"Just agak agak lah!"
When I asked my interviewees what recipes they used, all of them told me that they just "agak agak” (estimated) what they wanted to cook and seasoned to taste. Or as a few told me candidly, they cooked with whatever little they had on hand. Hence there are no conventional recipes here - only narrations of how the dishes are made.
On another note, most of the people interviewed were merely children during the war and are recalling what their parents cooked after more than 70 years. Perhaps in the future, I will attempt to prepare some of the dishes and record the results here.
The illustrations that I drew were based on current-day local ingredients and what was described to me by those interviewed. For the dishes mentioned here, I have added in further food preparation and cooking-related details for easier understanding as there will be people with little cooking experience reading this website.
-- Julia Tay
Tapioca
Plain steamed tapioca
The outer layer of the tapioca is tough and inedible. To prepare it, cut the tapioca in half and then soak it in water for about half an hour. When the outer skin has softened, peel both the brown outer and thick, beige second layer of the tapioca. What we want is the edible center portion, which is white. Chop up the white portion and further wash it several times to remove any mud, then place the chopped pieces on a plate.
To prepare a steamer, add water to a wok and place an empty tin can in the water. Balance the plate with the tapioca on the tin can. Heat up the wok then cover it. You need not use a tin can, anything on hand will do as long as the plate of tapioca is suspended above the heated water. Once the sliced tapioca is soft when pricked, it is ready to eat.
You can sweeten it with a bit of sugar or gula melaka and sprinkle grated coconut for added flavour.
“According to my elderly relatives, tapioca was a staple for those living on Ubin. They would steam it and eat it whole, skin and all. “ - Wan from Wan’s Ubin Journal
“Sometimes when we would have steamed tapioca sprinkled with ground coconut or a bit of brown sugar. Each person would have a piece. Sometimes we ate rice with tapioca! It was our staple. ” - Father Michael Teo
Tapioca flour noodles fried in palm oil with chives
Tapioca noodles are made from a mixture of tapioca flour and hot water. The resulting dough is stretched and cut into noodles.
Once the noodles are made, boil tapioca noodles in water to soften them. You can add palm oil before cooking them to prevent them from sticking together. Meanwhile, preheat some palm oil in a wok. When the noodles are boiled to the softness you prefer, transfer them to the wok of heated oil and cook until they reach the desired softness. Season to taste with salt or any seasoning you have on hand like chopped chives.
Tapioca noodles are still eaten today in Vietnam. The Vietnamese version is made using a blend of rice and tapioca flour. It comes lightly oiled in a package to prevent them from sticking together. They reportedly have a chewy texture.
“We also ate noodles made from tapioca flour, fried in red palm oil. To prevent them from sticking together, you had to soak the tapioca noodles in palm oil. Before frying, you'd wash away the palm oil and then add some salt after frying. We sometimes added chives to give it some flavor. It wasn't nice to eat, but it was filling.”
“To supplement our diet, we also ate palm oil mee - the smell of the palm oil was so terrible but at least we had something to eat." - Esther Zhou
Pan cooked shredded tapioca (tapioca "noodles")
There were a variety of ways to cook plain tapioca. One common method was to cook it like noodles.
Prepare the tapioca according to the method described in plain steamed tapioca. However instead of chopping it into chunks, simply shred the raw tapioca into thin strips. The size and thickness of the strips is based on personal preference. Then pan-cook it in oil with seasonings of your choice.
“I remember eating tapioca kway teow. We'd peel away the first layer of tapioca skin and only use the second layer onwards, slicing it into strips and frying it like kway teow.” - Johnnie Ang
“We would cut the skin of tapioca thinly to make mee.” - Robert Chew
"Our daily diet consisted mainly of tapioca, and we even shredded ubi (tapioca) into noodles as thin as mee siam for consumption." - Sulaiman bin Yahya
Curry puffs with curried tapioca filling
Take some tapioca flour or cornflour and mix with a bit of warmed oil and a pinch of salt. Gradually add in water until the mixture thickens into a dough-like consistency. Set aside for at least half an hour.
