STREETWISE: SINGAPORE KAYA TOAST

The best way to appreciate what a place has to offer is to go where the locals go and eat where the locals eat. In Singapore, eating breakfast very early in the day is an experience that will make you see how diverse the populace of this small city-state is. 

Got the chance to do just that when I met up with a former production assistant who chose to find her luck in Singapore. Hers is a story similar to many educated Filipinas who work abroad to earn more for their children. When I visited her, I found it uplifting that she finds pride in her work as a cashier and food server at the Big City Coffee House, a cafe by the street frequented by blue collar workers, mostly immigrants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and India.

They serve different breakfast meals for their multi-cultural clientele. There's Nasi Lemak, a Malay rice dish made fragrant by coconut cream and pandan leaves, it is garnished with dilis (small fried anchovies), cucumber slices, roasted peanuts, boiled egg and sambal (hot sauce made with different chili peppers, spices and fish paste).

For those who want to spice u their mornings, there's Roti Prata, a flour-based grilled pancake dipped in curry.

But I came here for the Kaya Toast Set. My experience with this breakfast treat has been limited to the mall-based franchise Toast Box or Kopi Roti where everything's pretty and served in small ceramic plates. Here at Big City Cafe, the Kopi is served in a class mug and the hot soft-boiled eggs in a plastic bowl filled with tap water to cool down the eggs.

You can order your Kopi (the Malay word for coffee, if you still haven't figured it out) in different ways: Kopi O (Black, with sugar, no milk); Kopi Kosong (black, no sugar); Kopi C (with milk; the "C" stands for Carnation milk).

Once the eggs have cooled down, you crack and peel the egg unto a bowl. Add a dash of salt and pepper.

Then you dip the toasted bread filled with Kaya, a coconut jam made with sugar, coconut milk, eggs, margarine and pandan. The creaminess of the soft-boiled egg puts together the sweetness of the kaya, the starchiness of bread and the saltiness from the eggs. Follow-up each bite or two with a sip of hot coffee then you'll understand why Singaporeans consider this filling meal as their national breakfast.

Big City Coffee House
Address: 15 Kitchener Road, Singapore 208532

HAKONE- MEMORIES OF JAPAN (Part 4)

I am not a breakfast person. Morning meals usually consists of caffeine. Period.

But when I travel, I always take advantage of the free breakfast that comes with the hotel room reservation. And usually it would be a western-breakfast meal with bread, eggs and  some kind of ham. So it was a delight when the hubby and I were served full  traditional Japanese breakfasts during our trip to Hakone, Japan back in 2014. 

Hakone, located at the eastern Kanagawa prefecture, is sparsely populated with145 persons living per km². The tranquil environs are reflected in the gentleness of Hakone's people. The locals we encountered were all soft-spoken, unharried and courteous.

 

 

We were booked at Tounosawa Quatre Saison, a small hotel at the edge of a winding road. The hotel was rather old but the room was spacious with fluffy comfortable beds and a tatami area by the window which had a wonderful view of the river.

The wonderful view, seen from all floors of the hotels, was reason enough to spend leisurely time at the breakfast table.

 

We were served traditional breakfast sets that consisted of rice, yakizakana, tamagoyaki,  tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and a variety of kobachi (vegetable side dishes). This might sound heavy but the portions are small, just enough to fill you and get started for the day.

The rice was usually mixed with other whole grains and served with natto, sticky fermented soy beans.

Tamagoyaki, more popularly known as tamago, is a Japanese omelette made of rolled eggs. The Yakizakana is usually broiled fish, seasoned only with salt. Salmon and dried horse mackerel are often used.

 

There were other days that we were served vegetable nabemono. The nabe or pot was filled with vegetables, mushrooms, fermented beans and soup stock then placed atop a metal coal stove. the food attendant (who was also the doorman, just changing caps when he switched tasks), seeing we were unfamiliar with the cooking process, turned off the heat when the stew was ready to be eaten.

