Passion for fusion

What struck me today is how chepalang (mixed up, or “anyhow anyway” in Singlish) my eating habits and cooking are of late. I think I have been like this for a while, since I moved to Tokyo. Back home, I used to make all sorts of different cuisines for meals but they tend to be pretty straight, like Thai curry will be accompanied by tom yum soup, or spaghetti bolognese was paired with garlic bread, or bok choy in oyster sauce went together with kung pow chicken.

Why am I waxing lyrical over daily feeding patterns? Well, I’ll get to it.

I think I’ve become more adaptable and flexible — I improvise when I lack ingredients or just go without. Gastronomical adjustments aside, I think this has permeated all aspects of my new life here. Patience is a hard lesson I’ve learnt and going with the flow is a seriously valuable trait to have.

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is I’m still as obsessed with food as ever, but perhaps more interested in other cuisines other than what I knew before (Chinese, Singaporean, Thai and Italian).

I thought the food lovers among my readers would be interested to know what has been dancing on my palate — what does a Singaporean eat at home in Tokyo? Is it possible to survive without hawker da baos (take out)?

Here is one example: Bah Kut Teh (pork ribs in tea soup is a rough translation), cold, smooth tofu in ponzu sauce (a Japanese mandarin rind sauce used in shabu-shabu), with brown rice. I refuse to buy pork ribs here because they are expensive and virtually meatless, so I just opt for the big chopped up flank pieces meant for stews. I threw in bunashimeiji mushrooms, spinach and enoki. The original version of course only has pork ribs and usually with a side of salted veggies.

Other favourites are grilled salmon and a side of Indian chickpea curry, tacos with miso soup, egg plant and ochre in assam fish curry without the fish, Korean stir-fried pork with kimchi and onions plus xiao bai cai (small white vegetable is the direct translation but it’s actually a medium green leafy veggie) and shiitake mushrooms in oyster sauce, Worchestershire and sesame oil-marinated pork chops with a side of stir-fried broccoli and garlic in soy sauce, and bunashimeiji mushrooms and lemon-flavoured sausages in pesto sauce with penne pasta.

I think I’m probably not alone in mixing it all up — serious globe trotters who have lived in several countries are probably more chepalang. Even though I live in a fairly mono-cultural society now, I think I am more exposed to different cultures than before in cosmo Singapore, by virtue of the fact that I mingle in the foreign community, which is of course a veritable melting pot.

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