Watermelon Volcano

Watermelon Volcano.

It was the most successful fadish food at Singapore’s Geylang Serai Ramadan bazaar last year. Alongside, rainbow bagels and Ramly burgers.

Long queues of mostly young people and hipsterlets can be seen lining up in front of the kiosk. Wonder if it is still a big hit this year?

Originally, a school science project with vinegar and baking soda, the messy eruptions became a a slushie mixture of ice, watermelon cubes and evaporated milk. Because it is shared dish with straws, it is popular with couples and young people.

The bazaar has over 1000 stalls. Find a hotel here:
http://www.mycen.my/singapore-hotel-deals-finder/

#watermelonvolcano #geylangserai #ramadan #bazaar #singapore #snacks #joochiat #fasting #iftar #slushie

Al Fresco Dining At Jonker Walk

The curry or laksa mee street food hawker at the connecting road to Jalan Tokong from Jonker Street. So awesome to be at so close to a tokong or Chinese temple built in 1645.

I always request for extra toppings of “tau pok” or tofu or fried soy bean curd puffs when eating curry noodles soup. It is always nice when the tofu puffs soak up the santan soup or gravy and become softly bloated. A sign at the stall proclaimed the dish as “Laksa Mee Hee Kiow Mee”. Hee Kiow might possibly be Fish Mix in Hokkien.

If you want a total heritage immersion in the UNESCO World Heritage City, I recommend staying at the heritage Hotel Puri, which is a short walk from here. Booking link also shown here: Colours Of Yonker.

#melaka #malacca #jonker #streetphotography #streetfood #currylaksa #jonkerwalk #yonker #taupok

Chwee Kueh

Chui Ker (Hokkien) or Woon Chai Koh (in Cantonese) is rice flour cake steamed in metal cups or bowls. The rice pudding is then topped up with ‘Chai Por’.

The toppings of Chai Por is preserved and fried radish (lobak) chopped into bits with sesame oil and soy sauce added. Chili sauce is optional.

It is takeaway or street food that should be eaten on the wax paper it comes wrapped in.

The exact recipe varies. Some use shallots or turnip, some add dried shrimps (heh bi) while others soak the toppings in a special oil concoction.

For the rice flour, some mix it with potato flour to enhance the texture and smoothness.

As such, chui kueh from different stalls never taste the same and the satisfaction varies greatly. If you find a good hawker selling it, pray it stays.

It is a dying traditional Chinese breakfast snack and is not as easy to find these days. Chui Ker is more popular in neighbouring Singapore where it is spelled and pronounced as chwee kueh.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 800, f14, 1/80 sec.

Macro At The Night Market – Putu Mayam

Outdoor macro is hard enough in the daytime with a close-up lens’ extreme shallow depth-of-field. It requires very precise focus. At night, at the pasar malam, it can be a nightmare.

I not only need to light the subject but also to handle the side effect of a curious crowd attracted to the lights like moths to a flame.

Is a challenge but doable if you can find a stall with tables. The ‘assam laksa’ stall usually has some tables and chairs to dine in. They won’t mind you shooting other food there provided you order from them, and explain what you are going to do.

Putu Mayam is the popular Indian vermicelli dessert made from rice flour, steamed with coconut milk and fragrant pandan (screwpine) flavoring. The string hoppers are eaten with grated coconut and golden (gula melaka) coconut palm sugar.

Because the ingredients are nicely textured, the aim was to light it in such a way to create dimension while highlighting the textures of the coconut shavings and golden sugar crystals.

Two Litepanels units were deployed.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f9, 1/60 sec.

Lemang

To add a little explanation for international followers; the delicious dish known as Lemang is believed to be Minangkabau (Indonesian) in origin.

The glutinous or sticky rice is mixed with coconut milk and a little salt. It is then wrapped in banana leaves and cooked over fire in a hollowed-out bamboo tube.

In Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, one can see stalls popping up during the Eid al-Fitr Festival, where the delicacy (including the accompanying curry) is cooked and sold from the roadside.

Lemang (pronounced as Ler Mung in Malay) is also a traditional and festive food for the Dayaks and Ibans of Borneo.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 800, f9, 1/160 sec.