Chimbridge Singlish Dictionary

definitions

noun

1. charcoal-grilled, spiced meat, usually mutton (kambing), chicken (ayam), or beef (variously sapi, lembu, or daging) on bamboo skewers (traditionally coconut leaf stems). It is usually served with a peanut sauce (kuah) in a bowl for dipping, with raw cucumber and onion as well as cubed ketupat on the side. Variants include a Chinese version which uses pork and a tablespoon of puréed pineapple in each bowl of sauce.
   It traces its history back to similar Arab skewered meat dishes like shish kebab. The version known today which uses characteristic local spices like turmeric and ginger likely originated in Java, from where it then spread to the rest of Indonesia and Malaysia. The Singaporean version is smaller than the Indonesian version, possibly to increase the surface area to volume ratio of each piece to maximize the ratio of seasoning and desirable charred outer layer to meat.