Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

A Swedish take on Singapore Chilli Crabs

Posted on October 12, 2009June 14, 2013 by cheryl

Singapore style chilli crabs, made with Cancer pagurus 3

North Sea “krabbtaskor”, Cancer Pagurus served as Singapore Chilli crabs
Photos © Jan-Erik Nilsson, Cheryl M. Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC, 2009

If you happen to live in any of the Nordic countries and so close to the sea that you can buy fresh crabs from the local fishermen, the Swedish “North Sea” crabs (Cancer Pagurus) are at their most delicious during the last three months of the year. The most popular way to cook and serve them in Sweden is, as simple as possible. Cook for 15 minutes with a dash of salt and a handful of dill seeds. Tidy up, crack open and serve with white bread, some extra rock salt and butter.

While I do love the simplicity of the Swedish version of crabs, I had begun to crave something spicier after the August crayfish celebrations, and the first thing I thought of when I got my hands on these Volvo of crabs was – Chilli Crabs!

A close second was to make Bakwan Kepiting, a Peranakan crab and porkball soup, but the former won hands down on my palate craving for the moment.

There are certainly many ways to cook Singapore Chilli Crabs, whether you find them at Changi Village, Punggol or along the East Coast in Singapore. Here’s what I used for my Swedish version of Singapore Chilli Crabs:

Ingredients

Cancer Pagurus

This sauce is really tasty and you can stretch the dish to serve more by just increasing the amount of sauce and serve with white bread…

Ingredients, pounded for Chilli Crabs Singapore style

The ingredients to the gravy, pounded. Somehow blending is just not the same.

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Paco Gil, a little bit of Spain in Autumn

Posted on October 11, 2009May 17, 2014 by cheryl

Paco GIl suede wedge heels, Louis Vuitton Vernis Mott, Louis Vuitton Multicolore, Nokia

Paco Gil wooden wedge suedes that puts a little Spain in the Swedish autumn.
Photos © Cheryl M. Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC, 2009

It is more yellows and reds these days on the ground and in the air, than the bright greens of a few months ago, and the guitar instrumentals of Michael Mucklow’s Joy and Govi’s Carioca Cat brings home a certain longing to be in Europe’s south, where the warmth lingers on just a little while longer than in its north.
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35 for Gothenburg: a book by Edwin Thumboo

Posted on October 7, 2009June 29, 2025 by cheryl

Singapore Literature booth, Göteborgs Bokmässan, 2009

Singapore literature, displayed at the Singapore booth at Gothenburg’s annual Bookfair, 2009.
Photos © Jan-Erik Nilsson and Cheryl M. Cordeiro for CMC, 2009

Even with new publishing spaces and mediums available on the internet with e-journals, online magazines, webpages and blogs, books in print continue to remain a stable platform for voices to be heard. It seemed that this year’s annual Gothenburg Bookfair was just as busy and electric in atmosphere as previous years. In fact, this years visit went straight to my heart. In the maze of exhibition stalls – some piled with books from the ground up so as to obscure vision – was a cozy and neat, red and white walled unit labeled, Singapore Literature. Even its colours reminded me of home and I was completely drawn to this year’s event as such, focusing my attention on the International Square, a hall dedicated to international authors.
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Kanelbullens Dag, Cinnamon Rolls Day 2009

Posted on October 4, 2009June 13, 2013 by cheryl

Cinnamon rolls, kanelbullar, with custard and sugar pearls

Two different sorts from the batch this year – with and without custard.
Photos © Jan-Erik Nilsson for CMC, 2009

This year, Kanelbullens Dag that falls every 4th of October in Sweden, is proving to be extremely windy and rainy along the Swedish West Coast – which makes it the perfect weather to snuggle up to the warmth of some cinnamon rolls to celebrate its day.

Custard filled cinnamon rolls, kanelbulle

The custard filled cinnamon rolls, sitting in the corner of the baking tin before baking.

We decided in this batch, to make custard filled cinnamon rolls, which added a little variation to the standard pearl sugar drizzled version. I’ve always been fond of cinnamon rolls, having first been introduced to them in Singapore actually. About a decade ago, Singapore had a chain of small bakeries selling cinnamon rolls, filled with caramelized almonds, pecans, walnuts and even ones that were chocolate glazed! It was a fantastic variety of cinnamon rolls! I was quite saddened to find that they’ve all but disappeared these days, because I did have my favourite cinnamon rolls from their outlets and would buy a few whenever I came across their bakery down town.

