Festive fruit cake

As is my usual practice, I made my traditional sugee cake this Christmas, plus some mince pies.  Plus my mother made her shortbread.  But I felt that it was time for something new.  So, I decided that this year would be the year I tackled fruit cake! Fruit cake is another Eurasian Christmas classic, a British tradition handed down to the local community in Singapore.  But, I never got round to making it even though my mother continued to get a commercial cake (normally the Lion's Club charity cake) every year.

So I started checking recipes.  I looked through Mrs Ellice Handy's book for her recipe, but was totally bowled over by the amount of fruit (almost 2kg worth) and the fact that the recipe was for 3 medium loaf tins!  Of course, I could have just divided the recipe by 3 and baked just a single loaf.  But considering that this was my first attempt, I decided to play it very safe, and use Nigella Lawson's traditional fruit cake recipe from her "Domestic Goddess" cookbook.  Nigella has generally been pretty reliable, at least for the recipes I've used.  And this particular recipe gives the different quantities for different fruit cake sizes.

And indeed, I think it turned out quite well, as the photo indicates.  There was still masses of fruit in the recipe, but I thought that the end result was quite moist, full of sherry-soaked raisins and mixed fruit.  It smelt wonderful too!

I can't seem to find the original recipe online, but Nigella has provided a slightly modified version here. The main difference, as she says, is that she upped the alcohol content and replaced some of the fruit with chopped pecans.  I can live with that :-)  On my part, I normally cut the sugar content by about one-third since I'm not too keen on sweet cakes. The original recipe also called for marmalade, rather than treacle, a substitution I'll probably stick to as I don't really use treacle for other dishes and we are huge fans of breakfast marmalade in this house. 

So maybe this is a cake to come back to again in future years.  The other good thing with fruit cake, of course, is that it has to be made in advance, so it doesn't really add to the hustle and bustle of Christmas.   

One small thing to end with.  For the first time ever, I heard about a "sugee fruit cake" which one of my colleague makes.  Coincidentally, my aunt received one from a Malaysian friend and we ate it at my cousin's Christmas dinner. I must say it is a denser, heavier cake than our traditional fruit cake.  But it interested me, this fusion between the two Christmas classics.  So I looked it up on line and it seems indeed to be quite common in Malaysia, but the origins seem to go back to that island in the Indian Ocean , where other semolina-based cakes have come from.  Here's the recipe I spotted, for anyone who'd like to give it a try and then report how it turns out so I can figure out if I want to do it too!

And of course - Merry Christmas, everyone!

Dutch Burghers in Sri Lanka

A few months ago, I paid my first visit to Sri Lanka.  I was here essentially to spend time with a friend and also to meet up with an old University classmate.  But I must admit that I also came here  to explore the links and connections between Sri Lanka and the other colonial territories of the Portuguesse and British in Asia, principally Malacca and Singapore.

St Theresa's Church, Colombo

The histories of Sri Lanka and Malacca are surprisingly alike.  First colonised by the Portuguese, who brought with them Catholicism, and churches.  Then by the Dutch, who started off the task of institution building. and then, lastly the British.  Finally, the Sri Lankans got the opportunity to govern themselves.

I spent a little time with each of Sri Lanka's former colonial masters.  In Colombo, I went to mass in St Theresa's church -  the parish was under the charge of the Redemptorists.  I must admit that I would associate Redemptorists with St Alphonsus rather than St Theresa, but then St Theresa is one of the patron saint of missionaries; so it is a good name for a little church far from the homes of the missionaries themselves.  We had an Irish priest giving the sermon, so the missionary spirit is indeed alive and well here.  Mass was "organised" the way it was in my childhood - the songs dated from then, and we knelt around the altar to receive communion.   The altar boys were dressed all in red.  I am still wondering whether it was a local custom or whether there was a special feast day being celebrated.

The Dutch Burgher Union House

We also went to the Dutch Burgher Union cafe for lunch.  Called the VOCafe, the "VOC" is actually a reference to the Dutch East India company or the Vereenigde  Oost-Indische Compagnie....  its definitely easier to say VOC. We had lampreis for lunch, a "typical" Burgher dish but I also saw traditional Eurasian dishes such as Mulligatawny soup and Beef Smore on the menu.  We were to have lampreis again a few days later, as my Uni friend is a Dutch Burgher by heritage and his wife cooked it for us.  Lampreis is not really a dish we see in Singapore.  It looks like a packet of nasi lemak from the outside, but it is actually rice cooked in a beef stock, with "seeni sambal", some  meat cutlets, a mixture of cubed meats and spices which is the exciting part of the dish.  The food is all packed together in a banana leaf which can then be kept aside till it's time to eat.  At this point, it is steamed for a few minutes till it's all nicely warmed up.  Pure comfort food.

