Our Darkest Hour Begins

This year, we commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. I thought, therefore, it would be only appropriate for me to dig into my grandfather's oral history interview transcripts and feature some extracts of his interview on this blog (slightly edited by me).  By  way of background, my grandfather would have been in his mid-thirties at the time of the Occupation.  He had married a few years earlier, and had two children with a third on the way.  Sadly, he passed away a number of years ago, and so I no longer have the opportunity to ask him more about his experiences during the war.

To start off with, here is his impression of the Japanese bombing of Singapore, on 8th December 1941.

"Early that morning, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, I was then living in Jalan Eunos at the corner of Jalan Yasin and Jalan Eunos.  I heard booming of guns, rattling of windows and, I normally would have slept through it all because I was very, very tired.  When I heard all these guns and the rattling, I felt something unusual was happening and I came out and went out to the verandah there, and I saw search lights.  And all these gun firings seemed to have come from anti-aircraft gun-posts down near in Geylang Serai, at the corner of Joo Chiat Road and Geylang Road... ...We didn't hear the fall of bombs as I know them to sound but I said, "could it be that bombs are being dropped on Singapore?" ... Alright, I'll get into my MAS uniform, that is the Medical Auxiliary, and stand by the radio and see what we hear at six o'clock when the y start broadcasting.  And true enough the news came that Japanese planes had flown over Singapore...  so what I did straightaway was to get into my car and went straight to the Yock Eng Depot in Katong Road where I reported for duty."


Subsequently, my grandfather (a first-generation Eurasian) was interned by the Japanese.  His account of how this came about:

"Now, after the Japanese took over from the 15th of February, they brought out the Syonan Shimbun, which was printed I think in the Straits Times Office ...   ....I knew that all the Europeans had already much earlier assembled on the Padang to be brought in  for internment, we Eurasians didn't know whether we were ever going to be interned or not...  ... One day, we got news somehow, that we had to go to the Padang to report, and the Eurasians were to go to the SRC, where all our particulars would be taken... ... We had a long walk to get to this SRC from Jalan Eunos.  It's about five or six miles.  The eldest son was only two years old.   I carried him from the house until I reached the end of Grove Road, which is now Mountbatten road.  Tess, my wife  was going to have a baby, our third child.  And someone else carried our second child.  At Grove Road a certain Mr Ess, a friend of mine, came along in his car, took Tess and the children and all into the car.We went there we got all registered and then we walked back all the way again.

Then some days later now my name appeared in the Syonan Shimbun in thick block letters and so did many others, and we were told to report to the Toyo Hotel, just told to report to the Toyo Hotel which was in Queen Street.  And there, I had gone down that day, thinking, well, it need not be internment.  I brought about $66 or something down meaning to buy a new tyre for my wife's lady bicycle.  But when my name was called by Shinozak in the Toyo Hotel, he just rapped the table with his finger, and he said, "By order of the High Command you are to be interned." I said, "But I've only come down just as I am now." "Oh don't you worry," he said,when we take you to the place of internment, on the way we will drop at the houses and pick up things.  I had about, as I said $66 with me, I gave $60 to my brother in law  and I said, "Give this to Tess".   And I kept just six for myself because I felt, my good gracious, she needs money.

We were there up to about 12 or half-past twelve, and then all these registration of those that they intended to intern were ready... ... Well, we got into the truck and it must have come along Geylang road, and when it came to the head of Jalan Eunos, well of course we were all quiet, silent in the truck, wondering where we were going. That's the main thing.  We didn't know where we were going."

My grandfather would spend the rest of the war in Changi Prison.  My grandmother would subsequently be put in a camp together with her three young children.  Happily, the family was reunited after the war, all intact.

At the two year mark

At the two year mark, a photo by Taking5 on Flickr.

Well, it has been two years and in the interest of complete transparency I guess I should share the current status of my beaded shoe project.

As you can see, progress has not been the greatest.

On the plus side, I have started on the second shoe... on the down side, have not finished the first!

Reason is that I'm running a little low on one colour of the beads and it is proving difficult to top up as the shops don't stock this type any more. So am making sure that the shoes are going to match by using the remainder of the beads to complete the other side to the same level and then I'll just have to work out how to complete the bottom part of both shoes. Or hopefully by then the new stock will be in!

Beef Rendang for beginners

Everyone has a list of things to do; I have a list of things to cook.  For a long time, beef rendang was on that list.  Rendang is actually a classic Indonesian dish, but as my last post indicates, nonyas and babas learnt quite a lot from Indonesia - and it goes well beyond using sarongs.  At last I got started - and I have not stopped since.

