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Amid hardship and suffering of the Japanese Occupation,
people fell in love, married and had children.
Celebrations were scaled down, but life had to go on.
So thin then…
My name is Lam Yoke Ying. I’m 92 years old.
We were hiding in the bomb shelter that was built in one of the house kitchens.
There were so many people all squeezed in there, and everyone was frightened.
We were hiding behind the sandbags. Some kids were screaming and crying.
That’s where we met. He was sitting next to me.
When I met her, she gave me the impression that I was very enjoyable to chat with.
Sometimes we went to the beach for a stroll.
Sometimes we will secretly go watch an opera. It was really cheap then, 25 cents.
The premium seats were 45 cents. We didn’t have rediffusion or television then.
I remember that when I asked your mom for your hand in marriage, she said, “Sure.”
“As long as you are filial, no matter life or death.”
I replied, “No problem at all.” And then we got married.
If you were a guest at a wedding,
it would have been customary for you
to bring along something for the wedding lunch.
Dinners were very uncommon
because one, there was not a lot of lighting.
Two, the Japanese didn’t really like you
to be around at night.
So most celebrations, what little there was of it,
would have been in the daytime,
in the form of lunch or tea.
And they would have been quite small scale.
So people would share what they had for,
say a wedding, or they would save up
in order to be able to cook a good lunch
for their friends and relatives.
My name is Nenek Riya Binte Sadik. At that time, I was only about 11 years old. Not too big yet.
The ceremony itself was okay. It was simple, but for food, it was still tapioca.
It was wedged and steamed, served with ‘serunding’ (grated spice). That was what we served.
The curry that was cooked was curry ‘ikan cekik leher’. It was split and the bones were taken out.
After that it was made into ‘dalchar’. The rice was… supposedly we cooked buttered rice.
Whatever oil we used, that was the rice we cooked to serve the people.
Thank God people still ate because they were all hungry.
We just paid our respects to our ancestors and God, that’s all. It was really simple.
We only invited a few relatives over.
We served the usual dishes like steamed chicken, duck, roasted pork and mixed vegetables,
Mushrooms and that was it. Because of the turmoil and chaos of war, everything was just simple.
All we needed in marriage is to be happy, and just like that, we have been through 70 years.
So families would try to support each other
during these celebrations, whatever there was.
So they would have got together
to try to prepare things that were special to their family.
People really helped one another.
You see, in Bukit Timah while we were staying there,
we were staying in a row of terrace houses.
So we were all close together,
then one of the neighbours, one day
got this pig,
small baby pig,
and brought it home.
Then he said, he suggested to all the neighbours,
why don’t we share the pig?
If you provide the food for the pig,
the leftovers, then when the pig is bigger,
then we’ll share the pig.
So that’s what happened. You see.
Every day we will go and look at the pig.
And bring our leftovers,
whatever, I mean hardly any leftovers.
For goodness sake we needed the food ourselves,
but we kept a little bit leftovers for the pig.
And so we’d feed the pig and go and watch the pig,
and watch him grow, getting bigger and bigger.
And finally it must’ve been Christmas or something, big festival,
they killed the pig and shared.
Everybody had ration cards,
and so if you wanted, say to make yourself a dress for your wedding,
you would save your ration card.
You got an X number of rations for, say textiles.
You would save that and then you would go and get the rations.
Or you would exchange something,
your rations in exchange for something else that you needed.
And so ration cards became tradable.
We cooked whatever we had. We raised chicken, so we just slaughtered chickens for Hari Raya.
There was ‘rendang’, and there were those who could afford to buy rice as per normal...
Those that bought flour to make cakes… Basically, everything was made, nothing was bought.
Thank god for Raya. There was food, it was not too empty.
My name is Baba Wee Jolly,
and I was born in 1928, 4th of April.
During the Japanese time there was no festival for us.
Everyday is a festival to us.
Because the food which we cooked is always the daily food every time.
It’s only a matter of, from the small fish…
you go and buy chicken and duck.
That’s during the festival.
Beside that we never take duck and chicken.
We always eat fish and vegetable, and that’s how we survive.
If you want to buy, everyday, chicken and duck,
it will cost you a lot of money.
And we are satisfied by what we get.
The most important, why we are very lucky…
When we buy simple food we can create dishes.
I can do wonders, even a small fish
I can turn into a very good dish.
Even tapioca I can turn into good food.
Some of the things that they could have prepared
for these would have been things that used local ingredients.
For example, coconuts were very easily available.
Even in the time of shortages,
there were lots of coconuts trees all over Singapore.
And so you could just go
and pluck yourself coconuts.
With coconuts you could use the milk to make ‘kueh’.
You could use the milk to turn into oil.
And the other common thing around was tapioca.
