Gratify the Test of the Modern Customer in Singapore

Singapore is the culinary capital of Southeast Asia, where even the tastes of the most difficult turists will be satisfied, here you can experience typical Chinese cake, Indian, Malaysian, Indonesian dessert, Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese. Singaporean cuisine has become an incentive for tourists by the Singapore Tourism Board, as a major attraction alongside its shopping. The government has organized a Singapore Food Festival in July to eulogize Singapore's cuisine. The multiculturalism of local food, the international and trendy cuisine and their ample selection in prices to fit all budgets during all day and year. The cuisine is influenced by the cuisine of Malaysia due to the historical and cultural bonds between the two countries. Many dishes are common to both parts but their preparation varies and both have their characteristics according to local taste. Singapore and Malaysian cuisine shares ingredients and recipes with the neighboring Indonesia and makes use of various Thai ingredients and cooking techniques. Lemon grass and shrimp paste are the basic ingredients to which must be added the coconut milk.

Among the dishes to try, do not miss: the satay, the Malay version of kebab, skewers of roast mutton, chicken or beef with a thick peanut sauce, onions, cucumbers and ketupat (rice), mee siam, noodles served in a spicy and sour mixture with eggs, peanuts, soy beans, and lotong, muffins made of rice in a spicy sauce served with cabbage, beans, cheese and egg plant.

Among the Singapore cakes, are not to be missed are the chendol, iced coconut milk with jelly and palm sugar syrup, black glutinous rice with coconut milk. The Kueh, sweet rice cakes topped with coconut and palm sugar. And the most popular the Ais Kacang.

Ais kachang is pile of triturate ice on a base containing jelly, red beans, corn and attap seeds, and topped with different types of coloured sugar syrups such as palm sugar, rose syrup and evaporated milk. This is a traditional Malaysian dessert, the word Kachang (also spelt as kacang sometimes) means beans in Malay. In essence, this phrase would translate as Ice on Beans. This essentially describes the entire dish. Also known as "Ais Kacang", Ice Kacang is traditionally served in a shallow bowl and shaped up to appear like a mountain on a small bowl. The syrups not only add more color but also flavor to this simple and yet exquisite ice dessert.

Previously, it was made of only ice and red beans. Now, ice kacang comes in bright colours, with different fruits and dressings. In Singapore, almost all variants now contain a large serving of attap chee (palm seed), red beans, sweet corn, grass jelly and cubes of agar agar as common ingredients. Other less common ingredients include aloe vera, cendol, Nata de coco or ice cream in various variants of the dessert. A final topping of Evaporated milk, condensed milk, or coconut milk is sprayed over the pile of ice along with red rose syrup and sarsi syrup. To gratify the test of the modern customer in Singapore, some chefs have even introduced some new toppings such as durian, chocolate syrup and ice cream. There are also versions that avoid the multi-coloured syrup and are served with just a sprinkling of gula melaka syrup instead.

Many South-East Asian coffee shops, hawker centres and food courts offer this cake, Back in Singapore, this is a dish that you could enjoy at almost evrywhere while you are in the midst of running around your daily routine. Today, Ais Kacang is known as ABC ( Air Batu Campur, literally means Mixed Ice).