Foodventures of the veggie kind

Amazing how vegetarians manage to remain vegetarians all over the world. Fifteen years ago, a boss of mine, a staunch vegetarian, on his visit abroad, said he ate potatoes and fruit all through. Times have changed, I must say at the cost of sounding cliched. 

When we landed here a couple of years ago, we never ventured into the Food courts, imagining everything to be non-vegetarian. Everywhere we went, we hunted for Indian food. Not anymore. We now enjoy experimenting with local vegetarian delights in the Food courts.

Popiah in the making

It is with a twinge of regret that I recall the good time I had at Katong Mall, when Tweety attended her ballet class for two and a half years. Only in the last few weeks did I venture into their Food court. I discovered the strangely delightful combination of spice and sweet, in the local Popaiah.
Ultra thin crepe is the closest definition of popiah skin I can think of. She spread sweet soya sauce on it, then garlic pieces, vegetables, coriander leaves, chilly, rolled it , cut it and served it. Bought a glass of freshly crushed sugarcane juice to go along. Heaven.

     The next week I bought the same filling, filled in a crispy bite sized cup. Equally good.

Popiah filling in a crispy cup

Spring roll, sesame sprinkled sweet fritter, Pau

Another adventure was at the Mall of Buona Vista, again waiting for Tweety at her ballet rehearsal. Though there was an Indian food stall at the Food court here, I tried out the veg spring roll. The Pau was akin to the steamed Modaks of India, Kadubu of Karnataka, only round like a ball. The fillings are varied, I have tried Lotus paste filling, Red bean filling, crushed Peanut  and Kaya filling, all sweet. The sesame fritter looking so tempting had sweet crushed peanut inside. This almost filled me up, so I could have none of the Indian food we ordered!

Indian food in a Food court

Clever displays of art food  - this was outside a Japanese joint

How can we leave out Thai food, more popular among Indians? Our favourite order is the vegetarian Pineapple fried rice. After ordering it a number of times, I assumed my waiter would understand my veggie needs, and was shocked when we got me Pineapple fried rice, but with shrimp nicely cuddled in it...he was courteous enough to exchange it of course, though I wonder when I will start tasting seafood, supposed to be healthy and tasty...

Tofu, cashew and rice - at Basil Restaurant

I already have blogged on Thai food before. Our other favourites are fried Taro with cashew, with a tantalising flavour of sweet and hot, mushroom soup and Mango salad. Oh and desserts too are on the healthier side. We order sticky rice with coconut milk and Thai mango, very little sugar added. We once ordered a plate of roasted peanuts, sweet potato and coconut ice cream. So different, so yum, the name I forget, but blogged elsewhere, do take a look at the older posts!!

PS - We once attended a Steam boat party hosted by our Singaporean friends. They had a steaming pot of vegetables for us vegetarians. When we asked what spices they added, they said to savour its natural flavour. That stuck with me, and now I try to add less of my Garam Masala, trying to retain the original flavour of the fresh vegetables...what say?