For the Love of Curry Puffs

Willin & Denise

Hot on the heels of the successful re-launch of his Mod-Sin restaurant Wild Rocket, Gold 90FM is delighted to finally have Chef-Owner Willin Low onboard as a Makan Kaki!

And the first thing you should know about our new foodie friend is, he really, really, REALLY loves curry puffs! He eats them any chance he gets and believe us, there are many chances, as far as Willin is concerned! Just check out his Instagram feed (#thecurrypuffincident) and you’ll see what we mean! So it’s no surprise that for his very first episode with us, he chose to talk about his all-time favourite local snack.

First of all, it’s an all-in-one food – it’s portable, compact and even its packaging is edible. Just think: a delicious crust encapsulating ingredients bursting with spicy flavour – what’s not to love about curry puffs? And you know you’ve got a good curry puff in your hands if the crust is good enough to eat on its own!

Here are three of Willin’s current favourites:

Katong Chicken Curry Puff

These guys have been producing top quality curry puffs for years and years. In fact, they make their own curry powder and are very generous with their chunks of chicken in the filling. Best eaten fresh and hot, right out of the fryer!

Katong Chicken Curry Puff
Blk 84 Marine Parade Central
#01-132
Open: Tue – Sun, 8am – 6pm
Closed on Mondays

Lagoon Chicken Curry Puff

These curry puffs have been made and sold for years at East Coast Lagoon and the old man who makes them is still there making them by hand, rolling out his dough (made with lard!!!) with his trusty old glass soya sauce bottle. Spicy and addictive.

Lagoon Chicken Curry Puff
Stall #28
East Coast Lagoon Food Village
1220 East Coast Park Service Road
Open daily: 3 – 9pm (but it sells out fast, so go earlier!)

Baba Curry Puff

This newer kid on the block is Willin’s latest discovery and boasts several branches, but he swears by the Potong Pasir stall. While the first two curry puffs are Hainanese with pastry made from short crust, this Nyonya version is different. Made by a Peranakan chef whose recipe is extra messy in the best way possible. One bite and you’ll be dealing with melt-in-your-mouth flakes and unctuous filling everywhere! The crust, in particular, is flaky and has that distinct spiral/ shell pattern after it is deep fried.

The Baba Curry Puff Cafe
Blk 137 Potong Pasir Avenue 3
#01-144
Open 24 Hours Daily

LISTEN AGAIN TO THIS WEEK’S FLAKY, SPICY EPISODE!

Wok & Roll with this Duck!

This week, we bring you the unique, addictive, delicious creation of a man who is the disciple of one of the 4 Heavenly Chefs of Singapore. These titles were conferred to 4 young talented chefs back in the 1970s by a local Chinese Culinary Institution and such an honour has never been bestowed since.

So back to said disciple, who is a man already in his 60s, manning a cze char restaurant and turning out plate after plate of awesomeness somewhere in Clementi…

He has 3 signature dishes on his menu, but the one to really get excited about is his Tempura Duck Roll. Check it: He debones duck, leaving the fatty skin on, pounds it thin and steams it. He then rolls the steam-tender fillets up with prawn, coriander, mushroom, minced five-spice pork and other tasty morsels, before dipping them in his tempura batter and deep frying them! You have crazy flavour from the fat in the skin, juicy meatiness from the duck and lots more texture from the stuffing, not to mention the CRRRUNCH from the deep-fried batter.

Forget party in your mouth, it’s a month-long fiesta – it’s like Chinese New Year, Christmas, National Day, the wedding of Kate and William all rolled in one, PLUS fireworks!!! This tempura duck roll is a winner and a DIE DIE MUST TRY!

For more on the signature dishes like pig’s stomach soup, click here!

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S EPISODE AGAIN.

HOY YONG SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
BLK 352 CLEMENTI AVE 2
#01-153
Open Daily 5.30-10.30pm

Just Order Lor…

This week, your Makan Kakis sniff out a local delight that is hard to do right and even harder to find. LOR MEE!

Seetoh says it’s all about the right balance of starch in the LOR, or sauce, that can make or break the dish. Too much, and the sauce gets gloopy, gluggy and very unpleasant. Get it right and you have a silky-smooth sauce that lovingly bathes every strand of noodle in deliciousness. The secret to a silky sauce? Simple – leaving the right amount of cooking water from the noodles in the bowl before mixing with the sauce.

Next, the flavour of the sauce. This week’s recommendation is all about flavour because it’s made from the same stock that goes into prawn noodles, which this stall also sells. And there’s always a queue!

Imagine an unctious prawn-stock-based silky sauce loaded with flavour, mingling with with noodles, crowned with yummy deep-dried morsels… Mmmm! Here, Ang Go Li, or red snapper is battered and deep-fried, before being hand-peeled to top the Lor Mee, along with home-made ngoh hiang and other crunchy munchies.

As for the noodles, Seetoh goes for a mix of yellow noodles and bee hoon (lighter, less filling) for the best of both worlds.

Add chilli for kick and lots of black vinegar to balance the heaviness of all the other ingredients and you’ve got the perfect bowl of Lor Mee.

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S EPISODE OF MAKAN KAKIS!

Xin Mei Xiang
Block 51
Old Airport Road Hawker Centre
#01-116
Open: 7am – 2.30pm (closed on Thursdays)