DESTINATION DINING: Guangdong roots

Published August 31, 2013, Business Times

Shunde is a place that reminds us of one of the most special and remembered subcultures of Singapore, the amahs, as David Yip finds out

BON APPETIT
(Above) The wrinkled skin of the Leliu goose gives it a more intense flavour;  three to four types of rice give the porridge a blend of tastes and fragrance. - PHOTO: MARK ONG

BON APPETIT
The wrinkled skin of the Leliu goose gives it a more intense flavour; (above) three to four types of rice give the porridge a blend of tastes and fragrance. - PHOTO: MARK ONG

BLAST FROM THE PAST
Deep fried dumpling disappeared from Singapore since 1970s; (above) the porridge features many ingredients to choose from - PHOTO: BT

BLAST FROM THE PAST
(Above) Deep fried dumpling disappeared from Singapore since 1970s; the porridge features many ingredients to choose from - PHOTO: BT

FISHY DELIGHT
(Above) The Shunde Raw Fish is a showpiece dish and a must-try; steamed carp's snout where the very tip of the head is cooked with black bean paste - PHOTO: CHANTALFILLUPPLS

FISHY DELIGHT
The Shunde Raw Fish is a showpiece dish and a must-try; (above) steamed carp's snout where the very tip of the head is cooked with black bean paste - PHOTO: CHANTALFILLUPPLS

UNIQUE
(Above) Chee cheong fun is made from a variety of rice strains. Each recipe is specific to a stall; the freshwater carp that Jun'an breeds in abundance is a fixture of Shunde cooking - PHOTO: DAVID YIP

UNIQUE
Chee cheong fun is made from a variety of rice strains. Each recipe is specific to a stall; (above) the freshwater carp that Jun'an breeds in abundance is a fixture of Shunde cooking - PHOTO: CHANTALFILLUPPLS

 

SINGAPOREANS of a certain vintage would remember that before domestic helpers became a near-given, some had the luxury of hiring amahs - an enigmatic group of women who came from Shunde in China's Guangdong province and left an indelible mark on the families they worked for a generation or two ago.

Shunde lies an hour from Guangzhou's airport, on a drive that takes the visitor across an Arcadian patchwork of shimmering ponds and green fields, and a little family-run restaurant every kilometre or so. Fertile soil made this region rich for thousands of years, and turned Shunde into a major producer of silk. But when silk demand fell during the Depression years of the 1930s, much of the region's population left, some to as far as Hong Kong and South-east Asia.

The women of Shunde who came to Singapore found work mainly as domestic help. They took on a "uniform" recognisable by its black-and-white samfu and tied-back hair bun. Because of their fierce loyalty and devotion to their employers, they earned the affectionate Cantonese nicknames of amah (mother) or ma jie (sister). An amah stayed unmarried for life, and many even took a formal vow of spinsterhood that was considered out of step with the traditions of the time. Strong sororal bonds developed, and because they never returned to China, it was common for a group of amahs to share a small rented house after retirement, where they would live together for the rest of their lives.

Jun'an is a small town in rural Shunde famous for a pork dish. Bruce Lee's father was born there, and as a child Bruce lived in Jun'an briefly. There is a theme park in his name, but otherwise Jun'an is a laid-back agricultural community that also produces fine freshwater carp.

It is Jun'an steamed pork, however, that makes the town a worthwhile stopover. The whole pig - de-boned and marinated with five-spice powder, salt, and sugar - is spread-eagled on a pole inside a large wooden drum and steamed for an hour over charcoal. The resulting tender pork is then sliced thinly and served with a sprinkling of sesame seeds. The spices intensify the porcine flavours yet remain so subtle as to be virtually untraceable, making the quality of meat paramount.

There is a saying that epitomises Shunde cooking - cu liao jing zuo miao zai jia chang - the ability to make refined home meals out of cheap ingredients. In fact, evidence points to Shunde being a key progenitor of Cantonese cuisine as a whole.

The freshwater carp that Jun'an breeds in abundance is a fixture of Shunde cooking. Houses in the region invariably have a pond out in front stocked with the fish. Come time for a meal, vegetables would be picked from the farm and a fish caught from the pond; and from these the women would conjure a feast without a morsel being wasted. Shunde frugality, and skill with humble ingredients, was renowned, and when these women became amahs in Singapore, these same qualities became a hallmark of their kitchens.

Shunde-style Raw Fish is a showpiece and a must-try. The live freshwater carp is slaughtered and its most tender flesh, lying between the belly and tail end, is sliced thinly and placed on ice to stay fresh. Pickles, lime leaves, peanuts, and soy sauce are mixed with the fish slices and served. The story goes that Masterchef Hooi Kok Wai of the Four Heavenly Kings fame was inspired by this to create Singapore's signature Chinese New Year dish - yusheng.

The rest of the fish - sliced or beaten into fish paste - are used for steamboat. The remaining head is steamed with black bean paste. Nothing goes to waste - even the bones are boiled for stock and porridge made out of it.

