Vegetarian Singapore Noodles
For someone who cooks so voluminously and variedly all the time, I struggled for
a long time to figure out what was meant by “curry powder” or “Madras”.
I mean,
we are well acquainted with garam/sambar/rasam/goda/ chole/pav bhaji/and what
not masalas.But what’s a curry powder?
Must be garam
masala of sorts… I would think.
On one of our first outings in Australia,
up the beautiful Dandenong ranges, we ordered what looked like heartwarming homemade curry pasties (curry
puffs) in a quaint little restaurant.
Why are vege options almost always only "curry" or "spinach and ricotta"?
I expected the curry puffs to have that wonderful garam masala flavour that curry puffs from Banglore Iyengar Bakery have.
Instead, they had a distinct
taste of sambar with a hint of - was it saunf
(fennel)?
The charming lady who ran the restaurant looked at me in disbelief when asked what the seasoning was – don’t you know- it’s curry powder!
So now we know better – anything that says
curry, tastes like sambar (with saunf/anise) okay, I will grudge a whiff of
garam masala at times, but I am dogmatic that essentially it is a drab version of sambar
powder…
Stereotyping or synecdoche, it’s true that
the colonialists took away Indian spices in their myriad fragrant flavours,
only to institutionalise them into one generic khaki powder.
But then, it’s quite droll and retributive
for an Indian that a tin with the grim and foreboding countenance of bob-wigged
Bobby Clive (Clive of India brand curry powder) actually packs a quotidian
sambar powder like spice mix….
It’s this very curry powder that makes
these stir fried noodles “Singapore”.
Is Somerset Maugham our antidote for Clive?
Vegetarian Singapore Noodles
Ingredients
225g egg noodles (or rice noodles - but you'll have to cook them differently)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 (or more) cups sliced/julienned vegetables
(cabbage, carrot, red and green peppers, snow peas, mushroom (reserve some
shredded cabbage for garnishing)
2 spring onions, sliced diagonally (reserve
some for garnishing)
2 tbs vegetable oil, plus extra for noodles
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbs curry powder
1 tsp brown sugar
Crushed dried red chillies/ sliced red
chillies - to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
Boil a large pot of water, add salt and a spoon
of oil and cook noodles el dente. Drain and refresh with cold water. Keep
aside.
Heat the oil in a large wok and add the
sliced spring onion, garlic and ginger. Then add the other vegetables one by
one according to their cooking times, keep stirring all the time. Add the soy
sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, pepper, curry powder and continue to stir fry
the vegetables for a few seconds and add the sesame oil. Add the noodles now
and cook for another minute or so. Check the salt and add per taste.
Serve piping hot garnished with coriander and some of the shredded cabbage and spring onions.
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