I've played around with a few rendang recipes - including by Wendy Hutton (Singapore Food), James Oseland (Cradle of Flavour) and of course one by the doyen of nonya cooking, Mrs Lee Chin Koon (of Mrs Lee's Recipes fame).  The basic ingredients are of course the same, but there are differences in the mixture of spices - my own combination is given below.  But what was interesting is the new technique which I learnt for the first time whilst making rendang. 

It is quite common practice for some coconut sauce based dishes, to fry the rempah (or spice mix), and then add thick coconut milk.  The coconut milk is then cooked until it begins to "crack", in other words the oil begins to separate out of the milk.  The food is then cooked in the rempah and coconut milk, for a nice smooth gravy.  But for rendang, the food is cooked first in the coconut milk and only at the end, does the residual coconut milk "crack" and the beef "fries" in the oily gravy, and that's how you get that beautiful, rich reddish-brown colour of the rendang gravy.  I find it so interesting to see how the dish transforms along the way, from what looks like an ordinary beef curry in a rather pale bath of soup, to these chunks of meat covered in a very thick, smooth, oh so yummy gravy.

It is not for nothing that beef rendang can be found in all good nonya restaurants.  The tender beef, well flavoured with all these lovely spices goes down a treat with white rice and vegetables. 

So here's the recipe for the rendang:

Ingredients:

1 kg shin beef (or other stewing beef)
1 medium size onion (or 5-6 shallots)
500 ml coconut milk (about 250ml packet of thick coconut milk/cream, dilute with 250ml water)
1 stick cinnamon (approx 5 cm or so)
2-3 cloves (optional)
30-40g kerisik (this is essentially grated coconut which has been dry-fried/toasted- gorgeous if you are prepared to put in this extra work, but I buy mine in a packet)
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt

For the rempah (all ingredients should be pounded/processed together)

4 slices galangal (also called lengkwas)
4 slices ginger
3-4 cloves garlic
14-18 dried red chillies, soaked
1 tbsp tumeric powder
2 stalks of lemongrass (white portion only, chopped fine) - note: I've swapped this with lime leaves before, when I couldn't get hold of any lemongrass

Garnishing: lime leaves, cut into thin strips

Cooking method:
1.  Fry the rempah in a little bit of oil, together with the onion, cinnamon and cloves.  Add in the kerisik and fry till fragrant.
2.  Add the meat, and cook till the meat has changed colour.  Add in the coconut milk, sugar and salt.  Bring to the boil, then simmer till the meat is tender (depending on the meat - I do it for about two hours).  Add a little more water if need be.
3.  When meat is nice and tender, reduce the liquid and cook on low heat until the coconut oil "cracks" as described above.  

Serve garnished with the lime leaves. 

Unsurprisingly, this dish is nicer the next day.

The Art of the Sarong Kebaya

 I finally managed some time last December to take in the Sarong Kebaya exhibition at the Peranakan Museum in Singapore, which had recently been "refreshed" with new exhibits.

Many of us, when we think about the sarong kebaya, tend to focus on the beautifully embroidered, colourful kebaya tops, complemented by the sarong below.  In fact, this is a rather "modern" interpretation of the sarong kebaya.

The sarong kebaya exhibition reminds us that the sarong kebaya has changed considerably since its early days.  The first series of exhibits displayed were of these early "kebayas".  The typical kebaya then was composed of a long jacket reaching well past the knees, and the sarong was typically dark blue or dark red - this was because they were dyed with natural dyes, and these were the only two colours available.

Subsequently, white became the colour of choice for kebaya tops- beautifully trimmed with exquisite lace. The batik prints on the sarongs became more elaborate, with use of different motiffs and patterns.  Because the sarong kebaya was also used by the Dutch women in Indonesia, they even had Christian motiffs like a cross, an anchor and a heart to represent faith, hope and charity.  Some batik designers even took inspiration from fairy tales - the sarong on the right shows the magic mirror scene from the "Sleeping Beauty"!

Eventually, the sarong kebaya evolved to include the more colourful embroidered kebaya tops, made of cotton rubbia or swiss voile  (I must admit that I personally  would find it strange wearing one with a prawn design - see left - or featuring flamenco dancers).  Of course, these would be for special occasions.  Many older nonyas would have grown up wearing simple cottong kebaya tops and sarongs -  I recall my grandmother always wearing more muted kebayas with simple patterns and designs on them.

The sarong kebaya exhibition ends on 8 Apr 2012, for those who are interested to see these beautiful, delicate garments.  For those who've not been to the Peranakan Museum before, I highly recommend it for those who want to know more about the wonderful world of Babas and Nonyas (you can read all my previous posts on the museum here).   

