Thunder Tea Rice

One of the common gluten dangers of eating out in Singapore is that just about everything gets at least a small sprinkle of Soy Sauce.

Thunder Tea Rice is different. It is designed to be healthy. No lard, no sauce, no MSG. Just plenty of vegetables, tofu (soft, no gluten skin!), peanuts and ikan billis (dried anchovies). You can ask for it to be made without any of the above if you have nut, fish  or soy allergies too, since everything is prepared separately and put together in a dish to serve. It's a little like Bim Bap if you are familiar with Korean food.

The 'Thunder Tea' component is a concoction of blended green tea, mint and basil leaves with hot water. Some eat it like a soup, which I did at first. Now I have taken to pouring it over the rice so that the whole dish becomes almost like a soup! On the side of course there is soy sauce for the gluten eaters, (glutenators?), and usually a chili sambal which should be checked every time you eat at a new place to make sure it is home made (i.e no thickeners or preservatives that would contain wheat). 

One of my favorite things about Thunder Tea Rice is the option for brown rice, which adds to the flavor and touted 'excellent medical and pharmacological values'.

Dish Origins - this is Hakka food with origins in herbal medicine during the Qin dynasty.

No photo this time. I realised that not having the right photo makes me procrastinate in writing this blog so I have decided just to post anyway! Someone else has taken some very nice photos of the Joo Chiat Road store here: http://www.camemberu.com/2009/10/thunder-tea-rice-hakka-lei-cha-fan.html

Bombay Cafe

I had a baffling experience in little India a while ago, after learning the word 'ata' means 'wheat' in Hindi. Several places in a row assured me that their Naan bread has 'no ata'. Now, I know this is untrue so I went on my way appalled at how people will lie to you to make a buck. A trip to the pure veg Bombay Cafe in Suntec City with a friend from work cleared this up.

Ata is whole wheat. 'Maida' is 'plain white flour'. A lot of people don't seem to question how processed food is made here. Flour is just, well, flour. 'What grain is it made from?', 'no grain, it's just normal, plain flour.' So if they say Naan has no ata they are not lying - they are just not extrapolating. I was also reminded that 'Rava' is Semolina, a type of wheat, so stay away from that too. Bombay Cafe had some delicious new things to try as well as GF curries (we got there in the end), I was introduced to a spiced puffed rice dish called Bhel - delicious and perfect for Singapore as it is prepared and eaten cold.

Bhel, Bombay Cafe

Suntec City (downstairs from Tower 2)



Thai Express

Thai Express was one of the first restaurants I cleared as Gluten Free friendly when I arrived. I found out early on that I was able to eat the curries as they prepare the curry paste themselves and do not add any thickeners. Though more of the Newtown Thai Two than the Thai Pothong calibre, for those who are familiar with Sydney's King St, Thai express make a passable curry at a reasonable price. I have been dying to try a laksa since arrival in Singapore, but with the local laksas at the hawker centers out of bounds due to pre-mixing of the soup with Tau Pok (tofu with gluten skin), I hadn't had the chance until a Malaysian-Australian friend came over from Sydney and walked me through some local names for ingredients whilst at Thai express. This is where I learned the name for Tau Pok, also that I can eat Tau Foo which generally means firm tofu. My friend also ran me through the words for the various types of noodles, which was my other area of gluten worry as no one I've asked seemed to know what laksa noodles were made of - they were just 'laksa noodles, la'. They are, in fact, rice noodles in the shape of spaghetti (which I think was the main reason for my initial concern as I'm used to noodles in laksa being flat as they are in Sydney). Incidentally, the flat rice noodles are called Kiwi Tiao and are safe. Stay away from Mee - these look like laksa noodles/spaghetti but are egg noodles and contain wheat. Vermicelli is called either Mee Hoon or Bee Hoon and are made from rice flour.
After clearing this up, we ordered a laksa and pineapple rice to share. The pineapple rice is a local dish and whilst the version at Thai Express had no soy sauce,t I was warned always to check for this elsewhere as different places will use slightly different recipes. I am now dying to try pineapple rice in a hawker center as Thai express serve it on a plate but apparently it is traditionally served in a hollowed out half-pineapple, yum!

Pineapple Rice,

Thai Express

Raffles City B2

Murugan Idli Shop

Last week I visited Murugan Idli shop in Little inda. Murugan serves only South Indian breads with chutney. The good news is, there is no wheat, rye, barley or oat flour in any of the breads, which means there should theoretically be a 0% contamination risk! I am quite confident of this as the friend I  went with speaks Hindi so was able to check for dangerous ingredients for which the staff may not have known the English name. The Hindi word for wheat flour is gehun ka ata (or just ata). The Idli itself is a steamed rice dumpling and is quite delicious. My favorite at Murugan is the Masal Dosai, an impressive looking crunchy tube of rice and lentil flour that I was too ravenous to photograph, traditionally served with curried potatoes inside. Murugan impressed us by mixing in a generous amount of pumpkin (higher flavor, lower GI) with the potato. Yum! I would normally be a bit wary of Dosai in case the fat it is fried in has been used with something containing wheat flour. But this is not a concern at Murugan as they use ata in none of their breads. So if it has been a few years (or many) since your last deep fried food fix, why not head down to Little India and visit Murugan on the bustling Syed Alwi road? It is most popular for brunch but is great for any time of the day.