For the filling, cut and prepare the tapioca root as described in plain steamed tapioca. You can then steam or boil the tapioca, then pan-cook the tapioca with curry powder and chili powder or chili paste. A bit of gula melaka can be added for sweetness. Let the filling cool to roughly room temperature before the next step.
Once the dough is ready, take a small amount and roll it into a small ball. Roll it flat with a rolling pin so that it’s the size of your palm and place a small amount of filling (about one tablespoon) in the middle. Fold it into half so it looks like a semi-circle, then repeatedly pinch and twist the ends to seal it.
Pan-cook the curry puff or deep-fry it if you have sufficient oil. It should be nicely browned on all sides.
“I remember eating curry puffs every day. I would buy them from a Baba (Peranakan) kid who sold them. The curry puffs contained only tapioca. They were cooked with curry powder and had some syrup in them, making them both sweet and spicy - they were very nice. The pastry skin was made of cornflour, and it looked just like the curry puffs we have today.” - Lim Heng Lee
Chendol with tapioca flour
Chendol is a traditional Singaporean dessert. The noodles are usually made with rice flour and mung bean flour, and flavoured with pandan extract, which turns it into its signature green colour. Kathleen Soh’s grandmother used tapioca flour as a substitute when rice flour was unavailable.
“My grandmother would make chendol (a sweet local dessert made with coconut milk) using a large biscuit tin cover. She would use a sharp nail to puncture holes into the cover. After mashing and pounding pandan leaves until they were squishy, she would add some water to create green pandan juice. Then, she'd use tapioca flour to make a warm dough, using the pandan juice to dye and flavor the dough. Placing the punctured tin cover over a pot of cold water, she'd push the dough through the cover, and it would land in the cold water as thick strips, similar to mee tai bak (a type of thick noodles). We'd eat this in coconut milk." - Kathleen Soh
Chee cheong fun with tapioca flour
Chee cheong fun is a traditional Chinese dish consisting of steamed rice rolls. The rice rolls can be filled with a variety of ingredients such as dried shrimp or even eaten plain. Soya sauce can be drizzled on the steamed roll, with a sprinkling of fried onions or chives. Kathleen Soh’s grandmother used tapioca flour as a substitute for rice flour during the war when there was a rice shortage.
“We also made kueh by steaming using a large biscuit tin cover over an open wok. We'd take tapioca flour and make a dough, then place the flat, thin pieces on the hot biscuit tin cover. This resulted in something resembling chee cheong fun (a steamed roll made from wide rice noodles).” - Kathleen Soh
Ubi (Tapioca) begedil with shredded coconut
"Begedil" is the name of a local Malay dish consisting of vegetable patties. It is usually made with potatoes. During the war, Sulaiman’s family used tapioca as a substitute.
To make tapioca begedil, you will need to pre-cook the tapioca. Prepare the tapioca using the method from plain steamed tapioca, then mash it. Mix seasonings, such as chives and salt, into the mashed tapioca.
Take a small portion of the mashed tapioca into your hand and form them into small balls. Lightly flatten the tapioca balls with the palm of your hand. Heat up a pan of oil and cook the patties. Flip them when they are browned on one side. Remove from the pan when they’re nicely browned on both sides.
"We also made begedil, a savoury patty, with shredded ubi kayu, and ate it with coconut." - Sulaiman bin Yahya
Porridge
Types of rice rations
Rice rations were often less than ideal and had to be cleaned before they were cooked. In the book Wartime Kitchen, rice rations were said to be graded. The grades ranged from broken rice grains to rice mashed with gravel and sand grains, to half-polished and decayed grains. The lowest grade was covered with maggots.
British prisoners-of-war were given rice preserved in slaked lime, which was yellow and smelled like rotten eggs. Wu Sijing, in her National Archives of Singapore (NAS) oral recounting, recalled a greyish 'cement rice' which remained the colour of ashes no matter how many times she washed it.
Depending on the grade of rice, locals would have to remove any insects and wash it multiple times to get rid of the debris or the slaked lime. Doula Sakina’s husband would even dry the rice out if it were covered in mold.
