Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

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June 10, 2011 By cheryl

Japanese Curry Pot Pie: Asian Comfort Food

June always has me thinking of the summer a few years ago that I devoted myself to conquering pies.

With a perpetually hungry Iowan in the house, pies are often in huge demand around here, no matter the season. But this craving fully rears its head when it’s warm and farmers markets start filling up with sturdy red sticks of rhubarb and berries, plump and bright. Having made enough pies to feel confident enough to try any filling combination, however, I recently set my sights on savory pies.

Having grown up in a former British colony, pies filled with steak and minced lamb have long been a favorite of mine. So when my Let’s Lunch group of bloggers suggested baking pies for our June virtual lunchdate, I immediately started plotting my version of a curried pot pie…

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Filed Under: Asian, Baking, Japanese, Let's Lunch, Recipes Tagged With: Bangers, Beef rendang, Blog, British, Chicken, Curry, Indonesian, Japanese, Lamb, Myers of Keswick, New York, No Recipes, Pork, Pot Pie, Scotch Eggs, Singaporean

March 18, 2011 By cheryl

Popiah: Singaporean Summer Rolls, Just Like Grandma Made

I’ve been thinking a lot about popiah, a Singaporean-style summer roll, recently — not just because temperatures have been creeping up in New York City and the foods of my tropical native country are starting to beckon once again.

As you may know, I’ve been on a bit of a book publicity blitz with the February publication of “A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family.” And in all the interviews and signings I’ve done, popiah — a roll filled with ingredients such as julienned jicama, shrimp, shallots, tofu — has been a recipe that has come up frequently.

It’s a roll my grandmother used to make when I was growing up in Singapore — and it’s one that I crave in the U.S. as you don’t see it often on restaurant menus. Because it’s light, a little spicy and the filling has a nice crunch to it, it’s the perfect snack food or appetizer for warm weather — in Singapore, people often have popiah parties in which the filling, summer roll skins and various condiments are set out and guests mill about, casually making their own rolls whenever they feel like eating one.

During my research for the book, however, I made sure to learn how my grandmother and chef Simpson (of Cafe Asean in New York) make theirs — so when my Let’s Lunch group of virtual lunch buddies decided on small spring bites for our March date, popiah immediately sprang to mind …

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Filed Under: Appetizers, Asian, Books, Chinese, Let's Lunch, Recipes, Shameless Promotion, Singapore, Singaporean, Snacks, Southeast Asian Tagged With: Appetizer, Beans, Carrots, Chinese sausage, Fukienese, Hokkien, Jicama, Kway Guan Huat, Oyster sauce, Popiah, Shrimp, Singapore, Singaporean, Snack, Summer roll, Tofu

November 15, 2010 By cheryl

Lantern: A Tranquil Beacon


Lantern1

Singapore can feel so densely packed and swathed in concrete that it's hard to find a place that's truly tranquil.

The moment we stepped out into Lantern, the rooftop bar at the newish Fullerton Bay Hotel, however, we knew we'd found one. The 360-degree view of the city — with the Marina Bay waterfront on one side and Singapore's towering skyline on the other — was breathtaking. The blue glow emanating from the hotel pool was immediately calming. I could almost feel my heartrate slowing as I heard the sound of the live band's strumming guitars drifting over. 

Just minutes before, I was outside the hotel, tiptoeing between cars and nudging my way past financial district pedestrians to get to the hotel. But now, just minutes later, my friend Vino and I found ourselves in idyllic waterfront bliss.

We decided to stay for a moment to check out the scene…

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Filed Under: Boites, Singapore, Tales From the Road Tagged With: Angostura bitters, Bar, Bay, Clifford Pier, Cocktail, Cointreau, Cucumber, Financial District, Fullerton Bay Hotel, Honey, Lantern, Lime, Merlion, Pomelo, Red Lantern, Sang Nila Utama, Singaporean, Skyline, Tequila, View, Water, Watermelon

November 12, 2010 By cheryl

Winter Melon Soup: Comfort, Simple & Clear


IMG_6138

Among the many Cantonese-style soups of my Singaporean girlhood, the one I find myself craving once temperatures start heading south in fall is a simple one: Winter melon soup.

This broth, dotted with cubes of soft winter melon and bits of mushroom and pork, isn't an elaborate or fussy soup — it's what the Chinese call "cheng," or clear. The flavor is subtle; the experience is all about warmth and comfort.

So, when my Let's Lunch friends suggested doing a fall soup for November, I immediately started badgering my mother for her recipe …

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Filed Under: Asian, Cantonese, Chinese, Let's Lunch, Recipes, Singaporean, Soup Tagged With: Acorn, Baked, Cantonese, Carrot, Dong cai, Fall, Habanero, Minced pork, Mushroom, Oven, Pans, Pork, Potimarron, Pots, Recipe, Roasted tomato, Singaporean, Soup, Soy sauce, Squash, Vegetable oil, Water, White pepper, Winter melon

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