A Japanese-style breakfast is definitely worth the try, even for non-breakfast eating carnivores like me!

Sharing with you some more black and white pics of Hakone. Enjoy the view!

 

 

 

Check out my other Japan blog posts by clicking on the titles:

FUGU, EXTREME CUISINE- MEMORIES OF JAPAN (Part 1) 

IT'S A HOOT! OWL FAMILY CAFE IN OSAKA- MEMORIES OF JAPAN (Part 2)

HUNGRY IN OSAKA- MEMORIES OF JAPAN (PART 3)

Tounosawa Quatre Saison
Address: 120 Tonosawa, Ashigarashimo-gun, Hakone-machi 250-0315 , Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Telephone: 00 81 460-85-6531

Rufo's

Breakfast fare has become so popular nowadays, short order food stops have mushroomed around the city. Fast food chains, with their unrelenting advertising on TV and billboards, are top-of-mind when it comes to set breakfast meals which contains a cup of rice, a side dish of end and a fried dry viand, usually traditional breakfast fare of tocino (preserved reddish, sweet pork cutlets), longganisa (sweet and spicy sausage) or beef tapa (salted, spiced dried beef).

Rufo's, a smaller food chain serving short-order and all-day breakfast meals, did one better over the bigger fast food chains with their saucier famous tapa.

The Rufo's branch I visited, located in the Ortigas area, was a small air conditioned space sitting beside open air carinderias that cater to the telemarketers, students and office personnel. I was having brunch so the breakfast crowd had ling since gone back to their office cubicles and stuffy classrooms. So when I ordered  the famous tapa, it was served pretty fast.

The meat was tender but the serving was spare. The sauce is similar to adobo took away the distinct saltiness of tapa we are used to. It was also too extended with starch, like adobo-flavored pares (sweet beef stewed) so it left me a bit confused.

I did love the eggs over easy which rounded off the sinangag and tapa combination. Coffee please!

Home Made Corned Beef...the recipe finally!

Patience is a virtue. Based on this premise, it takes a saint to make home-made corned beef.
Thas is my excuse for this long overdue recipe.

It is easy to make your own corned beef.  You just need the right ingredients and time because the beef  takes about three (yes, 3) weeks to cure.

 

CORNED BEEF

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 teaspoon saltpeter *
• 1 beef briskets**, .8-1kg.
• 12 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons pickling spices
• 8 bay leaves

* Saltpeter̊ is known commercially as potassium nitrate and is used to give the meat a pink coloring.

̊If saltpeter is unavailable, I have tried using  or 1 tbsps. annato (achuete) powder and 1 Tsp meat tenderizer.

** You can use bottom round roasts, if you want leaner corned beef, although I much prefer the fatter brisket portions.


PICKLING SPICE
1 Tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tsp. ground mustard seeds
1 Tsp. ground black peppercorns
1 Tsp. ground cloves
1 Tsp. ground allspice
1 Tsp. finely crushed rosemary
1 Tsp. ground nutmeg
1 Tsp. ground  oregano
1 Tsp. ground  dried ginger

Preparation:

Boil water. Add salt and saltpeter, stir to dissolve and set aside to cool. Place brisket in a large crock, zipper-style plastic bag or other non-metallic container. Pour salt water over meat and add garlic, pickling spices and bay leaves. Meat should be submerged; use a weighted jar to hold meat under pickling solution. Refrigerate or set in a cool place for 3 weeks. I use a felt pen to put the dates on the zipper-style plastic bag so I know when I can  take the corned beef out. Drain and remove bay leaves and garlic bits before cooking.

After taking out the brisket from the ref, thaw it well and then boil it in medium fire for about an hour. then let the stock simmer for about 2 hours. Then you can chop and shred the beef into the size you want. Chunky pieces can be cooked with whole cabbages, carrots and onion while shredded pieces can be sauteed with garlic and onions.