On this six element plate, there are four items that make Ponggol Nasi Lemak the decades old hawker institution that it is. Wanna guess what the four elements are? If you guessed curry vegetables, hae bee (dried shrimp & chili paste) long beans, chicken wings and sambal chili, then you’re bang on the money! If you guessed rice, then no dice.⠀
⠀
Ponggol’s nasi is decent enough, but I’ve had better nasi lemak from other places. The main reason why I keep coming back to Ponggol is because of that monstrous mound of sapid & sufficiently spicy sambal. It’s fully salty as opposed to having a tinge of sweetness coalescing with the savouriness like almost every other sambal, and it’s tremendously thick, almost like a paste.⠀
⠀
Most people don’t know it, but their curry veg is a stunning superstar that doesn’t receive even a fraction of the hype it deserves. Most curry vegetables tend to be bland, watered down affairs due to the veggies, especially the cabbage, unloading their water into the curry gravy. Not Ponggol’s, their curry is rather redolent & rich with just enough spice to stimulate your senses, and the fresh veg idling invitingly in the curry makes getting your daily fibre intake quite an ambrosial affair.⠀
⠀
The hae bee long beans are inexplicably delectable, with the scintillatingly sapid shrimp & sambal paste turbocharging the fresh, crunchy long beans with it’s unparalleled umami as they fry up in a wok. So simple, yet so satiating. If you don’t get ‘em, you’re robbing yourself of culinary bliss. Simple as.⠀
⠀
As for those fried chicken wings, the marinade is marvellous, as the meat is throughly instilled with the full flavour of the marinade. The sensationally seasoned batter that coats the chicken is thin and captivatingly crunchy, and this results in the chicken underneath being left perfectly cooked yet maddeningly moist. These wings are so stunningly stellar that I obey the eternal wisdom of DJ Khaled: have another one. And another one. And another one.