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The Almond Sugee cake: a Singapore Eurasian heritage

Posted on September 29, 2009June 13, 2013 by cheryl

Eurasian almond sugee cake recipe, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

The almond sugee cake, a Singapore Eurasian favourite.
Photos © Jan-Erik Nilsson and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro for CMC, 2009

Apart from the rich fruit cake, which is characteristically heavy handedly laced in brandy, that marks Christmas and all its cool weather, sometimes even rainy festivities for the Eruasians in Singapore, the Almond Sugee or Semolina Cake, would be an all-rounder cake for festive events. This cake, in all its variations of with or without icing, nutmeg, cardamon, brandy or cognac soaked etc., is served at Eurasian Christenings, weddings, house-warming parties, New Year’s Eve parties, birthdays and anniversaries.

Admittedly, I grew up not really liking this cake, because it seemed like we had it all the time. In fact, there was no event at home that didn’t omit this cake from the menu. But nostalgia kicks in, even for tastebuds when you’re away from home and just the smell of this cake baking in the oven in my Swedish home, brings me right back to happy Christmases and everything I would associate as a Singapore Eurasian heritage.

The recipe given here comes from Wendy Hutton’s (2007), book entitled, Singapore Food: a treasury of more than 200 time-tested recipes.

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
250g fine semolina / sugee
7 eggs, yolks and whites separated
250g castor sugar + 1 tbsp castor sugar for beating egg whites
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp rose essence
2 tbsp cognac or brandy
250g ground almonds
125g plain flour, sifted
Set oven at 150 deg C

*There was no mention of the use of baking powder in Hutton’s (2007) recipe, though in my version of the cake, I do use some baking powder, as my grandmother, Dorothy Cordeiro did in her recipe.
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Mushroom crepes, it all begins with a béchamel

Posted on September 25, 2009September 23, 2013 by cheryl

Mushroom béchamel, white sauce, French crepes

Mushroom in béchamel sauce, wrapped in Swedish crepes.
Photos © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson, 2009

The kitchen wafted with the smell of crepes frying in butter, and I couldn’t help but linger to watch, as the ladel, filled with a generous helping of light yellow batter was distributed evenly over the black enamelled surface of the cast iron pan; the batter, to cook but a few minutes on each side.

The Chef was making, Swedish crepes.

Swedish crepes? I enquired, as they looked rather French to me. And there I was told that, well, perhaps there was not much difference in recipe, except that this specific recipe was handed down from a line of great Swedish Chefs – great grandfather to grandfather, grandfather to father and then father to son. The key to making these crepes, was to make the batter so thin, that you wouldn’t think it could hold together.

There was a round of bemused expressions in the kitchen, but the efforts proved original enough. And they tasted good, whether eaten with homemade strawberry jam or with ice-cream wrapped inside.
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Chantarelle, symbol mushrooms of autumn in Sweden

Posted on September 18, 2009September 6, 2015 by cheryl

Golden chantarelles, kantareller, autumn 2009

Chantarelle are prized mushrooms of autumn, where the adventures of plucking a handful of these would make for any dinner conversation, except the revelation of their location.
Photos © Jan-Erik Nilsson and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro for CMC, 2009

Elegantly formed with a smooth capped top and a ridged funnel shaped body, the long stems of the golden Chantarelle proves pleasantly distracting to the eye when seated next to the plumper and more rotund white button mushrooms at the store.

More familiar with Shitake mushrooms when growing up in Singapore, and having grown to dislike its pungent taste in stir-fried noodles, thereby associating all mushrooms with pungent tastes, I grew up never really caring for mushrooms, until I was introduced to kantareller in Sweden.
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Autumn visit

Posted on September 16, 2009June 14, 2013 by cheryl

In Sweden, autumn is here and with that comes a new set of sounds and smells in nature. Autumn seems to carry an aura of thoughtfulness for the animals in the relatively safe haven along the Swedish West Coast, where it seems like their fear for humans is not at the top of their mind. Perhaps they feel that there is a new season coming on that might bring other hardships, maybe worse to overcome then casual brushes with humans. And distracted, rather thoughtful creatures are what I encountered just yesterday morning when I looked up from my breakfast table and noticed two deer prancing through our garden.

Deer in autumn, Swedish West Coast

Deer in the garden, at dawn.
Photos © Jan-Erik Nilsson for CMC, 2009

One of them looked at me point blank when I opened the door, curious. And I looked right back at it, just as curious, wondering what it was doing in our garden.

We looked at each other for a while and it occurred to me that maybe it too was hungry for breakfast. The summer’s harvest of salad leaves and apples have just been taken in for the winter, and there can’t be much to eat out there now for these delicate creatures who have been marauding people’s garden patches all summer.

Luring deer with salad leaf, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Enticing Bambi with a leaf of salad.

