In fact, given the eclectic nature of this dish popular in Singapore, typically centered around the head of a redfish, full of spices, okra and a hearty serving of folklore, I'm surprised it hasn't become the next big bam! in New Orleans after Emeril. There are two versions, one from Bangladesh that's best eaten off a banana leaf in Little India as you cry and sweat into lemon juice, and one Peranakan, carefully tended and passed through generational kitchens of Straits Chinese families. It is the latter that we shall discuss today, for it is what resides in my stomach currently, after a family lunch at Soon Heng - in our opinion, the best Peranakan-style fish head curry in Singapore.
Why fish head? Why not just convenient pieces of fish that travel easily from pot to mouth without the perils of choking on a bone? Because, having simmered in a curry culled from tamarind, tumeric, ghee, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, okra, red onion, coriander seeds, cumin, coconut milk, carambola, anise, shallots, peppercorn, lemongrass, salam leaves, pandan leaves, lime and fenugreek, those sturdy fish head bones give the gravy that robust surge only typically discarded parts of carcasses can provide. The curry is not overwhelming - it's just-right fishy. Put it this way: if Hamlet lived in fish head curry, he would never think something might be rotten in the state of assam. And it's a two-way street - in return, after you've combed every inch of the fish head flesh clean (and there is a lot of plump, sweet, juicy meat at its base), suck and ruminate the bones dry for the best taste of the curry. The pleasure is not of the flesh - the sweetest taste is where you have to search and battle for it.
The Peranakans are a unique ethnicity in Singapore and are descended from Chinese-Malay inter-marriages. Although these unions are splendid in many ways, creating a culture unique to Singapore and certain parts of Malaysia, they also produce a cuisine that's found in true, authentic form nowhere else in the world. I guess no one outside of here quite knows the right equation of spices for each dish - if they even have access to all of the required ingredients.
Nyah nyah boo boo.
Salads of Waldorf and Caesar would blush next to the might Achar, a spicy, pickled concoction of shredded carrots, cucumbers and pineapple slices. Sweet, hot, and everything your mother warned you about Tila Tequila.
Ah, yes - the main attraction, simmering under a blanket of robust curry gravy. Best with steaming hot rice, papadum straight out of the fryer, or perhaps roti prata fresh off the ghee griddle?
Eggplant fried and generously topped with belacan, a spicy, chili-paste like sauce made from fermented ground shrimp.
Feeling particularly cold in Chicago? This hearty mutton rendang has been slow cooked in a cornucopia of spices for hours, including ginger, galangal, tumeric, lemongrass and chili - softening the pre-fried meat to tender submission.
To ink the deal on this squid dish, its naturally murky juices form the base of this thick, sweet sauce.
"Chap chye" is a de factor daily standard on the Peranakan dining table, a stir-fried mix vegetables dish that typically features cabbage, bean thread vermicelli, tofu skin and Jew's ears.
No Peranakan meal is complete without this condiment - deep fried baby anchovies and peanuts seasoned with sugar, lime and a hint of chillis. Actually, if it weren't for everything else, you could make a feast out of this trail mix bastard cousin.