Driving around Colombo, we saw the institutions the British left behind - the Parliament, the old government offices.  My friend told me that her husband's parents met because their families were living near each other, in the government officials' quarters.

Beyond Colombo, the old buildings and institutions the British left behind were really evident in Galle, where we visited the old Fort.  Built originally by the Dutch, the British fortified it further.  These sturdy walls have withstood storms and even the Asian tsunami of 2004 (there was some damage, apparently, but it has since been repaired).  Its institutions - the old government offices, the police etc are all here, in addition to the military barracks, and the lighthouse etc. It reminded me a little more of Malacca, rather than Singapore - I suppose that's the combined influence of all three colonial Masters rather than just one.   Unfortunately we got here a little late in the day and didn't have the opportunity to have high tea at the posh hotel.

Galle Fort

In short, I had left my home behind but found myself in a familiar place on the other side of the Indian Ocean.  I do have some family connection to Sri Lanka.  My mother's father's sister (my grandaunt) was married to a Ceylonese Burgher, of French descent.  He left Ceylon before the war, and came to Singapore where he met my grandaunt.  I distinctly remember visiting them every year at Christmas, tagging along behind my parents.  I would sit and look at their beautiful Christmas crib with its lovely figurines and eat Sugee cake and Love Cake.  So, you can see that the Ceylonese burgher and the Singapore Eurasian indeed lived harmoniously together.

And now that the Sri Lankan civil war has ended, I do hope that the people of different races, languages, religions  in this little island can also live harmoniously together.  It is time for the rich history and heritage of this lovely island to shine again.

Outlines completed

And here we have it folks!  Slightly belated, as my cousin's wedding was last week and I didn't have time to work on it.  But I have at last completed the outlines of the two shoes.  Now to fill in the remainder...

Going Home

"Balik Kampong" is a Malay term which essentially means going back (or "balik") to one's home village (or "kampong").  It can sometimes be used in a derogatory sense - for example, one could tell the referee in a football game to "balik kampong" if you disagree with his stupid decisions.  





"Balik Kampong" is also the name of a little book of short stories printed by the Math Paper Press, which I bought in Books Actually. Eight writers were invited to contribute a story about a place in Singapore which he or she had stayed for at least 10 years.  They share with us slices of their memories of the area, glimpses of their lives and of days gone by.

A story of an old man finding a buyer for the home he shared with his wife.  Seven family members remembering their lives in Redhill.  A young girl fascinated by a lighthouse.  The friendship between a Filipino maid and her employer's daughter.  A grandmother who visits with a change of clothing in a red plastic bag. I have my favourite - the vexing and curious story of mysterious disturbances at the museum - and old man burdened with the loss of a childhood friend. 

"Balik Kampong" means, simply, going home to the people and place you left behind.  Strangely enough, roughly what this entire blog is about.

First, let's eat!

Grilled charcoal fish

The House of Sundanese Food started off in a little shophouse near the Holy Family Church in Katong.  It subsequently moved (to Suntec City) but now it is back again!  But in a different guise, because they wanted to broaden their menu to include other non-Indonesian items.  Bring it on, I say.  Especially when this means they have pohpiah on the menu!

Tauhu Telor

House of Sundanese's new restaurant, "Makan Dulu" is now at Katong Shopping Centre - a corner shop, facing the road.  We have our favourite dishes - the charcoal grilled dishes such as fish (see photo) and chicken, rather tasty and succulent beef rendang, and a lovely ayam bumbu (fragrant curry with a very more-ish curry gravy).  Indonesian favourites such as tauhu telor (below) and sayur lodeh are also available.

"Makan Dulu" translates directly to "Eat First" in Malay.  It is used in many ways, for example, someone who is coming home late might say "makan dulu", or in this context, don't wait for me, eat first.  Or it may be used by a mother to a child who wants to go off and play - you have to eat before playing.  But in this context, it truly reflects the priority we Southeast Asians place on food :-)

For more details, their Facebook page is here.