SINGAPORE HERITAGE COOKBOOKS
INDIAN
HERITAGE
Cooking
SINGAPORE HERITAGE COOKBOOKS
INDIAN
HERITAGE
Cooking
DEVAGI SANMUGAM &
SHANMUGAM KASINATHAN
The Publisher wishes to thank Jothi Store & Flower Shop for sponsoring the tableware used in this book.
Editor: Lydia Leong
Designer: Bernard Go
Photographer: Hongde Photography
Copyright 2011 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited
This book is supported under the National Heritage Boards
Heritage Industry Incentive Programme (Hi2P)
Published by Marshall Cavendish Cuisine
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner. Request for permission should be addressed to the Publisher,
Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196
Tel: (65) 6213 9300 Fax: (65) 6285 4871 E-mail:
Online bookstore: http://www.marshallcavendish.com
Limits of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The Author and Publisher of this book have used their best
efforts in preparing this book. The Publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to
the contents of this book and is not responsible for the outcome of any recipe in this book. While the
Publisher has reviewed each recipe carefully, the reader may not always achieve the results desired
due to variations in ingredients, cooking temperatures and individual cooking abilities. The Publisher
shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not
limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Other Marshall Cavendish Offices:
Marshall Cavendish International. PO Box 65829 London EC1P 1NY, UK Marshall Cavendish Corporation.
99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown NY 10591-9001, USA Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand)
Co Ltd. 253 Asoke, 12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga,
40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Marshall Cavendish is a trademark of Times Publishing Limited
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Devagi Sanmugam.
Indian heritage cooking / Devagi Sanmugam & Shanmugam Kasinathan. Singapore :
Marshall Cavendish Cuisine, c2011.
p. cm. (Singapore heritage cookbooks)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN : 978 981 4435 08 6
1. Cooking, Singaporean. 2. Indian cooking. I. Shanmugam Kasinathan. II. Title.
III. Series: Singapore heritage cookbooks.
TX724.5.S55
641.595957 -- dc22
OCN729142518
Printed in Singapore by KWF Printing Pte Ltd
DEDICATION
This collection of recipes is dedicated to my amma, Mdm Anjalai Markandan, whose culinary influence is very strong in my career as a chef. I will always be grateful for her inspiration and love.
Devagi Sanmugam
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to thank:
My friend, Irene Gomez, who is very enthusiastic about this book and who worked closely with me through the initial process of putting the chapters together.
My husband and co-author, Shanmugam, who worked on the introduction for this book. I learnt so much about the history of the Indian immigrants through his work.
My sister, Bavani Gunasekaran, who helped me in the kitchen with the preparations for the photography sessions.
My partner, Arnitha Letchmanan, who did the research for the glossary and shopped for the ingredients and prepared them for the photography sessions.
My friend, Tan Shee Lah, who has always been inspiring and encouraging.
All my family members and friends for their patience, understanding and support which made me what I am today.
Last but not least, I must express my deep appreciation to my editor, Lydia Leong, for believing in the value and importance of heritage recipes.
Devagi Sanmugam
indian heritage
Cooking
INTRODUCTION
The Indians in Singapore
Indians in Singapore are mostly the descendants of migrants who came from the Indian subcontinent and the peninsular of Malaya during British rule. These early immigrants came seeking opportunities to work and trade. They yielded generations of locally-born Indians who considered Singapore home even as they kept ties with their ancestral land where some still have relatives.
In the 1990s, Singapore welcomed a new wave of Indian immigrants with government policies that made it attractive for foreign professionals to live and work here. At the same time, growing demand for labour in the construction and cleaning industries pulled in low-wage workers from India and other countries in the region.
The descendants of the early Indian immigrants and more recent immigrants from India together number just over 348,000 in Singapore. This makes up slightly more than 9 per cent of the local population, according to a population census taken in 2010 by the Singapore Department of Statistics, making the Indians the nation states third largest ethnic group.
Early Immigrants
When Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore, first arrived on the island in 1819, his entourage included a troop of sepoysIndian soldiers employed to maintain law and order in Malaya and assist in conquestsand a contingent of Indian civilians looking for work, largely as dhobis (washermen), milkmen and domestic servants.