Singapore Archives - Page 3 of 3 - ET Speaks From Home

Apam Balik / Min Chiang Kueh Recipe

Apam Balik, also called Min Chiang Kueh (面煎粿) is one of the local snacks from my childhood that I used to eat for breakfast or dessert. Nowadays, it is a very common kueh/snack you can find at shopping malls or at hawker centres. They can come in many different fillings like ground peanut, red bean paste, cheese, salted green bean paste, chocolate, black sesame seed and many more. It is more common/traditional to have ground peanuts as the filling. If you have a nut allergy, you might want to avoid some of the Asian desserts!

My preferred filling for Min Chiang Kueh is ground peanut. I had already bought a few packets of ready-made ground peanut with sugar while in Singapore last year so now was an opportunity to use it.

Summer Activities A – Z: T

I know Autumn is in full swing now but I’ve not long to go now with my Summer Activities A – Z! I started in July but have been playing catch-up since our holiday to Singapore. Here are the few T activities we did.

Hundreds and Thousands Mini Cake

This is a recipe from One Day One Dish book by SeaShore publishers which I bought when we were in Singapore. In the book, the recipe is called Chocolate Rice Sprinkle but instead I replaced the chocolate rice with Hundreds and Thousands.

Chinese Qing Ming Festival / Tomb Sweeping Day

Qing Ming festival is a day where you pay respects at your departed loved one’s grave. The day varies each year as it goes according to the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it falls on the 5 April 2014. However, it is an acceptable tradition for the families to pray to their ancestors 10 days before and 10 days after the actual day. This is to avoid major congestions at the cemeteries and temples. As many countries like Singapore are densely populated and short of land, most of the deceased are cremated.

River Ang Bao 2014 in Singapore

Sadly tomorrow is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations and this is also my last post for the Chinese New Year theme. Hope you all have fun reading my blog posts from making Chinese New Year lantern crafts to foods!

Chinese New Year Goodies in Chinatown

Today, I would like to take you on a journey to see Chinese New Year goodies found in Singapore Chinatown. Living there for over 20 years and going to Chinatown in Outram Park is one of my highlights and recommendations to soak in the new year atmosphere.

Since I moved to the UK, I miss the opportunity to shop for the full range of Chinese New Year goodies. Some of these goodies can be found in UK Chinese supermarkets though so take a closer look if you get chance!

Different Types of Chinese New Year Goodies

This time of year is the best time to travel down to Asian countries, especially Singapore. Not only are you escaping the bitter cold in the UK, you are going to enjoy the different varieties of foods and festivals there. As a proud Singaporean, I would like to share some of our delicious Chinese New Year goodies. They are only produced once a year to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Chinese are very superstitious so all the goodies are labelled in red. Why Red? It is corresponding with fire, and symbolizes good fortune and joy.

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival is also know as Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival in Singapore. For every festival, there are lanterns hanging across the street and children showing off their beautiful lanterns. I still remember I used to hold a paper folded red lantern and sometimes it would catch fire if I swing it around. Now the lantern are battery operated so it will be safe for children. Each year, the lanterns are getting more and more fanciful.