It felt like a natural thing to do, to offer them a leaf of crisp salad for breakfast. My guinea pigs used to love crispy greens, so why not these doe-eyed creatures? The fairytale animal just looked back at me. Thinking. Considering the offer but, no.

And just like in a fairytale, the animal took off, without touching the ground, as mist flowing over a meadow. It took off as quietly as autumn settles, not as much as a whisper, preferring to forage our neighbour’s garden instead.

Holstentor, the old City Gate of Lübeck, Germany

Posted on September 15, 2009June 13, 2013 by cheryl

Under Holstentor, Museum for City History, Luebeck, Germany

Holstentor, the symbol of Lübeck, the old City Gate that is today a Museum for City History.
Photos © Jan-Erik Nilsson, Cheryl M. Cordeiro for CMC, 2009

Like a chubby and sombre looking Cinderella castle, the most striking landmark that draws your attention in the Hanseatic town of Lübeck is its City Gate or Holstentor, which is today the Museum for City History.

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro at the Holstentor, Luebeck, Germany

A view of Holstentorplatz, the garden, beyond the arches of the Gate

In front of Holstentor, which is today islanded by two asphalt roads going into the heart of town, is a beautifully preened garden with a display of cannons.

Walk a straight line from Holstentor, along Holstentor street where you can enjoy some of the town’s larger shopping malls, and you’ll find yourself promptly at Marktplatz , a cozy place for a languid cup of coffee.

The entrance to the museum of Holstentor is almost inconspicuous, with its small arched doorway built in a heavy stone frame. One could feel the personality of the place, its aura, what it was meant to do when it was built, as one walked into the cavern, to the ticketing counter.
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Dining at Zimmermann’s Lübecker Hanse, Germany

Posted on September 1, 2009June 13, 2013 by cheryl

$Zimmermann\'s Lübecker Hanse, Luebeck, Germany$

Walking distance from the Marktplatz of Lübeck, Germany, right in the middle of the An der Undertrave and An der Obertrave, about a hundred meters into the Old Town or the Kolk, you’ll find one of the most romantic coves of the city. The buildings in this historic spot are conserved in their original form from the Medieval times. It is here, along the narrow, charming cobbled streets of the Old Town that you’ll find Zimmermann’s Lübecker Hanse, a restaurant with warm dark wooden interiors and service captains that will bend the menu backwards for you, if you so wish it.

Kolk, Luebeck, Le Trou, Lübecker Hanse and Theater Figuren Museum, Germany

Kolk, a cozy part of the city with heritage merchant houses.

The restaurant is located along the same street as the city’s Theater Figuren Museum, a puppet museum that houses more than a thousand theatre pupppets from 3 continents. Puppets from Europe, Africa and Asia are displayed and more impressive, they have been collected from different centuries.

Luebeck, Theater Figuren Museum, TFM Kolk 14, Germany

A few meters ahead from Lübecker Hanse is the Theater Figuren Museum (TFM).

Just a quick note and digression from the Lübecker Hanse to the theatre puppet museum across the street; the puppets on display were fantastic to behold, everything from glove and finger puppets, to stick puppets and marionettes. Shadow figures, the kind that I’ve become familiar with whilst growing up in Southeast-Asia were also on display.

Merchant house of the Theater Figuren Museum, Luebeck, Germany

400 year old merchant houses line this street, where the Lübeck Theater Figuren Museum is found.

What I found most interesting with the puppets was how the puppets reflected each country and its culture in its make, with culture specific facial features, clothes and expressions, where it is known today via behavioural research that facial expressions are hardly global in nature, even though we are all humans. Chinese theater puppets were more than distinct and distinguishable in dress, make-up and style of make, from an Italian carnival puppet, and African stick puppets, I thought, came absolutely in their own world.

$Menu, Zimmermann\'s Lübecker Hanse, Luebeck, Germany$

Outside the door, to the right, a display of handwritten menus from Zimmermann’s Lübecker Hanse.

When it comes to Zimmermann’s Lübecker Hanse that sits in this idyllic quarter of the medieval town, the first tantalizing eye candy is really the hand-written menus, written in German and displayed in a signboard against the rustic white painted walls, outside of the restaurant.

Front cover, menu, Lübecker Hanse, Luebeck

Front cover of the menu, Zimmermann’s Lübecker Hanse.

And if anyone wondered if the cozy tavernous interior of this restaurant is as warm and personal in service as the hand-written menus, then they would be delighted to know that, it is.

The weather was uncertain on the day of our visit, with a brief downpour that got us all drenched. What I really wanted was a steaming cup of hot chocolate when I first settled on a cushioned seat at the restaurant. But they had no hot chocolate listed on the menu.
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