As for me, I look forward to the next time I don my sarong kebaya,with a new appreciation of its past, evolution and its beauty :-)

Hidden Gem of Singapore - Bukit Brown Cemetery

Hidden Peacock, a photo by Taking5 on Flickr.

In my last post, I told the story of a nameless ancestor who may or may not be buried in Bukit Brown cemetery and promised an update on my visit to BB cemetery itself.

Anyway, Bukit Brown cemetery is a Chinese cemetery in Singapore, which was in active use from 1922 to 1973. "Bukit" means "hill" in Malay, and "Brown" is after an earlier owner of the land, George Henry Brown, a ship-owner who arrived in Singapore in the 1840s. A name reflecting indeed the melting pot of cultures, peoples, that Singapore was then.

The cemetery is the burial place for many pioneers of the Singapore Chinese community. Others have written about the cemetery (see this nice post by oceanskies), and of the controversy surrounding it - this quiet peaceful place has to make way for an expressway in the near future. So, I will not go into it here but instead reflect on my own visit.

It was indeed a place of contrasts. Some graves were well kept, some even with fresh paint ensuring that the names and words on the gravestones remained legible. Others were overgrown - the gravestones falling over and the grass growing halfway up the stones.

Some graves were decorated with beautiful peranakan tiles, reflecting the culture and tradition of the times, or with charming little scenes carved on the stones. One was guarded by a pair of Sikh guards, assisted by their own little guard dogs.  Others were simple solitary stones.

Some plots were large (although we were unable to find the huge plot which was apparently 10 3-room HDB flats in size, surely a difficult grave to overlook?). One near the entrance, for example, had a large area demarcated in front for mourners to gather, with two stone benches on each side for the weary to rest a while. In one corner, we saw what must have been the paupers' graves - a series of small gravestones clustered tightly together.

We did not go out of our way to look for "famous" graves. But there were little direction signs indicating where these graves are and when we came across them, we did take the opportunity to look at them. So we saw the grave of Tan Seah Imm (Seah Imm Street fame), Tan Ean Kiam (Ean Kiam Place, in Katong!), the grave of Lee Kuan Yew's grandfather, the grave of a descendent of Confucius,and so on.  But there are many other graves, of less famous people, but each one a part of the Singapore story.   This useful and educational site captures their stories.

Needless to say, I was unable to find the grave of my ancestor during my visit to BB. I had asked my aunts and father if they had any clues which would help me find the grave. But, "we walked a long way in" and "there was this big round circle" are not useful tips (see adjoining photo; many graves are demarcated by "big round circles").  They did tell me that the descendents' names were written in English on the graves, so we would have been able to identify the correct grave once we found it (if we found it, that is). 

 I did have a prime suspect as to the name of my ancestor. We managed to locate the relevant sector but alas, the sector itself was somewhat large and overgrown. It was not feasible to search it for a single grave. Instead, we spent our time just absorbing the peace and tranquility of the cemetery.  It was a morning well spent. 

How do I feel about the prospect of a road going through the cemetery, destroying my great-great-grandfather's grave?  Well, I did not know of the grave in the first place so it is hard for me to feel very much about it.  I do feel sorry that this serene place has to make way for further development, but hope that some part of it can be conserved in some way.  Also, whilst the cemetery is not in active use (as in welcoming new inhabitants, that is), it is quite clear that many still come here to pay their respects to their ancestors.

If you are planning a visit to Bukit Brown cemetery, the API website provides interesting links, including a useful map (which for some reason I discovered only after my visit). 

For more photos, do check out my Flickr set.

My Mysterious Ancestor

It all started when I mentioned casually at dinner one evening, that I wanted to go visit Bukit Brown (BB) cemetery.  My father remarked, that in his childhood he remembered visiting the grave of his grandfather's father, every year at Cheng Beng (the day the Chinese visit the graves of their ancestors to remember them), in a "cemetery off Lornie Road".  Since BB is off Lornie Road, he thought this could be the same cemetery. 

I thought that the first person to come down from China was my father's grandfather!  Where did this mysterious ancestor come from?!!!  And could I be sure that my father's recollections were correct?  What was the name of this gentleman anyway?  My father only recalled the surname, which of course is not a big feat of memory since it is our family name anyway.  And so the investigations began.  My father checked with his sisters, all of whom remembered visiting the said cemetery but none of whom could remember the full name of the said ancestor.  They checked with their aunt (my grandaunt), who being one generation before them might actually know a little more detail.  Unfortunately, they drew a blank - he had died before she was born, she said.  But, after thinking about it, she vaguely recalled that one of his names was "Huat" - or something like it. 