"My father would bring home rationed rice, but it often had kutu (small insects like mites) or cockroach feces in it. My grandmother would ask us kids to painstakingly clean the rice grain by grain." - Kathleen Soh
“Some of the rice we purchased through rationing was mixed with lime, presumably to preserve it so we would wash the rice multiple times before cooking it." - Johnnie Ang
“My husband said he often ate porridge, which often amounted to little more than water with bits of rice. The rice itself was in a sorry state, mostly broken and, at times, tinged with a reddish hue. It's likely that the rice had been stored in less than ideal conditions, causing it to change colour. Sometimes there were stones and worms in the rice, occasionally it was even mossy. He had to dry the rice to make it palatable.” - Doula Sakina
Porridge with Tapioca or Sweet Potatoes
Prepare the tapioca according to the method in plain steamed tapioca with skin.
As for the sweet potato, first wash it thoroughly to get rid of any mud. The skin of sweet potatoes is edible when cooked but you can choose to peel it off with a knife. Chop up the sweet potatoes into chunks.
To stretch rice rations, porridge consisted mostly of water with sweet potatoes or tapioca added as fillers. To prepare the rice, wash it several times with water.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the rice and then the chopped sweet potatoes or chopped tapioca. Cover the pot and leave to cook. The porridge will be ready when the rice is soft and plump, and the sweet potatoes or tapioca chunks can be pierced with a fork.
Tan Kia Meng’s mother would add fried bits of dough for added crunch to the porridge. Seasonings such as soy sauce and salt can be added for variety.
“I vividly remember the wartime meals - it was mostly tapioca and porridge.” - Teo Geok Beng
“She cooked sweet potatoes or tapioca with a little rice on top. Sometimes we mixed it with "zha liang" (small fried bits of dough).” - Tan Kia Meng
“We made watery porridge with sweet potato to stretch the rice we had but even then we ran out. “ - Esther Zhou
“With rice in short supply, we often resorted to mixing it with tapioca or sweet potatoes.” - Johnnie Ang
Watery porridge with shredded coconut and soya sauce
Watery porridge with coconut was a staple meal eaten by Teo Geok Beng, who collected it every day from a temple that distributed food for the poor.
Using the method for porridge with tapioca or sweet potatoes, rinse the rice rations with water several times. Meanwhile bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the rinsed rice and cook until the rice is soft. For texture, add grated coconut and season with soya sauce or dark sauce.
“Every day at 10 pm, we would collect the porridge from the temple. It was very watery porridge with shreds of coconut in it. I would bring the porridge home, and my family would eat it with light soya sauce or dark soya sauce.” - Teo Geok Beng
Dried carrots in porridge
Sadly, dried carrots in porridge was what Koh Hoon Choo ate for almost every meal as a child.
Dried carrots could be stored indefinitely and used when needed. Rinse the rice several times in clear water. Bring a pot to a boil over an open fire stove top. Add dried carrots and rice, then cover the pot. The porridge is ready when the rice is soft.
“Before setting out for work, I'd prepare a pot of porridge with the dried carrots over an open fire. My neighbour would step in after I had departed and take it off the flames. When I came home at night, this would be my dinner.” - Koh Hoon Choo
Vegetables
Sweet potato leaves stir-fry
The sweet potato plant was a wartime staple often grown in backyard gardens. To prepare the sweet potato leaves, wash a bunch and cut off the larger, thicker stems. Chop the sweet potato leaves and any remaining small stems into smaller portions so they fit into your pan. Heat up some oil in a pan and cook the sweet potato leaves until the stems are tender.
To cook with chilli and belacan, heat the chopped chilli and a bit of belacan in the pan before adding the vegetables.
“We fried vegetables from our own garden or made soup with them. We also grew sweet potatoes, and there was an abundance of sweet potato leaves which we stir-fried.” - Lim Heng Lee
“My grandmother would cook sweet potato leaves from the garden… People were so desperate for food that they would pull up sweet potatoes, pluck the potatoes, and then bury the plant again.” - Kathleen Soh
“We would cook the leaves of the sweet potato plant. My parents were Peranakan so we would cook our food with belacan and chilli. The chilli would be freshly plucked from our garden. “ - Molly Ong
“We survived on sweet potatoes, tapioca, and the leaves of those root plants. “ - Cheng Siew Kee
Wild mushrooms
Wild mushrooms are versatile ingredients that can be added to a variety of dishes such as pan-fried dishes, stews or curries. They can also be grilled. You will need to know which types of mushrooms are edible before foraging for them, as there are several types of inedible mushrooms that look similar to edible mushrooms.
