A little this and a little that - fusion foods marry different cultures through the unique combination of taste, cooking techniques, spices and ingredients. With Racial Harmony Day approaching, we’ve compiled 7 delicious fusion food recipes to celebrate diversity in Singapore!
1. Tom Yam Tomato Prawns Pasta
Pasta is a main staple for people living in western countries. It is often accompanied by a simple but delicious serving of tomato, pesto or carbonara sauce. Keeping the base and trading the sauce for something a little hotter is the Thai-Western fusion recipe of Tom Yam Tomato Prawns Pasta. The Tom Yam sauce is cooked with an amalgamation of ingredients including bay leaves, chilli, lime juice and fish sauce to give it that satisfying acidic kick. Get your chilled drinks ready, because it’s going to be a spicy journey.
2. Sushi Burrito
Photo Credit: healthynibbleandbits.com
If you’re a fan of food served in a longitudinal cylindrical shape, this sushi burrito recipe combines the best of your barrel-shaped worlds. Using the traditional Japanese nori seaweed as the wrap, with sushi rice, fresh vegetables and guacamole (an avocado-based dip from Mexican cuisine), this meal is perfect for all ages. The ingredients can also be switched out to suit your family’s preferences.
3. Tikka Masala Mac ‘n’ Cheese
Photo Credit: eatprayreadlove.com
When it comes to using spices, it’s Indian cuisine all day, every day. Spices enhance the smell, flavour and colour of the food - even when it is as simple as comfort food. This Tikka Masala Mac ‘n’ Cheese dish will require key spices like garlic, Garam Masala, turmeric, ginger and more. Though the process of buying and preparing the spices can be slightly laborious, the reward of an aromatic kitchen from the spices and a delicious, upscale take on the classic Mac ‘n’ Cheese dish proves that it’s a great trade-off.
4. Asian Sambal Deviled Eggs
Photo Credit: sharefood.sg
As Singaporeans, we simply can’t live without our spicy dishes - especially those with sambals. The versatility of sambal is so varied that we have managed to include it in our vegetable dishes, marinated in our proteins, as a dip, as a sauce and so many more variations. It can even be added in a Deviled Eggs dish for an Italian-Malay fusion snack. Try making a plate of Asian sambal Deviled Eggs here!
5. Laksa Baked Rice
Photo Credit: foodiebaker.com
Have you ever saved the broth from a dish simply because it’s too delicious to throw away? Well, we have, and we’ve also noticed that it’s either laksa broth, tom yam or curry. For this Laksa Baked Rice recipe, it’s all about repurposing the yummy broth while presenting it in Asian-Western fusion cuisine. Tip: you can also substitute the laksa suggestion in the recipe and utilise any thick gravy of your choice.
6. Five-Spice Tofu with Soba Noodles
Photo Credit: sunbasket.com
Who says fusion food has to stop at two different cultures? It’s more the merrier with this Five-Spice Tofu with Soba Noodles recipe. Mixing the Chinese Five-Spice seasoning with Japanese Soba noodles and lightly drizzled with a sweet and spicy Korean-inspired mango sauce, this dish entails a flavour-bomb experience that will make you wish you’d known about much earlier. This dish is also perfect for small picnics by storing them in the Thermos® Food Jar to keep warm.
7. Kinoko Pasta
Photo Credit: alldayieat.com
A Japanese-Italian fusion recipe isn’t the most extraordinary, but this food merger has managed to continuously gain popularity with the immaculate marrying of western cooking techniques and an all Japanese ingredient-based recipe. However, don’t be intimidated by this Kinoko pasta recipe as the steps and ingredients are very easy to handle (even for a beginner cook!). Tip: Try to get a balance of savoury from the bacon bits against the sweet-umami flavour of the mushrooms.
8. Curry Chicken Udon Noodles
Move over Kake Udon, it’s Curry Chicken Udon’s time to shine. When choosing your curry for this Japanese fusion dish, you can opt for a few different types that are locally-preferred in Singapore. There's South Indian curry, North Indian curry, Malay curry, Chinese curry and even Thai Green curry. Each comes with their own unique distinctive flavour profile and viscosity (click here to read more!). Tip: make sure to utilise your Thermos® Food Jar to keep your food warm for hours if you’re dabao-ing from home!
