By Leigh O’Connor.
The newest book by acclaimed author, Shu Han Lee – ‘Agak Agak’ – showcases the bold flavours and spice of Singaporean food with easy recipes that can be recreated in your home kitchen.
‘Agak Agak’ is a colloquial term rooted in the Malay word for ‘somewhat’ – coming to life in the home kitchen, where cooks rely on their senses and experience rather than tools or exact formulas.
Shu Han Lee grew up in Singapore and moved to London in 2009. Author of the acclaimed cookbook, ‘Chicken and Rice’, she is a food developer whose spice company, Rempapa, is stocked throughout the UK.
An authoritative voice in Singaporean cookery, Shu’s recipes come from a place of family, heritage and home - this cuisine, as we know it today, stems from a long history of adjusting, adapting and doing things to taste. In this latest book, Shu encapsulates this approach to cooking by sharing delicious recipes that bring punchy Singaporean flavours to simple home cooking, while encouraging you to use the recipes as inspiration to create other dishes.
Here are three to try at home next time you are looking for new flavour sensations:
"This recipe is kudos to my earliest taste and memory of curry. Hainanese curry is sweet and mild, but while it’s gentle on the sinuses, it packs a punch with fragrant spices, lemongrass and soy sauce,” Shu explains.
"I love adding potatoes to curry as they soak up all the flavour from the sauce while cooking. Don’t use floury potatoes, as they will fall apart in the sauce; I tend to go for baby new potatoes as they have the perfect texture and their small size and thin skin mean you don’t have to bother with peeling or chopping.”
Chilli crab is one of the most iconic dishes of Singapore. The original dish consists of whole mud crab, stir-fried in a sweet, spicy and savoury tomato sauce, then served with deep-fried mantou (Chinese steamed buns) and bowls of lemon water – the latter to wash your sauce-drenched hands with.
As with all the best foods in Singapore, this dish has continued to evolve, beyond its first invention back in the 1950s. Young Singaporean Chefs have turned this explosive dish into a pasta sauce and you’ll find chilli crab spaghetti served in many modern bistros.
"Here is my version, using cooked crab meat for ease. I use both white and brown meat; the latter adds a rich seafood depth to the sauce, akin to shrimp paste.”
"This was concocted in a moment of desperation, but it has since saved me on many hungry late nights when the takeaway options are dire. This five-minute stir-fry makes use of a simple ingredient found in most fridges – minced (ground) meat – and is finished with whatever fresh fragrant herbs you have lying around.
"I’ve purposely left out the usual chopped garlic, ginger or shallots found at the start of a stir fry because these are not the sort of nights for peeling and chopping. Instead, the dish packs a punch with a few store cupboard staple seasonings, garlic oil (if you have it) and bird’s eye chilli – snipped straight into the wok with kitchen scissors.”
This book will transport you to the streets of Singapore, with tales of Shu’s family roots woven throughout the recipes as well as tips and tricks – ‘Agak Agak’ delivers a fun, fresh and creative way of cooking.
