It shouldn't come as much of a surprise when I tell you that the most important holiday traditions for my family tend to revolve around food. In the lead up to Christmas this year, however, I'm on a month-long trip to Singapore. I'm here with my friend Harry Cummins, and we are collaborating on a pop-up restaurant focused on sourcing and featuring as many local ingredients as possible. And while Christmas decorations are certainly in abundance here, turkey is not. For the time being, I'm not too heartbroken about it, though, as Singapore has a rich and diverse food culture just waiting to be devoured.
One ingredient that has particularly caught my eye (or should I say taste buds?) is called chye poh, also known as preserved radish. We first tasted it at the famed Tiong Bahru Market, where it is featured in a very popular dish called chwee kueh, which is essentially delightfully chewy steamed rice cakes drowned in a relatively oily, yet deeply satisfying condiment made using chye poh. For our version, we did our best to recreate the famous condiment, but have incorporated it into a grilled flatbread inspired by roti prata, also often found in the street food markets here.
Chye poh is available in both sweet and salty varieties, and is used in dishes originating in China, Thailand and, of course, Singapore. For this application, I prefer the sweet version as I find the salty one to be a little overbearing with the flatbread.
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This dish, while utterly delicious and indulgent, is anything but traditional – kind of like Christmas in Singapore, with its 35 C weather and 90-per-cent humidity. Still, I feel confident that it would make a great addition to any holiday snacking table. If you can't readily get your hands on the preserved radish, don't fret. These flatbreads would be wonderful with just about any savoury spread you have on hand.