Idli with chutneys and vegetable soup, coffee on the side,

Murugan Idli Shop,

Syed Alwi Road, Little India

Chicken Rice

It is high time I addressed the blessing of Hainanese Chicken Rice. This is now my 'go to' meal for hawker dining. You can just about bet your gluten free cookies on finding at least one Chicken Rice shop in every Hawker Center or food court you visit. Chicken Rice shops offer a choice of steamed or roasted chicken, sliced atop a generous helping of rice that has been cooked in chicken stock. It is important to note that the stock is usually made on premise, as well trained Coeliacs are used to avoiding stock at all costs since packaged stock liquids and powders usually contain gluten. As a friend of mine put it - 'why would they go and buy the powder when they have all the chicken they need to make natural stock right there'? Good point, and it is a safe bet for the local HDB food courts and hawker centers. You should be paying between $1.20 and $4.00 for a plate of Chicken Rice. If you find yourself paying more, that's when you should start asking questions about the stock they use, as at that price they may be affording the store bought variety. I tend to stick to the steamed chicken as sometimes trying to ask about any sauces on the roast chicken can confuse the situation. Be sure, though, that you first watch them prepare a dish for someone else. If they add a sauce on top, (which not all do), be sure to ask them for 'no sauce'. You can usually get a plate of steamed bok choy on the side but in this case be sure to tell them 'no sauce' as this usually comes heavily loaded with oyster sauce.You may have to pay close attention when they are preparing yours and stop them from adding the sauce as these guys make plate after plate after plate of the same dish every day and the habit can be heavily ingrained. It is worth pointing out that eating at Hawker stalls is generally safe in Singapore from a hygiene point of view. If you are worried after a bad experience somewhere else in South-East Asia, check for a sign about A3 size that shows the cleaning and food hygiene rating that stall has been given - A, B, or C, with A being excellent, B being good and C being 'needs improvement'. Any lower than that and they get shut down.

Chicken Rice at Eunos

Muthu's Curry

The nice thing about restaurant chains is that once you find out they can prepare a gluten free meal in one location, their menu and rules of operation will generally be the same accross all sites. Muthu's Curry prepare delicious currys with fresh ingredients that include no thickeners or flour. On my first visit I went through the process of assessing the contamination risk, and Muthus passed. The cuisine has more of a Northern Indian focus - with lots of creamy, saucy curry and less of the Southern Indian breads common in Little India, which can be a gluten contamination nightmare. Another gluten trap in Little India that Muthu's avoid is  the Chinese 'vegetarian meat', which is almost pure gluten - this tends to pop up mostly in the 'pure veg' restaurants has a casual restaurant atmosphere, a few steps up from the food court and is great for groups. Expect to pay about $20 a head.

Navratan Korma, Muthu's Curry

 Fountain of Wealth, Suntec City

Rice Dumplings - Zong Zi

Bingo! The elusive $1.50 Singapore meal that is Coeliac safe. Rice dumplings, or Zong Zi, are individually wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. There is no pastry-like wrapper as the leaves serve the purpose of holding the rice in place. There are rice dumpling stands all over Singapore, all year through. During the Dragon Boat festival in May Zong Zi abound as a commemoration of Qu Yuan, a legendary poet who is said to have drowned himself about 2000 years ago in protest against corruption in the ruling classes. The legend goes that the people threw rice dumplings into the water to stop the fish from eating the revered poet. These days in Singapore the dumplings are exchanged between family and friends to be eaten. Be aware that most of the dumplings will have soy sauce or other gluten containing sauces mixed through, but most stands seem to sell at least one coeliac friendly variety. The gluten-free variety sold at the dumpling stand in the Care Four in Suntec City contains only glutinous rice, (glutinous being a description of the consistency, not an indicator of gluten), crushed peanuts, legumes, mushrooms, salt and pepper. As well as checking that your dumpling does not contain sauce, be sure to check that no additional grains have been added for 'health benefits'. I have been warned by a friend that sometimes wheat or barley is used to add fiber and that these would be visible as full grains, not as a flour. As always, stay away from processed meats where you don't have the opportunity to check the ingredients. Looking forward to seeing the new variety of dumplings that come out in May - fingers crossed that some of these rely on gluten free flavors!

Hawker Breakfast

While I can't freely wander the Hawker stalls adventurously trying new things, I am definitely sorted for breakfast. Kopi, the local coffee, is amazing. Just be sure to close your eyes while they make it. It is gluten free, but it tastes better if you don't know how much condensed milk goes in. Maybe it's just a weekend treat!

Most hawker centers and food courts have a 'breakfast set' that seems to be available all day.

The gluten free option is 'hard boiled eggs' with no toast. You are given a bucket with hot water and your eggs and told to wait while they cook to your desired consistency. Then you crack them into a bowl and eat like a soup, (unless you have left them in so long that they are solid). The locals add pepper and soy sauce for flavor. BYO gluten free soy and bread to dip if you like, but the eggs are still delicious with pepper only.

Kopi and eggs comes to about S$1.90.