To prepare them, use a brush to brush soil off the gills located on the underside of the mushrooms. If they are very dirty, you can give them a quick wash then pat them dry before cooking. Cut off the hard stems and cut the mushrooms into pieces.
An example of a simple mushroom dish would be a stir-fry with leafy vegetables, chopped chili and mushrooms.
“Wild mushrooms were another food source, often found in the rubber tree plantations on Ubin, particularly after thunderstorms.” - Wan from Wan's Ubin Journal
Disclaimer: The mushrooms shown above are for illustration purposes only and are not definite proof that they are edible
Fiddlehead ferns stir-fry with shrimp paste
Fiddlehead ferns are edible ferns which grow in the wild.
To prepare them, wash the gathered ferns and cut them into sections. Only the young shoots and some of the thinner stems are used in cooking; the rest are discarded. Heat some oil in a wok. When the oil is hot, add in chopped chilli, a small amount of shrimp paste and some dried shrimps. Lightly cook the aromatics. When the aromatics are cooked, add in the young shoots and stir-fry.
“Sometimes we would gather wild paku pakis ferns (fiddlehead ferns) from the fields. They’re bitter when they’re raw but sweet when cooked.” - Molly Ong
Blanched fiddlehead ferns
Alternatively, fiddlehead ferns can be served blanched with added seasoning.
Prepare them by cutting the ferns into sections and using only the young shoots. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Place the fiddlehead shoots into the boiling water and take them out after a few minutes. Season to taste with whatever you have on hand, such as a bit of chopped chilli, some dried shrimp or a squeeze of lime juice.
You can also prepare a sauce with a bit of coconut milk, chopped chilli and lime juice, and drizzle it over the blanched fiddlehead fern.
Pucuk Paku Lemak (Fiddlehead Ferns Lemak)
Prepare the fiddlehead ferns with the method used in fiddlehead ferns stir-fry with shrimp paste. An aromatic paste can be made by grinding a few chillies with chopped onions and a bit of turmeric. This was traditionally done using a mortar and a pestle. Cook the chilli paste in a pot, then add coconut milk. Cook over a low heat until it is heated through and starts to simmer. Add the fiddlehead ferns and cook until they are tender.
Pucuk Paku with asam (Fiddlehead Ferns Asam)
Prepare the fiddlehead ferns with the method used in fiddlehead ferns stir-fry with shrimp paste.
To make the asam, take tamarind paste and mix it with water to make tamarind juice. Set aside.
Make a chilli paste by pounding a mix of chillies, chopped onions, a bit of turmeric, and some chopped ginger in a mortar and pestle. Cook the chilli paste in a pot with some oil.
Once the chilli paste is cooked, add in the reserved tamarind juice. Pour in some water and add a pinch of salt and sugar (if available).
When the mixture comes to a boil, add the fiddlehead ferns and cook until tender.
“Pucuk paku (fiddlehead ferns), a vegetable shoot, was also part of our diet. 'Pucuk' means vegetable shoots, and 'paku' means nails. It used to grow along the wooden planks placed by the longkangs, which were nailed in place. That’s why we called it so, 'the shoot that grows near the nails in the wood'. We made lemak pucuk paku by cooking it with coconut milk and chilli. We would also just stir fry it with asam. “ - Sulaiman bin Yahya
Seafood
Carpet anemone lemak
The Orang Pulau community had a method to prepare and cook sea anemone.
“While on Tekong, they would hunt for carpet anemone, which they would prepare by pan-frying or cooking it with spices like rendang and lemak (cooked in coconut milk with cut long beans). To prepare the sea anemone, they first removed its mucus by covering it with firewood ashes before boiling it. Once prepared, the sea anemone was cooked like meat, chopped up, and used in various dishes.” - Wan from Wan's Ubin Journal
Preparing molluscs (clams) for cooking
Before cooking the clams, remove those whose shells are already open, or have shells that are cracked or broken. These clams may be contaminated and are mostly likely to make you sick.
