechanics (including the anchor escapement, the universal joint and helical gears, the latter two of which are practically indispensable in automobiles). His talent was noticed early on, as he was picked up in his youth as an assistant to the famous Robert Boyle, building him instrumental scientific equipment.

Hooke was also heavily involved in rebuilding London after the Great Fire, and had a strong grasp of the theory of gravity, a lot of the credit for the both of which were taken by Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton; one would emerge from the talk with a rather unflattering opinion of Wren and Newton, and an appreciation of both the genius and the humility of Hooke. Dr McBride also gave us insight into the crazy schedule of a man who had to birth a discovery or at least conduct a major experiment practically every other day, was a cannabis proponent, and had a thing for using anagrams to encode his ideas. Hooke was apparently also the first to use the word "crystallization", and to employ the word "cell" in a biological sense.

Unfortunately for himself, Hooke kept a low profile and annoyed a few powerful rivals, and has therefore been relegated to relative anonymity in history - something that scholars like Dr McBride hope to change. 

Ciaran Fox and Serik Iskakov jazz and swing at The Gramercy DIFC

We have few jazz/swing vocalists here in Dubai, and few of those are male, so it's a treat to see one perform live. Among their ranks, Irish vocalist Ciaran Fox stands out for doing much justice to the genres. I had seen him perform once as part of The Fridge's Kalubela ensemble show, and the next time at a bustling "men's night" last season, so I scheduled an evening with a friend at The Gramercy in the DIFC to check out his regular Monday night gig in relative peace.

The Gramercy, with its wood screens, soft lighting, high ceiling and decoratively oxidized mirrors, is an appropriate venue for this kind of music. The stage area was also well-placed, and lit better that at some of the other venues I've been. I've actually been here a few times before, mainly for stand-up comedy.

Accompanied by prolific saxophone player Serik Iskakov, Fox reinterpreted various popular songs on request, throwing in some old standards of jazz, swing and blues. This gentleman has clearly trained his voice for his chosen genres, most noticeably the ability to hold a prolonged note. When he asked for more requests, I suggested "anything from Kalubela", and he obliged with Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Iskakov took on another one of my requests - for Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" - as a sax solo. And once he figured out that I was there for some old school, Fox belted a series of delightful jazz hits my way.

Galleries night and The Fridge season launch at Al Serkal Avenue

Dubai wiped summer sweat off its brow and unpacked its suitcases on September 9th, as the Al Quoz art scene kicked off the Fall season with a galleries' night at Al Serkal Avenue.

Nation Estate still

I particularly liked Larissa Sansour's Nation Estate at Lawrie Shabibi; it was a very interesting juxtaposition of a futuristic utopia with Palestinian cultural icons.

Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde's exhibition of Aisha Khalid's works was highlighted by this one piece, entitled Yourself of Yourself.

Hatty Pedder returned to Mojo Gallery, this time with images of Beirut. I loved the ones with the brightly-colored pane backdrops, and her drawing is a huge plus.

At Grey Noise, the theme of the fascinating joint exhibition Intangible experiences, arrangements and manoeuvres by Charbel-Joseph H. Boutros and Stephanie Saade was the de- and re-contextualization of objects. Quite philosophical.

The Green Art Gallery was displaying the photography of Jung Lee, each piece a different word or phrase written in neon and set in natural scenery. Although they resemble hipstagrams at first glance, the quality of the photography and the choice of backdrops and colors make them stand out artistically.

Fusion violinist Elena Thedvall and vocalist Melisa Le Rue at The Fridge

Serkal resident The Fridge also launched its music season with a singer-songwriter session, followed by some of their artists and groups performing across a range of genres. These included a great demonstration of string talent by Fusion violinist Elena Thedvall, and a clappy-happy show by singer Melisa Le Rue with the choir group Dubai Vocal Ensemble.