So there are a number of traditional tapioca ‘kuehs’
that use coconut milk and palm sugar,
all available locally.
Of course there were shortages.
But if you use a bit of ingenuity,
you could produce some of these things for celebrations.
I’m Francesca Eber.
A home economist by training,
and very interested in food.
According to my sisters,
they ate a lot of coconut product.
We also had coconut trees in the garden.
The coconuts had to be first husked.
And you used the husk for fuel.
And then broken in half
if you had a horse grater.
The horse grater was a bench
with a metal grater on the end.
Jagged grater.
And you would sit on this bench and grate the coconut.
It was really torturous. We had to grate it slowly and sometimes I would feel like crying.
I was afraid I would grate my hands.
It was Hari Ray. We would cut it into thin and long strips, cook it in sugar,
and make it into a cake. That was the coconut. Other than that, we cooked whatever with coconut.
There were a lot of uses for coconut.
For our final episode I’ll be making two dishes using coconut.
The first one, Baked Fish Custard,
is from the book ‘Good Food’ by PCB Newington.
The second, Gula Melaka Blancmange,
is from the ‘Prisoner of War Cookbook’ by ERM.
So far in this series we’ve been making dishes created by people
who were inspired by their home cooking,
their memories, and also their wartime experiences.
Today’s dish, Baked Fish Custard, is no exception.
This is very similar to an English recipe for deviled fish
that was circulated in pamphlets during World War 2.
Where the original version was made with white sauce
and seasoned with mustard and cayenne pepper.
The version we’re cooking today
is made with ingredients more familiar to our region,
like coconut milk, fresh chilli, curry powder,
spices and local fish.
In fact it’s almost like ‘Otah Otah’.
The main ingredient is cooked flaked fish. Today we are using ‘Ikan Parang’,
also known as wolf herring, or ‘Saito’ fish.
It’s got very very sweet flesh.
But it also has millions of bones so it’s quite a pain to peel.
But it gives you the best flavour.
Now if you can’t get hold of ‘Ikan Parang’,
you could use cooked flaked snapper,
or very fresh haddock or mackerel.
I’m going to mix it with some breadcrumbs.
We’re using fresh breadcrumbs.
Now I am going to chop just a little slice of ginger,
and a couple of shallots,
and a couple cloves of garlic,
and some fresh chili.
Now these are pretty big so I am just going to use one today.
So I am just going to chop everything…
together and then pound them into a paste.
Okay I’m going to transfer them to the pestle and mortar.
Add a pinch of salt,
not just for seasoning but also to help break down the ingredients.
I’m going to add a bit of curry powder,
and a pinch of sugar,
and just pound to incorporate them.
Okay that’s the spice paste. To that…
I’m going to add some coconut milk,
and two eggs.
And I’m going to whisk them all together.
Now you could bake these in dishes,
but I am going to use banana leaf cups today
for a more Asian touch.
I’ll spoon the fish and breadcrumbs mixture into each cup first.
And now I’m just going to pour
the egg and spice paste, and coconut milk mixture, over the fish.
I’ll sprinkle a few more breadcrumbs on top.
This will give a slightly crunchy topping.
And then we’ll just put a little bit of butter on top.
Now we’re going to bake them in a pre-heated oven
at 170 degree celsius for about 20 to 30 minutes.
As you can see they are just set and just slightly puffed.
As a final garnish, sprinkle them with jullien red chili.
Baked Fish Custard.
The second dish I am going to make is Gula Melaka Blancmange.
Blancmange is a dish that dates back to medieval times
when it was made with cow’s milk or almond milk.
And it was also flavoured with sugar,
spices, and sometimes even poultry or fish meat.
In England, Blancmange eventually developed into a dessert pudding.
For this version, we’re using coconut milk, mung bean flour and ‘gula melaka’,
also known as palm sugar.
The dessert’s smooth and creamy texture is the same as the original.
But its flavour is decidedly Asian.
So in this pot I am going to combine some water,
‘gula melaka’,
a little bit of white sugar.
If you use all ‘gula melaka’, the flavour may be a little too bittersweet.
The white sugar helps to counteract that.
And just a tiny pinch of salt to balance out all the sweetness.
And I’m going to melt this over low heat.
Meanwhile, while that is dissolving,
I’m going to combine my mung bean flour and some thick coconut milk in a bowl.
And I’m just going to whisk them together to make a paste.
You have to stir until all the flour has dissolved
and formed a thick creamy paste.
The ‘gula melaka’ syrup is ready.
So I’m just going to strain it
into the mung bean flour mixture.
and then I’ll whisk those two together until everything is smooth.
So now I have more coconut milk,
thin coconut milk this time,
and I am going to bring that to a simmer.