Clams also need to be cleaned before cooking them. Soak them in a bowl of clean seawater, or in water mixed with salt. Let the clams soak for about half an hour or even overnight. Soaking the clams allows them to purge the sand in their shells - the longer you soak, the cleaner the clams will be.
After soaking, remove the clams from the sandy water. Do not pour the sandy water over the clams or the sand may re-enter the clams. Use a stiff brush to cleanse the shells of dirt and barnacles. After scrubbing, rinse them in clean cold water.
“Foraging for intertidal creatures on pulau tekong was a common practice, with a focus on molluscs like gonggong and lala along the shores and mangrove areas. They used parangs to sieve through the sand and dislodge the mollusks from rocky surfaces.” - Wan from Wan's Ubin Journal
Boiled clams
After cleaning the clams with the method used in preparing clams for cooking, you can simply boil them. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Put the clams in and cook until their shells open, approximately 5-10 minutes.
“In the Katong area, there was a river where I would forage for cockles and snails when the tide receded. I'd carefully knock the snails off the rocks and cook the cockles by pouring boiling water over them.” - Koh Hoon Choo
Clams cooked on an open-fire
After preparing the clams with the method described in preparing clams for cooking, you can simply put them on an open fire as Kathleen Soh did, or on a tin sheet placed over an open fire as Zainab’s father did when cooking seafood. When the clams open up, they are ready to be eaten.
“We would also hunt for clams, known as lala, in the mud by the sea, and they were about the size of cherry tomatoes. To catch them, we'd put our hands into the mud and dig for them. Once we had a handful, we'd wash the clams with tap water and then place them over embers of driftwood. There was always a cooking fire going on along the beach. As soon as the clam opened up, it was ready to eat.” - Kathleen Soh
Clams with light soya sauce and chilli
After preparing the clams with the method described in preparing molluscs (clams) for cooking, you can steam them over a pan of boiling water, then add light soya sauce and chilli to taste once they are done.
Molly Ong’s grandmother made a pickled version of raw clams. However today’s medical experts would not recommend eating raw clams as you may fall sick from Vibrio infection, norovirus infection, and hepatitis A.
“We often went to the seaside to dig for “kahpa” (Cantonese or Hokkien for a variety of clams like the Asiatic Hard Clams). 7-8 of us would walk along the low tide to look for them, then we would bring them home to cook. We would dig for “rumis” (a colloquial term for siput remis also known as surf clam) from the sand when it was in season. You soak it in clean water, then add a bit of white dao you (light soy sauce), chilli and a bit of salt. Leave it aside for two days and it will be ready without you cooking it. “ - Molly Ong
Grilled seafood satay
As a fisherman working on a kelong (a type of offshore platform), Zainab’s father would grill freshly caught seafood on a makeshift barbecue grill by placing a zinc sheet on an open fire.
Sometimes, the seafood would be marinated before placing them on the grill. One traditional method of grilling seafood involves using banana leaves. Fold a cut banana leaf into a box or simply place a piece on the grill. The banana leaf not only imparts a fragrance to the food, it would prevent the food from sticking to the grill and it could be used as a container to hold the food.
One way to flavour seafood would be to use sambal. Sambal is a spicy relish that can be found in local Malay and Peranakan cuisine. It also serves as a condiment to be eaten with dishes. It is typically made with fresh chillies, belacan (shrimp paste), lime juice, sugar and salt. Sambal can be placed on the fish or on the seafood just before it is fully cooked for a fiery kick.
“He would put a zinc sheet down, then light up a few pieces of wood to make a sort of BBQ where he would cook bakar satay (grilled slices of seafood, sometimes on a skewer).” - Zainab
Seafood with asam and chilli (asam pedas)
“Asam pedas” means “sour and spicy” in Malay, and it is a traditional Malay stew usually made with seafood or fish. First, prepare a spice paste (rempah) made with ground chillies, the white part of the lemongrass, a bit of belacan, ginger, and turmeric.
Next, prepare the tamarind juice. Tamarind juice (asam water) is obtained by boiling the pulp of the tamarind fruit with water. Once the base ingredients are ready, you can start cooking the stew.