So there I had two clues - the name "Huat" (or something like it), and a possible date of death, likely somewhere in the 1920s since that was when BB was opened and that was around when grandaunt was born.(Of course, that was before I found out that there were graves in other parts of Singapore which were exhumed and the bodies re-located to BB.)  Anyway, I found the BB Burial Register on-line, courtesy of the National Archives, and trawled through the first two documents before scrolling down and finding the index of names further down.  Ah, well, at least it still saved me quite a lot of work. Fortunately, my family surname is relatively uncommon, so the number of entries was not overly daunting.  And it was quite easy to knock out the females and those who died too young.  However, I could not find a "Huat", but found something which looked like "Huan" (the careful cursive script of the day was not always easy to read).  Alas, the full name still did not ring any bells with my grandaunt.

She did, however, reveal more about our family history.  My father's grandfather (my great-grandfather), came down to Penang at the age of 15 years old, to seek his fortune.  I have written elsewhere about how he met and married his second wife, my greatgrandmother - who just happened to be his boss' daughter.  So obviously, he had done reasonably well, well enough to bring down his family members - his first wife, father and brother, here to Singapore.  My grandaunt says that this was the time of the Boxer Rebellion, so considering my grandfather died in 1969 at the age of around 80+ years, it seems that he himself came down just before or during the Boxer Rebellion (around 1900-01) and brought the rest of his family over soon after.  His first wife together with her family, and his brother, settled in Johore where they ran a rubber estate and of course my relatives are still living there. 

So, sadly, I am not any nearer finding the name of my mysterious ancestor.  But at least now I know a little more about my family than I did one month ago.

Watch out for my next post on BB Cemetery!

Traditional Christmas Goodies

I've not put anything up for some time ... it really has been a busy time for me and I do wish I had more time to maintain this blog.

Anyway, the last week has been a veritable whirlwind of baking my Christmas goodies - my "staples" of pineapple tarts and shortbread, and my first batch ever of mince pies!  Three "traditional" Christmas delicacies, one from England, one for the Eurasian community, and one distinctly my family's own.

I really don't know why people express surprise when I tell them I make pineapple tarts for Christmas.  I tell them that this is a Eurasian tradition.  I also tell them (and am met with some polite scepticism) that there is reasonably strong grounds to suspect that the Eurasians came up with the golden treat in the first place, as mentioned in my earlier post. 

Since then, a kind reader gave  me some useful information - that the pineapple plant we all know and love came from the same place that the rubber tree did - South America.  The popular story appears to be that Columbus discovered it in 1493 and brought it back with him to Europe.  From there, it is likely that the European explorers /colonisers/missionaries brought it with them to South East Asia.  (One suspects the Portuguese, but my informant figured the French).  Whoever it was, the fruit came via Europe, the cooking techniques are more western than oriental, the very traditional Eurasian practice of eating this at Christmas together with the sugee cake...  ... whatever it is, I have enough jam left over to make a fresh batch for Chinese New Year, thus satisfying both traditions :-)

The shortbread, however, is no Eurasian tradition but my family's own favourite recipe.  I wrote about it in a previous post too, so I won't go into it any further here.

So that leaves me with my mince pies.  Now, these are indeed traditional English Christmas treats.  And, as a child I also recall my mother buying mincemeat to make these gorgeous apple pies - apple lining the bottom of the pastry base, with the mince layering the top, followed by strips of criss-crossing pastry on top.  Ah, those were indeed absolutely delicious childhood memories.

This time round, however, I decided to go with Nigella Lawson's Frangipane Mince Pies which come with a little layer of mince at the bottom of the tart and then covered with the eggy/buttery/almond-y topping and baked till beautiful and golden on top.  Ah, the divine Ms Lawson indeed deserves her Domestic Goddess status as these beautiful little pies really were quite delectable.  Alas, could only sample one piece (baker's privilege) as the rest are destined for my extended family's Christmas Eve dinner tonight, where I hope they will disappear like the hot cakes they are. 

But I still have half a bottle of mincemeat left, so maybe there is a mincemeat and apple pie in my not too distant future...

Rising international awareness of Peranakan Food!

It's a big thing to get your little restaurant featured in the Wall Street Journal (or more accurately one of the WSJ blogs).  It's a really big thing when yours is just a small little restaurant in a little red dot of an island, featuring a cuisine that is associated with only a minority of the people on said little red dot. So here's the blog link.

Candlenut Kitchen can be found at 25 Neil Road, in the Duxton area.  I've been there before - the food is indeed tasty and flavourful.  Don't think I tried the sous-vide beef buah keluak though (even the name of this dish is truly a fusion of three languages!).  Reason enough for another visit?  :-)