Paul Young

Educator, Designer, Culinary Explorer

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Pan-Asian Singapore Hawker Tour

A vegetarian foodie safari at Strawberry Fields Café

Sunday, May 19, 2024 • 6–8pm • $85 per person

 

Singapore is a city-state on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula right next to Malaysia and Thailand. Populated by passionate foodies, the locals like to say that eating is their national pastime — and their favorite places to eat are open-air "hawker centers" and shopping mall food courts where the food choices are always diverse and cheap with lots of vegetarian options.

 

Prior to the 1980s, street food in Singapore was sold mainly by immigrants from China, India, and Malaysia. Today, the same street food vendors are now serving their specialties in clean, licensed stalls inspected by the government. Two of these street food stalls — where a meal can be had for $2 — were the first in the world to be awarded a Michelin star.

 

Because locals sometimes eat five or six times a day, hawker centers always open early and are often still full of people after midnight. Some hawker centers have over 100 stalls with some vendors specializing in only one dish. Some stalls are so popular that you'll have to wait in long lines to be served.

 

No wonder Singapore is the fifth most visited city in the world and a dream destination for foodies. At tonight's pop-up dinner, you'll get the chance to experience an authentic Singapore hawker center feast with an all-vegetarian menu:

 

• Banchan • sweet, sour, and spicy Korean side dishes
• Wood Ear Mushroom Salad • crunchy Chinese mushroom salad dressed with garlic, soy, and sesame
• Vada Sambar Chutney • popular south Indian savory donut snack served with lentil stew and coconut chutney
• Green Papaya Salad • zingy and spicy Thai salad dressed with a savory garlic-lime sauce
• Okonomiyaki • a savory pancake from Osaka topped with Japanese mayonnaise and pickled ginger
• Jackfruit Biryani • fragrant spiced rice topped with crisp onions and saffron milk
• Sticky Rice with Mango • fresh ripe mangos with sweet coconut cream sauce
• Specialty beverage pairings all evening long with non-alcoholic cocktail, wine & beer options

 

This event is co-hosted by Sirisha Bhandaru and Paul Young, two local cooking instructors who have taught dozens of cooking classes around Champaign-Urbana. Sirisha grew up in India but spent many summers with her grandmother, who taught her how to cook authentic dishes from scratch using homegrown ingredients. Paul is a retired professor whose new hobby is recreating ethnic dishes from his culinary adventures around the world. Both Sirisha and Paul love to share their passion for good eats, tasty treats, and exotic international flavors.

 

Note: All of our pop-up events are all-inclusive prix fixe dinners. This means you get a multi-course dinner complete with non-alcoholic beverage pairings all evening long for one fixed price. Unlike at restaurants, all taxes and tip are included as well.

 

Reservations: Inquire by email to singapore@cooking-with-paul.com, or see any cashier at Strawberry Fields Café.

 

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