Heat the spice paste in a pot with a bit of oil. Pour in the tamarind juice and bring it to a boil. Add some chopped vegetables, such as okra, and curry leaves if you have them on hand. Once the vegetables are cooked, add in the seafood or fish. Let the stew simmer until the seafood has been thoroughly cooked.
“We used asam, chilies, and spices to prepare the seafood we caught. The chillies were plucked from the area around us. We would pluck asam pods, take out the berries and soak the asam pods in water. Then we would throw away the pods and only the asam water to cook. “ - Sulaiman bin Yahya
Fish
Ikan masin (salted fish)
Preserving fish using salt was a very popular method among coastal villages when there were no modern refrigerators. One method was to gut the fish, sprinkle sea salt all over the fish, and leave it to dry in the hot sun for several days. The dried fish can be kept for many months, and this method can be used on a variety of fish.
Ikan masin can be used in many ways - from a soup base to a standalone dish when cooked with aromatics.
Pan-fried ikan masin (salted fish)
To prepare the salted fish for cooking, first wash it, then soak it in clean water for around 5-10 minutes to rehydrate it. After a few minutes of soaking, pat it dry. Heat up a pan of oil and fry the fish. When one side is browned, flip it and continue frying. Remove from the pan when both sides are nicely browned and crispy.
“Fish was readily available from the sea, and they preserved it by salting and drying it in the sun to make "ikan masin" (salted fish). “ - Wan from Wan's Ubin Journal
Puffer fish
To this today, preparing a pufferfish is a method known only to highly trained chefs. When improperly prepared or cooked, the toxins in a pufferfish are known to cause paralysis and even death. However, Kathleen Soh’s grandmother knew of a method to do so and would occasionally prepare it for her family.
A popular modern preparation method includes removing the skin (the pufferfish has no scales) and the spines. The ovaries and the liver contain most of the poison, so extreme care has to be taken in removing them lest they burst and release poison into the flesh.
“My grandmother knew how to cook pufferfish, even though it was poisonous. She knew how to remove the toxic sac from it. We would eat it occasionally during the war, and miraculously, we never fell ill from it.” - Kathleen Soh
Disclaimer: Please note that this is simply a description of what Kathleen Soh’s family ate out of necessity. Please do not attempt to try this out as it may cause you to fall ill.
Fried ikan bilis (fried anchovies)
Before cooking freshly caught anchovies (ikan bilis), rinse them in clean water. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then cook them for a very short amount of time until they turn white. Let the ikan bilis dry in the sun until they are dehydrated.
At this point, some may choose to gut the dried ikan bilis to remove the fishy taste. Heat up a pan of oil and then pan-fry the ikan bilis before serving.
Ikan bilis can also be sold salted and dried. To cook with the salted and dried variety, first rinse the salted ikan bilis and pat them dry or air dry them. Then pan-fry them in oil to make fried ikan bilis.
“My mother would fry the ikan bilis for our meals.” - Pearl Lin
“The fish my father caught varied, from tiny ikan bilis (anchovies) to ikan tamban (silver striped round herring) and ikan kembong (Indian mackerel).” - Zainab
Fish porridge
To prepare the fish for cooking, remove the scales and then gut the fish. Remove the bones and guts from the fish. Cut the fish into slices and set aside.
Wash the rice several times, then bring a pot of water to a boil. If you plan to use fish bones as fish stock, boil the water with fish bones, then strain the water to remove the bones. When the fish stock or water is boiling, add the rice. When the rice has become plump and soft, add the fish slices. Cook until the fish slices turn white. Sprinkle fried ikan bilis over the porridge and season with soy sauce before serving.
“My mother would prepare the fish I brought back by steaming it, removing the bones, and then cooking the fish meat in porridge for my younger brothers. The leftover bones were utilized to prepare soup. The fish we received included a variety of types, typically ikan kembung (Indian mackerel), ikan selar (yellowtail scad), and ikan bilis (anchovies). These were the cheaper varieties. My mother would fry the ikan bilis for our meals.” - Pearl Lin
Coconut
Coconut juice (coconut milk)
The coconut juice which Zainab mentions in her story is more commonly known as coconut milk. To extract the milk, first grate the flesh of the coconut. Put the grated flesh into a bowl and add hot or warm water. Use a muslin cloth to extract the milk from the flesh by wrapping the cloth around the grated flesh and squeezing it.
