This National Day, we asked chefs to recreate their favourite local dish. The results? Hearty, comfort foods for the whole family to enjoy!
Photos: Chia Yoon Nyen
He’s cooked for top restaurants in five-star establishments in Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Philippines and New Zealand, but the affable Chef Chua is still most comfortable leading the F&B teams in creating and promoting local delicacies here in Singapore. The dish he most love is the Singapore Laksa, a dish that every Singaporean knows and truly represents multi-cultural Singapore. Here, Chef Chua retains the dish’s traditional roots – after all, why change something which is perfect to begin with?
Click next page for Chef Chua Yew Hock’s Singapore Laksa.
Even though he is well versed in French, Indian, and Spanish cuisines during his 30 years in F&B, Chef Raymond’s first love for cooking stems from his family heritage. Peranakan food is his specialty and all his recipes come from his family, vetted by his mum and godmother. To celebrate National Day, he chose Nasi Ulam, a traditional Nyonya/Malay rice dish which he says takes a lot of patience and time to prepare.
Click next page for Chef Raymond Khoo’s Nasi Ulam.
With over 20 years of culinary experience under his belt, Chef Eric is a recognisable personality among food industry insiders, the media and food bloggers. He appears regularly as a guest chef/judge on popular food programmes on local TV. Chef Eric chose the Malay dish Ayam Panggang as representative of the plurality of flavours from different cuisines we are so fortunate to enjoy in Singapore.
Click next page for Chef Eric Neo’s Ayam Panggang.
Well-known for his irresistible sweet creations and themed “fetish” food collections, Chef Pang is one of Singapore’s most exciting young chefs to emerge in recent years, having gathered his expertise from being Executive Pastry Chef at the Les Amis Group and conceptualised Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie here. Being Hakka, Chef Pang naturally chose the famous Hakka dish Suan Pan Zi (Hakka abacus seeds), which to him represents his heritage and also his love for food and cooking.
Click next page for Chef Pang Kok Keong’s Suan Pan Zi.
Dhall is one of celebrity chef Emmanuel Stroobant’s favourite local dishes. There is a very good reason the Belgium chef – who has won many culinary awards and counts Singapore as his home, having lived here for more than 16 years with his wife and two kids – chose this dish. Chef Emmanuel has been a vegetarian for close to eight years so he naturally picked this popular vegetarian Indian dish. For Chef Emmanuel, the dish is simple and honest, a reflection of how living and working in Singapore is like to him.
Click next page for Chef Emmanuel Stroobant’s Dhall With Chapati.
As one of Singapore’s most recognisable personalities, Chef Willin excites foodies with his modern and imaginative take on classic homespun dishes. Here, Chef Willin created his very own Wild Rocket Char Kway Teow (Without Kway Teow) using mainly sliced cuttlefish to replace the kway teow. “I knew I wanted to pick a hawker dish because to me, our hawker culture is not only the soul of the Singapore culinary identity but central to Singapore’s heritage. Char Kway Teow was picked mainly because I was thinking how best I can enjoy a plate of it carb free!” says Chef Willin.
Click next page for Chef Willin Low’s Char Kway Teow (Without Kway Teow).
Click here for the Char Kway Teow (Without Kway Teow) recipe.
