In today's Bite: Taste the goodness

Photo / Bite magazine

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I am just back from a deliciously long weekend in Singapore where I was overwhelmed by the food menu. This country has a lot to offer thanks to its refreshingly harmonious Chinese, Malaysian and Indian communities and, as any good foodie would, I immersed myself in all that was on offer but ate mostly Peranakan because I adore it. Peranakan (also known as Nonya) is a powerful mix of Chinese and Malaysian/Indonesian that came together a long time ago to produce a tangy, spicy, very unique cuisine.

The food is rich though, and by day three I did find myself searching for veges to keep this salad addict fixed. I found them in the most surprising ways, hidden in fried rice and a vegetable medley at popular restaurant Chopsuey. In Chinese Cantonese jaahp seui means odds and ends - from jaahp meaning assorted and seui meaning pieces - so chopsuey is the perfect name for this café that serves anglicised forms of Chinese dishes in the heritage army barracks of Dempsey Hill. I have come home and created my own variations on their jade rice and baby vegetable medley .

Vegetables are Bite's focus this week. We're back to Asia for a fragrant Asian salad of cabbage, mung bean sprouts and herbs with shredded duck. Geoff Scott cooks carrots in camomile, roast mushrooms and steamed greens with pistachio nut and kaffir lime butter; Peter Gordon makes fennel fabulous; and it's A for Asparagus in 4Bites. Our favourite three-year-old is making a kiwifruit dessert with dad Sid Sahrawat and Aaron Brunet shares a Mexican-style meal he creates regularly for his yoginis. Yep, you can taste the goodness!