Fresh coconut milk spoils easily in our tropical climate, so it has to be used up quickly. Coconut milk is an essential cooking ingredient in Singapore among the different ethnic groups and can be used in both savoury dishes and desserts.
“Muslin cloth, an exceptionally thin fabric, served as a strainer to extract the coconut juice. My family would wrap coconut pieces in the cloth and twist it until all the juice was extracted.” - Zainab
Mung beans in coconut juice (coconut milk)
"Bubur kacang hijau", which in Malay means “green bean porridge”, is a traditional Malay recipe which is still eaten today. It is especially popular during Ramadan for breaking the fast (iftar).
First, you will need to soften the dried mung beans by rinsing and then soaking them overnight in a basin of water. Rinse the beans the next day. Place the beans in a pot of water, making sure that the water level is above the beans, and bring to a boil. To give the dessert a lovely fragrance, add in a pandan leaf tied into a knot. Sweeten to taste with either gula melaka (palm sugar) or a bit of white sugar. When the beans are soft, pour in your coconut milk.
“Beans were a wartime staple in our household. Green beans, cooked until they were soft, would be sweetened with a bit of sugar and enhanced with coconut juice." - Zainab
Lemak
“Lemak” means creamy in Malay and refers to dishes which are cooked in coconut milk. The cooking method involves sautéing a spicy paste made from chillies (known as rempah), followed by the main ingredients (for example, chopped vegetables). Finally, add coconut milk and simmer at a medium heat until the stew thickens. This is a versatile recipe which can be adapted to cook whatever is in your larder. If vegetables are used, the name of the dish then becomes “sayur lemak”, which means “creamy vegetables” in Malay.
To make rempah, you will need to grind a mix of chillies, the inner white portion of lemongrass, ginger, turmeric and dried shrimp. You can also use galangal if it is available.
“Coconut trees grew in our area, and every time a coconut fell, there was a rush to collect it. We would carefully dehusk the coconut - every part of it was useful. We even burned the husk to use as a mosquito repellent. The coconut milk was used to make lemak, a rich savory gravy cooked with spices." - Kathleen Soh
Tahi minyak
Literally translated from Malay, “tahi minyak” means “oil excrement”. It is the residue left after the oil has been extracted from the coconut flesh. It can be used as a seasoning in Malay recipes or eaten on its own as a tasty snack. Sulaiman bin Yahya's family used it to season their food while Esther Zhou's family made a Peranakan version with chilli and belacan.
“We used coconut to make oil. We would take the shredded white flesh of the coconut and boil on a wood fire until oil floats to the surface. Then we would scoop up the oil whenever it came out. This process takes very long, around 8 hours. We would use the leftover coconut (tahi minyak) which by now had become dried coconut crumbs, and we would season our food with it. “ - Sulaiman bin Yahya
“We had a lot of coconut trees so we ate coconut oil. My mother would hand-scrap the coconut to get the coconut flesh out. She would take the flesh, grate it and then squeeze the coconut juice from the flesh. Then she would take the squeezed flesh and leave it aside for a day, and cook it when it became pungent. She would then boil it until oil came out. We couldn’t afford to buy oil those days so that was what we used to cook our food. We cooked fish with it too.
After the oil comes out, you don’t throw away the leftover coconut flesh! That’s a treasure! You cook it with chilli and belacan, it makes a very tasty dish.” - Esther Zhou
Others
Guinea pig soup
The Japanese authorities encouraged people to farm rabbits and guinea pigs, claiming that they were cheap to maintain and tasty. These were sold by dealers at Rochor Road at fixed prices. Guinea pigs typically don't have much meat on them but it takes only 16 weeks for them to fully mature. Father Michael Teo’s account details how he would prepare a guinea pig for dinner, which involves skinning and removing its intestines.
After the preparation, you cook the meat like you would with chicken. To make guinea pig soup, first cook aromatics such as chopped onions, then fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Drop the meat in, along with seasonings of your choice, such as light soya sauce. Let the soup simmer until the meat is soft and fragrant.
