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Hainanese Chicken Rice
First on the list is Singapore’s very own Hainanese Chicken Rice, an internationally acclaimed dish well known to those abroad and beyond due it its association with Singaporean cuisine.
Made with juicy, steamed chicken and served after with oil, fragrant rice that has been cooked with chicken stock from the poached chicken and with garlic chilli sauce and it’s like nothing you have ever tasted before!
It is usually garnished with cucumbers on the side, hawker stalls offers additional sides such as braised egg or delicious chicken innards as well.
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Laksa
One of the most well-known dishes in Southeast Asia with many variation, in Singapore Laksa is part of the Peranakan cuisine.
Consisting of thick wheat/rice noodles or rice vermicelli, a spicy soup base made from either rich or spicy curry coconut milk or sour asam. It’s often served with chicken, prawn or fish with a side of beansprouts and fried tofu puffs with a light drizzle of lime and fried shallots.
This soup definitely packs a punch and is definitely something you can’t miss so be sure to try it when you have a chance!
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Roasted Duck Rice
This is another dish you might find in some chicken rice stalls in hawker centres as well.
Duck rice is either braised or roasted duck that has been cooked in various Chinese herbs and spices to bring out its flavour. It is then served with the sweet and savoury sauce, which is just as important as the duck itself.
The rice served is sometimes dark thanks to being cooked in the duck sauce while others serve plain white rice. You can also find many locals pairing the duck rice with crispy roasted pork on the side which is then topped with more duck sauce to truly enjoy the dish.
If you’re looking for something with a hint of herbal taste, dcuk rice is the dish to try in Singapore!
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Char Kway Teow
Commonly eaten as breakfast as well, Char Kway Teow is a common dish you can find in most hawker centre. There is many variation of this dish across different countries in South East Asia, but Singapore’s version is the way to go.
What makes it so special? Despite looking so simple, making up of kway teow, meaning flat rice noodles which is stirred fried with eggs, dark soy sauce, some chilli and belachan (prawn paste) and whole prawns or cockles in some stalls.
The dish needs to be fried in a large wok with very high fire in order to get that dark colour thus is harder to make than it seems. The next time you get a chance, be sure to try this, either for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
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Chili Crab
Another national dish on this list, Chilli Crab did indeed originate from Singapore!
The star of the dish isn’t just the crab but the sauce which is cooked from a blend of tomato and chilli base sauce. The crab is then stirred fried in a large wok with the sauce and beaten eggs, giving it the thick and red consistency.
Despite its name however, Chilli Crab is not actually spicy at all. Most often, it’s eaten with mantou, a deep fried bun which is dipped into the mouth-watering sauce.
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Sambal Stingray
Sambal Stingay or Spicy Banana Leaf Stingray, is a dish commonly found in Singapore and Malaysia thanks to our location and access to fresh seafood.
Prepared by barbecuing stingray after marinating it with sambal paste, which is a chilli paste pounded with shrimp. Other ingredients include lime juice, shallots, chillies, tamarind and sometimes even sugar cane!
It is then cooked in banana leaf over a strong fire, later served with onions and more lime juice. You can most often find this dish in hawker centres near seaside such as East Coast Park, so be sure to try it!
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Bak Kut Teh
Directly translated as “pork bone tea’, Bak Kut Teh is braised pork ribs cooked in pork broth, Chinese spices, white pepper, and garlic!
After cooking and braising it for over a few hours, the ribs are fall off the bone tender which is topped with coriander and often eaten with a side of white rice.
Be sure to try this out even on a hot day since the soup helps to release internal heat ad yo will find that it actually helps with staying cool!
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Carrot Cake
Despite the name, there is actually no carrot in Carrot Cake and neither is it sweet unlike the common dessert Carrot Cake, but instead is savoury!
It’s actually made from daikon radish and rice flour mixture, cooled until it sets into a white jelly texture, which is the cut into cubes and stirred fried with eggs in a large wok on high fire, much like Char Kway Teow.
You can only find this uniquely Singaporean dish her and in parts of Malaysia, so don’t miss your chance to get your hands on it!
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Wanton Mee
Another noodle dish, Wanton Mee originated from the Cantonese cuisine. It is one of the most commonly eaten dishes that can be found in almost every hawker centres and food courts in Singapore.
Made from yellow egg noodles, char siew (red barbecue) pork, bok choy and of course, wanton dumplings. It is also commonly found in Malaysia.
Most stalls also offer varieties of egg noodles, either flat, thick, or thin. So be sure to try some either for dinner or lunch!
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Rojak
A common dish you can find in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, this version of Rojak is a spicy fruit salad mixed and tossed together with sweet, sour, and spicy sauce.
Originally a street food, it is now a local cuisine celebrated among culinary enthusiasts for its deep history of how it relates to the mixture of races, culture and history of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Eurasian people in Singapore.
The sauce is a cocktail of spicy, sweet and salty flavours made from grounded chilli peppers, palm sugar and peanuts. The most common fruits and vegetables in the dish are pineapples, mangos, apples, cucumbers, ben sprouts, deep fried tofu and Chinese fritters.
We hope these 10 dishes have intrigued both your interest and you tummy into trying our local Singaporean cuisine. There are of course, many other dishes, so be sure to continue exploring and trying out new tastes, yum!
