Thursday, November 11, 2010

Singapore sweet binge

Everyday at 3-4pm I'm in serious need of a sweet fix. Usually something to do with chocolate will sort me out. But today my sweet fix took a new turn when my friend E convinced me to try some traditional Singaporean sweet fixes.

When you see these things, they look all wrong. I am always suspicious of deserts than come in bright colours.

First was Onde Onde....




These are small dumplings of sweet potato dough filled with gula Melaka (Malaccan sugar) and coated in shredded coconut. You stick it in your mouth whole, bite into it…and it explodes sweetness! Genius. I love food that is an experience and Onde Onde is just that.


Next up was Ang Ku Kueh (red tortoise cake). God knows how much colouring is in this thing but I'm relieved to know it has nothing to do with ACTUAL tortoises. 






Anyway this is one of the most common Chinese pastries found in Singapore and it's shaped like the shell of a tortoise because once upon a time it was thought that eating these creatures which are the longest living animals on Earth would bring a long life to the person eating it. 

It's filled with ground peanuts contained in a ball of glutinous rice flour and is lovely and chewy and crunchy all at the same time.

After eating a few of these I thought it would be rude to end it there so I also managed to cram in a Binka Ubi, a Malay steamed tapioca cake. Delicious!



Feeling rather piggy after cramming in a lot of sweet stuff in about 5 minutes flat, I thought I better end it there!


2 comments:

Elaine N said...

We'll try more stuff the next shopping trip!!

Ms Demeanour said...

Woop Woop I can't wait!!!