“I was in charge of taking care of the guinea pigs. I would collect a big basket of grass and throw them into the cage where the guinea pigs were running about.
I was also in charge of killing the guinea pigs when the time came to eat them. No one else wanted to do it, my sisters would run away. The guinea pig’s nose is very fragile and sensitive. I would prepare everything beforehand and say sorry to the guinea pig. Then I would take a hammer and go “POP!” on its nose.
When I was certain that it was dead, I would dip the entire guinea pig into a pot of pre-prepared hot water and all its hair would come out cleanly. I would then use a knife to cut out its intestines, wash it nicely and my mother would make soup with it.” - Father Michael Teo
Fried blood
Today, animal blood products are banned in Singapore. But blood tofu made from pig's blood is a dish which originated from China and is still eaten today in several Asian countries like Vietnam and Laos. Poor farmers would save the blood of ducks sacrificed for prayers and eat it steamed with rice. When duck became expensive, pig's blood was used instead.
To make pig's blood tofu, let the blood at room temperature for around 10 minutes. Once it has congealed, cut the coagulated blood into cubes and then heat it in a pot at medium heat. Add some salt during the cooking process. Father Michael Teo’s mother would leave chicken blood to congeal on its own, before cooking with it.
Once it has coagulated, cook it like you would with tofu by stir-frying it with vegetables or serve it as a standalone dish by cooking it with chives and dark soya sauce. It can also be served in soups.
Disclaimer: Please note that this is simply a description of what Father Michael Teo ate out of necessity. Please do not attempt to try this, as it may cause illness.
“I was also in charge of killing the ducks and chickens for my mum to cook. Like the guinea pig, I would apologise to it first. Then I would quickly bend its neck and cut it cleanly with a knife. I would collect the blood in a bowl - and we would make a dish out of the blood!
After a while, the blood would congeal on its own and it would be a texture similar to tofu. We would cut it into small pieces and fry it with vegetables, seasoned with hae bee (tiny dried shrimp), dark soya sauce(richer in flavour compared to soya sauce), dao chiu (soy sauce) or kang he (ikan bilis aka tiny fishes, usually dried).” Father Michael Teo
Fried worms with soya sauce
Out of sheer necessity, Father Michael Teo was around 6 years old when he came up with a solution to feed the family.
“When we had no food at all in the house, I would use a changkol (a shovel) to dig the ground and get some worms.
My mother would put them into a bowl and wash them nicely. We would fry the worms with soy sauce and other seasonings. It became a delicacy! These worms were small, I knew where to find them because I would dig for them to feed to the guinea pigs when we didn’t have enough grass.
On days when it was raining, we couldn’t go outside to harvest our crops so we would just eat the worms we already had in the house. “ - Father Michael Teo
Disclaimer: Please note that this is simply a description of what Father Michael Teo ate out of necessity. Please do not attempt to try this, as it may cause illness.
Pineapple soup with dried prawns
Pineapple is often used in local desserts, but it is sometimes used in cooking to create sweet-savoury flavours. Making soup with pineapple was a way to stretch what you had to feed a large family.
“When we had pineapple, my mother would make pineapple soup. You cut the pineapple into small pieces, add dried prawns and other seasonings and it becomes a tasty soup! Sometimes we would also add tang chai (salted preserved vegetables) if we had it.” - Father Michael Teo
Ragi bread (ragi roti)
Ragi flour, also known as finger millet flour, is used to make ragi flatbreads also known as ragi roti. To make this savoury Indian dish, first prepare your seasonings. Finely chopped chillies, ginger and curry leaves are some examples. Mix them into the ragi flour, then add hot water, along with a bit of salt and oil. Combine the ingredients and knead well until a soft dough forms. Add more water if necessary.
Spread some oil on a cut banana leaf and flatten a small ball of dough onto the leaf. Flip the dough onto a frying pan and press down with the banana leaf. Once the dough is semi-cooked, peel away the banana leaf. Flip the roti when it is cooked on one side to complete cooking. Serve with chutney (a spiced Indian condiment).
"I remember my grandmother once made ragi bread during the war. It was very nice, we all enjoyed eating it. But when we asked her to make it again, she didn’t know how. Until today I still think of that bread."