Singapore Vegan Hawker Food, Part 1 of 2 – Teochew Mee Pok (Noodles) & Nyonya Pumpkin Kaya Toast

Singapore has been listed as Asia’s second most vegan-friendly city since 2016 by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia. Today, we are pleased to have vegan chef Keng and her daughter, Mei Zhu, on our show to share with us some delicious vegan Singaporean hawker food recipes.

“Today, we’ll share two such vegan hawker recipes. The first dish that I’ll be cooking is the Singapore Teochew Mee Pok.” “To begin, let’s slice the mushrooms.” “Next, let’s make crispy soy protein with oil. Fry the soy protein using medium heat. Fry until it’s turning brown slightly, turn off the heat, and set aside.” “Now the oil is heated, we add the pre-soaked soy protein and stir-fry for about half a minute. When it has dried up a little, add chopped shiitake mushroom stalks and the sliced shiitake mushroom. Continue to stir-fry for about 10 minutes. Now the mixture is quite dry and very fragrant.” “Rock sugar, dark soya sauce, salt, vegan mushroom oyster sauce, and finally water. Bring it to a boil.” “Next, for each serving bowl, we’ll add half a tablespoon of chili sauce, half a tablespoon of soya sauce, one tablespoon of black vinegar, and one tablespoon of crispy soy protein with oil. Mix them all and set aside.” “(Now, mix well with the sauce we prepared.) Next, top the noodles with one tablespoon of cooked mushroom sauce, some vegan ocean balls, lettuce, and coriander leaves. (There we go.)”

“Next, we’ll be making the (Vegan) Nyonya Pumpkin Kaya Toast.” “Kaya jam is a delicious Malaysian coconut jam which is typically made with egg, and tastes kind of like aromatic caramel. Today we will use pumpkin to make the kaya instead of egg.” “Firstly, we’ll preheat the oven at 180ºC. We’ll bake the whole pumpkin for one hour.” “Next, blend the pumpkin together with coconut cream and sugar till smooth.” “Next, add the pandan leaves and cook the pumpkin with a small fire till it starts to boil. Stir constantly to make it smooth and even. Then turn off the fire when it starts to boil.” “Now, let’s spread it on some toasted bread. (Yay, that is done and this looks so pretty and delicious!)”