It is usual for an amah to work her entire life with a single employer, becoming a trusted family member, and in some cases, a surrogate "mum" and even de facto matriarch. They would send the bulk of their salary home to their families in China, most particularly during the difficult times of the Cultural Revolution. With what money that remained, they would indulge in cookouts with their "sisters" on their days off. During the annual Hungry Ghosts Festival when Cantonese opera troupes from Hong Kong would arrive in Singapore to perform, a surprising side of the amah emerges. They would dedicate huge celebratory placards to their favourite opera artistes, adorned with borders of folded "flowers" made from hundreds of their hard-earned dollar bills.

Forty-five minutes from Jun'an is Leliu - a small town known for its award-winning roast goose. Each bird is carefully selected and bred to an ideal weight of about 2.5 kg before slaughter.

The marinade used is specific to each chef and is jealously guarded, but the basic ingredients appear to be Sichuan pepper, five-spice powder, aged tangerine peel, galangal and soy sauce.

The Leliu roast goose is not crisp-skinned like its counterpart in Singapore. Instead the skin is loose and wrinkled like a Shar-pei's, and that apparently accounts for its fuller flavour.

While it's usual practice to "rest" the goose in the open after it is removed from the oven, in Leliu the resting is done in an enclosed space away from the wind. This triggers a sort of "braising" process that causes the skin to wrinkle while drawing the juices from the flesh, so that when chewed, the skin releases the intense flavours it has absorbed, as well as the flavours of the marinade.

Another must-eat while in Shunde is the famed rice noodle unique to the town of Chencun. It is said a man named Huang Dan developed the technique of making the noodle some 80 years ago. First, newly harvested rice is stored for six months, then rubbed under water for at least 20 minutes to remove excess starch before being ground with a stone grinder. The resulting flour is used to make an extra-thin, extra-smooth flat noodle derived from the traditional sar hor fun. In Hong Kong, where the noodle quickly gained popularity, it is called Chencun Fen after its place of origin. Chencun Fen is eaten in a variety of ways: steamed with meats or used like bread to soak up the gravy at the end, or even as a dessert with red bean paste and coconut cream.

The Shunde dishes that served the amahs so well in their employers' kitchens also saw them through retirement. In the 1960s, it was common to see ex-amahs selling Shunde fare such as dried sole porridge, fried noodles, and steamed glutinous rice. In the morning, they would prepare the food and set up their makeshift "stalls" of stacked wooden crates along the five-foot way. Their meager takings probably helped stretch whatever savings these old women managed to accumulate from earlier times of service.

To appreciate the role of rice in Chinese cuisine, Daliang is an informative stop. The sub-district is a major rice-growing area of Guangdong province, and also, in recent years, a manufacturing boomtown, home to the production facilities of major Chinese brands like Kelon and Midea.

Its city centre is typically Chinese urban, with gleaming high-rise towers and hulking shopping malls gradually elbowing out the traditional buildings and side lanes, and with it, its food.

But for now, thankfully, some still remain - meat porridge, chee cheong fun and deep-fried rice dumplings abound. As a producer of some of the finest rice in southern China, the enormous variety of rice-based dishes on Daliang's streets come as no surprise. Rice is used in subtle, complex ways here. There is rice of various strains - pearl, jasmine, glutinous - and different "ages" - "new" or recently harvested rice, or "old" rice that has been stored for a period of time. A "simple" bowl of porridge here could

use three to four types of rice to achieve a fine balance of texture, consistency, and fragrance. Learning to distinguish, and appreciate, the gradations and differences in flavour that exists in plain rice is an education in itself.

Chinatown was where the amahs in Singapore would congregate on rest days, to chat and cook.

They would also sit with professional letter-writers along the corridors to have their mail written or read for them, as many amahs were illiterate.

Chinatown was where the amahs lived in retirement too, sharing tiny shophouse cubicles. And it was where they died: in the so-called "death houses" along Sago Lane, where the terminally ill were housed and cared for until the last.

By the 1980s the amahs, as one of the most special and remembered subcultures of Singapore, were gone; but Shunde - its land and its food - remains to remind us.

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Yujia Private Kitchen

Xincha Fu'an Cun

Jun'an, Shunde

Tel [phone]

Xiangshun Restaurant

68 Huanglian Da'ma Lu

Leliu Zhen, Shunde

Tel [phone]

Huanglian Da Tou Hua Roast Goose

76 Huanglian Xiaode Lu

Leliu Zhen, Shunde

Tel [phone]

Huangdan Ji Chencun Fen Shifu

1-2 Jiuwei Qiaonan Lu

Chencun Zhen, Shunde

Tel [phone]

Nanhong Noodle Shop

97 Gongye Lu

Tel [phone]

Xiao'po Changfen

63 Ronggui Gongye Lu

Shunde

Tel [phone]

Shenggun Porridge

Gongye Lu, Zhuqi Jie

(Contact details not available)