More Wet Market Wonders

Shopping at the Tiong Bahru wet market is one of my favourite outings. Ideally I like to go once a week to stock up on fruit, vegetables, fish and occasionally chicken, but in reality I get there about once a fortnight. The freshness of the produce sold there has to be seen (and eaten!) to be believed. The fish is almost still twitching, the veges crisp and glossy, the fruit fragrant and ripe.
For an earlier blog entry about Tiong Bahru, click here: http://thesingaporesling.blogspot.com/2007/06/hairy-fruit-and-gorgeous-prawns.html

Today I discovered a couple of new things I’ve never seen before. The first was a very dark green circular vegetable, which seems to be a spinach-like plant growing from a central point. They looked like a dark sunflowers piled up but the little Chinese man who is always happy to try and explain to me how to cook his veges in a mixture of pidgin English and Chinese, with a strong accent not helped by the fact that he has no top teeth, assured me that a bit of garlic and oil would transform this strange plant into a tasty side dish.


Next on the list was a long hard green stem vegetable – if anybody out there knows what this is, please let me know! Apparently I need to peel it then slice the stem into discs and stir fry.
The final two are by now old favourites: the round pinkish balls are absolutely the most delicious passion fruit I have ever eaten. I’ve only ever had the traditional dark purple ones before, which need to be wrinkled and dried out before they are ripe. These luscious orbs are ready to eat at this stage, when they are plump and pink. Inside the hard skin is a thick layer of spongy pith, rather like the inside of a grapefruit, and the rich yellow juice and flesh holding the crispy black seeds is pure nectar.

Finally there are lady fingers, also known as okra. They have a wierd kind of geometric shape when you slice them through the middle and look great mixed with other vegetables. Stir fry these with ginger, garlic, and plenty of chilli for a yummy side dish!

If there are any locals out there who can tell me the names of the first two veges I’d be really grateful, plus of course if you have any recipes for me I’d love to know.