Masterchef Singapore’s Vasunthara Ramasamy, or Vasun, as she’s known, is usually an advocate of slow food made the traditional South Indian way at her private dining outfit Cutlery Optional. One of her legendary dishes is her thosai, for which she stone-grinds rice and lentils, and allows the batter to ferment for 14 hours. So, naturally, I assumed she’d turn up her nose at the plebeian idea of instant noodles – or any kind of processed food, really.
Turns out, I was wrong. “I eat a lot of processed food!” she said, prompting me to feel that Singapore’s reigning queen of thosai had suddenly become a bit more approachable. In fact, “I always have two types of instant noodles in my pantry,” she added.
(The only way she could have scored more points with me is if it had been three.) When it comes to food and the enjoyment of it, after all, there’s no place for judgment. “I don’t ‘yuck’ people’s ‘yum’,” Vasun said.
“I think there's a time and place for everything. If it's instant noodles, it does what it is – it's instant.” Fancying up instant noodles is something she does now and then for fun, taking inspiration from the things she eats from day to day.
A recipe she decided to share with me was inspired by a bowl of Chinese la mian in a meaty sauce that she had enjoyed recently. “I always like to Indian-ise everything I eat,” she explained. “When I saw meat sauce, I thought, ‘This looks nice for a version of keema’, (which is) .
