Teacher Mar5 Levels of Weird: Singapore Foods You Know You Should Try
Give the fried noodles and chicken rice a rest and expand your gastronomic horizons with some 'delicacies' from the stranger side of Singapore's foodie character. We start with the plain uncommon, moving through unusual and end at the downright bizarre.
1. Kacang pool/phool or fhoul
This is the Southeast-Asian rendition of the Middle-Eastern dish ful medammas. The version here has beef mince mixed with pureed and chopped beans (primarily fava or broad beans) seasoned with local spices and bathed in a sauce that's much like satay peanut sauce. Toppings include chopped onions, sliced green chilies, and an egg, sunny side up. Squeeze some lime over it, break the egg yolk and mix. Mop it all up with warm, toasty baguette slices.
2. Fuzhou UFOs (oyster cakes)
These fritters are nicknamed UFOs because they resemble little flying saucers. Anthony Bourdain describes these as “deep-fried Foochow-style beignet of oysters, minced pork, prawns and batter” that are “pure goodness”. Best eaten fresh with some chili sauce and washed down with a cold glass of sugar cane juice. Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake has been selling these little treats for over 50 years.
If you didn't know what these were made of, you'd probably think they were great fish crackers. But the remarkable crunch comes from the delicate skin of eels. Some menus list them simply as “deep-fried fish skin”. They are increasingly popular in Chinese cze-char (cook and fry) restaurants as an appetiser, and they are often served with a savory soy-based dip. The skin still stays fairly crisp even when drenched in the broth. Be warned, these crisps are dangerously addictive, and the fact you’re chomping on the skin of eels will quickly be forgotten. Until you finish.
Basically throwing anything away is a waste, so some restaurateurs made a dish out of the normally inedible gelatinous shark head. There's no meat on the cone-shaped bone, except for gelatinous shark cartilage and some fat, but that very texture is what is coveted by aficionados. A lightly sweetened soy-sesame sauce is all that's needed to season the dish, but some like it with more intense sauces.
5. Crocodile paws
Certainly not one for the squeamish. You really do get a whole crocodilian paw, claws, skin and all in your soup or claypot when you order this. It’s frighteningly huge. Once you summon the guts to sink your teeth into it, you’ll find the skin is soft, chewy and gelatinous like sea cucumber. But why would anyone want to eat this reptile? Well, oit is alleged that crocodile gives a whole host of health benefits like improving metabolism, vitality, immunity, and of course, the libido. And it tastes like chicken.
Source: http://cnngo.com