Okay, it’s just under the boiling point.
So I’m going to whisk in the ‘gula melaka’ mixture.
The mixture should start to thicken quite quickly.
Okay it’s thick enough now,
so we’re going to immediately pour it into the mould.
Whatever kind of mould you use,
be sure that it’s spotlessly clean,
and be sure to grease the inside with a tiny drop of oil.
This is to help the Blancmange turn up neatly and not break up.
This needs to cool completely,
after which we’ll put it in the fridge
and let it chill for at least one, or preferably two to three hours to set completely.
Finally we’ll garnish it with some freshly grated coconut
and a drizzle of some extra ‘gula melaka’ syrup.
Gula Melaka Blancmange.
For many people,
it was important to mark the occasions that were meaningful to them.
What was there to celebrate? Life and hope.
6th of August, 1945.
At 8:16am, the first atomic bomb,
code-named ‘Little Boy’, struck Hiroshima.
9th of August, 1945.
At 11:15am, the second atomic bomb,
code-named ‘Fat Boy’, fell on Nagasaki.
I’m gonna preach you a sermon about old man atom,
and I don’t mean Adam in the Bible datum.
I don’t mean Adam that mother Eve made it,
but I do mean atom that Science liberated.
You know, Einstein said he was scared.
If Einstein was scared, I get scared.
Green is not my natural complexion.
Stop the world, I wanna get off!
Scared of the atom bomb?
You got to get the people together with you,
cause if you don’t get together and do it, well one of these days,
You’ll be shot to bloody hell!
That’s no future for a growing boy.
The moral of the sermon I’m trying to say is the atom bomb is here to stay.
It’s going to stay fixed and that’s plain to see.
But oh my dearly beloved, are we? We get born and live, and sometimes marry,
and atom is a word in the dictionary.
And one of them four letter words they’re always talking about.
Some science boys from every clime got together
and worked overtime. Worked and worked,
and when they were done they harnessed the power of the doggone sun!
They were splitting atoms, you can hear them at the universities.
They mumbled, look, we’re splitting an atom.
The diplomats, they’re splitting hairs.
Well I’ve come to the end my dear and I hope…
and so on and so on.
I used to do this talking, Atomic Blues,
you see, which tells you how World War Two ended.
The Japanese surrendered on 2 September, 1945.
A surrender ceremony was held 10 days later to much celebration.
The signing of the surrender instrument was held at City Hall,
and this was followed by a victory parade and celebrations on the Padang,
where a Union Jack flag was raised.
Singapore was once again, under British rule.
When the war was over, I feel sorry for my officers.
They look like, they feel very sad.
When they march,
I remembered they don’t look at you.
They all look down.
Pityful. That's the time. I remember.
After the surrender,
The British Military Administration was the interim administrator of Malaya.
The Singapore that they took over was in bad shape.
It was crime-ridden with widespread corruption.
There were housing problems and the food situation did not improve.
Life had to start all over again.
Families which were broken, you know,
were no more the same families.
We had to start again from where we left off.
But of course Singapore Post and all those shops were
very quick to get back into the picture to bring in food for sale,
if I may say. And they were also, brought in cheap, sold cheap.
And people suddenly felt, wow!
Now we can eat the kind of food that we used to eat before.
We went to Cold Storage after the war,
and they were just selling a lot of rabbits,
and we made rabbit stew.
That was also a wonderful dish already.
The shortages continued to at least the 1950s.
So people lived with shortages.
And even post-war, the first few years,
it got so bad that the Government actually
stepped in to subsidise meals for workers .
They had something called the Peoples’ Kitchen,
where they would organise cheap quick meals
like porridge, or very basic,
rice and two vegetables, to be sold at a few cents.
To me, it’s most important the food,
the good food, the nutritious food.
So I eat nutritiously now.
I spend most of my money buying food.
It seems to scare me when I have no food.
That's all. It’s a scary thing, which didn’t leave me.
Now if I were to see war on television, I don’t want to watch it.
I will close my eyes or I will just leave the room. Because it’s too sad to see people at war.
What I find most agonising about the Japanese Occupation is that in the course of 3 years and 8 months,
I lost so many family members. Until now, I still feel very sad about their deaths. There is no solution.
That is it, child. I don’t want to remember about the Japanese occupation anymore.
It left a huge scar in my heart. Don’t ask me about it anymore.
World War Two has been the darkest chapter in Singapore’s history.
As the war generation passes on,
people will remember the major events of that time.
But equally important are the personal accounts of anguish,
faith and the struggle for basic needs during the Occupation.
As these stories trickle down,
we realise that it takes more than food
to survive in adverse times.
From the war survivors, we learn that it is blind hope
and sheer willpower that sustained them.