tools for commensality 🧿
boosted
Fascinating video of what happens when you expose durian shell to 3300C / 5972F heat
Fascinating video of what happens when you expose durian shell to 3300C / 5972F heat
hypebot
boosted
Where I grew up, we were expected to feed ourselves early: every neighborhood had these shops called ‘zi char’, which were ‘dudes with huge woks, with so much fire it sounded like a jet engine’. It was fine and safe to go get food on your own even as.. a 7 year old? I did.
In Malaysia they call it ‘dai chau’ (big fry) and in Hong Kong they call it ‘dai pai dong’ (big stall.. outside?)
It was very common to go grab something for yourself or for your family if no one was cooking that day. My dish of choice was ‘mui fan’. Simmered rice. White rice, topped with a light gravy made with soy sauce, eggs, vegetables and seafood or meat. (Or black beans) it was US$2 for a filling dinner when I was a student. Probably US$5 now. In any case, these were dishes we wouldn’t make at home. Because it was so easily and cheaply available.
While I can get some version of ‘dai pai dong’ food in SF Cantonese food, I make my mui fan myself. I’ve learned that with ginger, scallions, garlic, soy sauce and mushroom bouillon powder, birds eye chillies and an egg, I can basically make the ‘mui fan’ that I love and miss. The same gravy is also used to top ‘moonlight hor fun’, which is like a chow fun with wider noodles and with the same gravy, with a raw egg on top (raw eggs are fine elsewhere).
I miss the flavors of home so desperately and stuff like this keeps me going.
Where I grew up, we were expected to feed ourselves early: every neighborhood had these shops called ‘zi char’, which were ‘dudes with huge woks, with so much fire it sounded like a jet engine’. It was fine and safe to go get food on your own even as.. a 7 year old? I did.
In Malaysia they call it ‘dai chau’ (big fry) and in Hong Kong they call it ‘dai pai dong’ (big stall.. outside?)
It was very common to go grab something for yourself or for your family if no one was cooking that day. My dish of choice was ‘mui fan’. Simmered rice. White rice, topped with a light gravy made with soy sauce, eggs, vegetables and seafood or meat. (Or black beans) it was US$2 for a filling dinner when I was a student. Probably US$5 now. In any case, these were dishes we wouldn’t make at home. Because it was so easily and cheaply available.
While I can get some version of ‘dai pai dong’ food in SF Cantonese food, I make my mui fan myself. I’ve learned that with ginger, scallions, garlic, soy sauce and mushroom bouillon powder, birds eye chillies and an egg, I can basically make the ‘mui fan’ that I love and miss. The same gravy is also used to top ‘moonlight hor fun’, which is like a chow fun with wider noodles and with the same gravy, with a raw egg on top (raw eggs are fine elsewhere).
I miss the flavors of home so desperately and stuff like this keeps me going.
Every couple of months we clean out our spice drawers (plural ). We toss all the odds and ends into a bowl and use that to season stuff for meal prep.
Then we go to the bulk shop to get very specific amounts of whole spices. I enjoy the process of toasting and grinding them. You can also get them pre-ground at the bulk shop but doing this helps me connect with my.. ancestors I guess?
My favorite spices are cumin and turmeric. Any food with those flavors just taste like home.
One time, I spent 6 months in the gulf / levant. The food was delicious and fresh, but lightly spiced compared to what I like. Then I visited a friend in Sana’a (before the war) and.. the food made me burst into tears. The presence of cumin and turmeric in vast amounts, the dishes… reminded me of food in Singapore / Malaysia / Indonesia.
As it turns out, many of my favorite dishes from home were of Arab origin.. specifically from Hadamawt, Yemen. So many of the dishes I tried were pretty much the same as what I might have back in my very specific corner of maritime SE Asia.
Spice is the spice of life!
Alex, the Hearth Fire
boosted
Decades after the government almost fully eradicated the use of Chinese ‘dialects’, they are now bemoaning the fact that most Chinese Singaporeans simply don’t have much competence in or passion for Mandarin.
For me, Mandarin is as far away a language as say, Korean. I speak Mandarin and read Chinese because I was made to do it, but it might as well be Korean.
Malay has much more cultural relevance to me than Mandarin. My ‘mother tongue’ is not Mandarin even though I’ve been told that it is (it’s Teochew).
Also we don’t have great Chinese teachers.
Decades after the government almost fully eradicated the use of Chinese ‘dialects’, they are now bemoaning the fact that most Chinese Singaporeans simply don’t have much competence in or passion for Mandarin.
For me, Mandarin is as far away a language as say, Korean. I speak Mandarin and read Chinese because I was made to do it, but it might as well be Korean.
Malay has much more cultural relevance to me than Mandarin. My ‘mother tongue’ is not Mandarin even though I’ve been told that it is (it’s Teochew).
Also we don’t have great Chinese teachers.
Angela Antunovic
boosted
From the Economist. Presented without comment
From the Economist. Presented without comment
Alex Akselrod
boosted
I want to share some Southeast and South and East Asian ingredients we use.
1. Bumbu pecel. Bumbu (pronounced ‘boom boo’) means seasoning, pecel is a type of dish. In Indonesia, this is often used with green vegetables. I would describe it as ‘like a chunky peanut sauce.. with a citrus-like taste (lemongrass or lime leaf), with chillies and galangal.
So basically all of my flavors of home.
They come in bricks like these. In SF, Richmond New May Wah has some in their Indonesian / Malaysian section. You pour warm or hot water onto the brick and mix it together.
Then you just put spinach or whatever in it
I want to share some Southeast and South and East Asian ingredients we use.
1. Bumbu pecel. Bumbu (pronounced ‘boom boo’) means seasoning, pecel is a type of dish. In Indonesia, this is often used with green vegetables. I would describe it as ‘like a chunky peanut sauce.. with a citrus-like taste (lemongrass or lime leaf), with chillies and galangal.
So basically all of my flavors of home.
They come in bricks like these. In SF, Richmond New May Wah has some in their Indonesian / Malaysian section. You pour warm or hot water onto the brick and mix it together.
Then you just put spinach or whatever in it
tools for commensality 🧿
and 2 others
boosted
Pretty good explainer for why the One Piece pirate flag has showed up at multiple protests across Asia
Pretty good explainer for why the One Piece pirate flag has showed up at multiple protests across Asia
Chee Aun 🤔
boosted
Very good web storytelling about the hawker centre signage and typography in Singapore
https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2025/09/singapore-hawker-signs/index.html
Very good web storytelling about the hawker centre signage and typography in Singapore
https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2025/09/singapore-hawker-signs/index.html
STOP OCCUPATION 🍉 S. Costa
boosted
My friend got me these cute bird keycaps from Malaysia :)
I shared this keyboard cafe in Penang with her before she left https://www.clicknbrewcafe.com/ hope to go there myself one day
My friend got me these cute bird keycaps from Malaysia :)
I shared this keyboard cafe in Penang with her before she left https://www.clicknbrewcafe.com/ hope to go there myself one day