Tradtional white bread should be soft and once toasted, good candidate for butter and kaya. This setup will complement with soft-boiled egg (softer than poached egg). Such setup is best for typical Singaporean breakfast.

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Ingredients

• 2 packages of 0.25 oz active dry yeast
• 3 tbsp white sugar
• 2 1/2 cups warm water (45oC)
• 3 tbsp margarine/butter
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 6 1/2 cups bread flour

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steps

1. in large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water
2. stir in margarine/butter, 2 cups flour
3. stir in remaining flour gradually
4. when dough has pulled together, turn it out onto lightly floured surface
5. knead dough until smooth and elastic, 8 min
6. lightly oil large bowl, place in and turn to coat with oil
7. cover with damp cloth and rest in warm place until doubled in volume, 1 hr
8. dflate the dough and turn it out onto lightly floured surface
9. divide dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves
10. place them in lightly greased loaf pans
11. cover loaves with damp cloth and let rise until double in volume, approx 40 min
12. preheat oven to 220oC
13. bake at 190oC, 30 min until the top is golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped

pouched chicken

ingredients

• 6 litres water
• 1.8 kg whole chicken
• 200 g young ginger, sliced
• 150 g spring onion

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base seasoning

• 150 g chicken stock
• 45 g sugar

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method to prepare chicken

1. heat water in deep pot until simmer
2. add all ingredients except chicken
3. add base seasoning
4. next submerge whole chicken
5. lower the flame and pouch 45 in
6. soak chicken in cold water, 15 min
7. cut chicken
8. set aside

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chicken rice

ingredients

• 900 ml water
• 375 g rice
• 375 g brown rice
• 150 g pandan leaves
• 75 g shallots, finely blended
• 75 g garlic, finely blended
• 75 g young ginger, sliced
• 75 g blue ring ginger, sliced (optional)
• 30 g canola oil
• 10 g sesame oil (optional)

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base seasoning

• 40g chicken stock
• 15 g sugar

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steps

1. heat wok with oil, add young ginger & blue ginger
2. saute until golden brown
3. add garlic and shallot and continue saute until fragrant
4. add pandan leaves and water
5. add chicken stock into the wok after water simmers
6. add sugar and whisk until dissolved
7. heat until broth simmer and pour the broth into rice coker and cook rice for 45 min
8. serve hot with chicken

-ingredients

—broth

• 700 ml chicken stock
• 100 ml water
• 100 g ikan bilis (anchovies)
• 4 tbsp veggie oil
• 1 litre coconut milk
• fish sauce
• sugar
• salt

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—rempah/spice

• 8 shallots, chopped
• 12 large dried red chilies soaked in lukewarm water, 1 hr
• 200 g dried shrimp (hae bee) soaked in lukewarm water, 4 hrs
• 2 stalks lemongrass, sliced
• 12 candlenuts
• 2 tsp shrimp paste (belacan), roasted
• 5 cm piece fresh turmeric, peeled
• 10 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp ground anise star
• 1 tbsp coriander seed
• 4 tbsp veggie oil

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—ingredients to serve (all cooked and ready to eat)

• 300 g cooked thick rice noodle (bee hoon)
• tiger prawns, cooked
• 12 pieces perforated bean curd (tau pok)
• pan-fried Chinese fish cakes, sliced
• 2 eggs, hard boiled & halved
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup fresh laksa leaves (Vietnamese mint or daun kesom)
• sambal belacan (see below)

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-method (to prepare laksa broth)

1. boil chicken stock and water in large pot
2. add anchovies and simmer for 1 hr on medium heat
3. reduce heat to simmer
4. pound all rempah ingredients in mortar into smooth paste
5. heat 4 tbsp veggie oil in a pan over medium heat and saute the rempah paste, 5 – 10 min until fragrant and dark brown
6. mix in rempah and coconut milk to the pot of broth
7. turn heat up to boil
8. season broth with fish sauce, sugar and salt

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Sambal belacan

-ingredients

• 10 g dried shrimp paste (belacan)
• 4 chilli padi
• 4 red chillies
• 2 calamansi (Kafir lime)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

-method

1. Saute shrimp paste on dry pan until fragrant
2. In a mortar, pound chillies and shrimp paste until homogenous
3. add calamansi lime juice to the paste
4. add sugar and salt to taste
5. store the sambal belacan in a container

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Procedure to serve laksa
-steps

1. apportion and add all ‘ingredients to serve except curry leaves” to a serving bowl
2. “Rinse or run through” the above ingredient with laksa broth several times.This will slow cook the ingredients.
3. add in the laksa broth, sambal belacan (according to your spiciness level), and curry leaves.
4. Serve hot.

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Alternative ingredients to enhance flavour and texture

• cooked blood cockle, shelled

-ingredients

• coconut rice
• dried anchovies sambal (see below)
• cucumber, sliced
• fried anchovies
• fried peanuts
• hard-boiled eggs, halved

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coconut rice

-ingredients

• 400 g (2 cups) rice, washed and drained
• 3 screwpine leaves (pandan), washed and knotted
• 1 shallot, peeled and thickly sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 200 ml water

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-method

1. place all ingredients into a rice cooker
2. cook as per cooker’s instruction

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fried anchovies sambals

-ingredients

• 50 g deep fried anchovies
• 1 large red onion (approx 210 g), quartered and sliced thinly
• 60 to 70 g light brown sugar
• 15 g tamarind paste mixed with 1 cup of water, discard the sediment later (or strained)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cooking oil

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—spice paste

• 100 g shallots peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 bug yellow onion, chopped
• 40 g dried red chillies, soaked in boiling water and drained
• 1 tsp roasted shrimp paste (belacan)

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-method

1. blend spice paste ingredients
2. saute in moderate heat with oil
3. stir until fragrant (and oil separated from paste)
4. add red onion and stir briefly
5. mix in tamarind juice, sugar and cook, 20-25 min
6. mix in fried anchovies and cook for 15 min
7. season with sugar/salt to taste

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