The Her World team shares their IG-worthy WFH meals

“I love love love Peranakan food so in my eyes, Violet Oon can basically do no wrong. The bento boxes’ portions don’t look big but we could actually share two Bento boxes between 3 people. I’m so glad Violet Oon does deliveries as Peranakan cuisine in Singapore is usually a dine-out situation and you can hardly find Peranakan food options on food apps too.”

*To place an order, please email eat@violetoon.com or call +65 9834 9935 (from 10am). Payment may be made via credit card or PayNow to +65 9834 9935. Contact-free delivery is available upon request.

“I’m obsessed with The Ship’s fish soup noodles at Shaw Centre so I’m counting my blessings I could find them on Deliveroo. Tastes just the same!!”

“It is so yummy and is a local business that doesn’t look online orders or make deliveries. If I want it to still be around after circuit breaker, I better support this old-school business.  And it was as good as I remember it to be, juicy chicken, tasty rice, spicy chilli sauce, and the auntie gave me extra soup – win!”

“A great pick-me-up during a work day that’s filled with Zoom calls. The coffees are smooth and silky. Just add in a few cubes of ice to make it super refreshing.”

“The unagi bowl was super delicious and generous. The rice almost tasted like a smoky glutinous rice. The onsen egg was still runny, which is amazing considering it was delivered to the house amongst many other orders!”

“First of all, the saba is boneless (omg??), which is a huge plus. Also, its teriyaki sauce isn’t overly salty or gooey, unlike some other stores. The meal is very balanced as it includes salad and vegetables on the side. I also added an onsen egg. And can you believe that the root beer is actually $1 (original price $2.50, currently there’s a $1.50 discount at the Tampines Hub’s branch) for 650ml? I’m sold.”

“Set C comprises of aburi mentai sushi only (means flame seared roe mayo). I love the creamy and salty texture with a slight burnt aftertaste, especially when it is done on seafood.”

“Since the start of the CB, my entire family has gone cold turkey on our beloved hawker center meals. So, in order to shut our incessant whining up once and for all, my mum decided to whip us up a local fave – prawn mee (of the soupy variety). For the broth, she fried prawn heads and added them into 1.9L of water with 250g of instant prawn mee paste. She also added prawns and pork meat to make the soup stock more flavourful. She then blached the noodles in a pot of clear water (our noodles of choice: a mix of kuey tiao and yellow mee), and cooked the veggies, fishcakes, and hard boiled eggs seperately. Total time taken: around an hour.

It tasted amazing – my family remarked that it was of the same calibre as the famous Beach Road prawn mee. The soup, thick and flavourful with just the right amount of sweetness; the noodles, al dente; the prawns and fishcakes, springy and perfectly cooked. It just so happened that it was raining cats and dogs that afternoon, and the hot soupy meal was the perfect comfort food for a cold gloomy day. Nothing says hearty like a local meal!”

“It seems my mum has made it her mission to fatten all of us up during CB by experimenting with different dessert recipes every other day. One of my faves is her bread and butter pudding, made with challa bread which she bakes from scratch herself. For the syrup, she whisks together eggs, milk, heavy cream, sugar and a pinch of salt. She then pours this over the challa bread, diced into one-inch pieces, and diced green apple and raisins. She lets this soak for two hours, then pops it in the oven to bake at 175 degrees celcius for one hour. Once it’s out of the oven, she serves it piping hot with a side of vanilla ice cream. Trust me, it’s as heavenly as it sounds.

I don’t really have a sweet tooth but this is *chef’s kiss*. It’s a dessert but sufficiently filling such that it’s satisfying… it’s sweet but not too sweet… the pudding is hot but the ice cream is cold. What more can you ask for?”

“To combat the dreaded post-lunch food coma, it’s become my routine to make a cup of Dalgona coffee before returning to my WFH station. I used to whip it with a good ol’ hand whisk to get the full, authentic experience, but before long I was slinking back to my KitchenAid with my tail between my legs (be warned, whisking it by hand is a full 20-minute arm workout. Expect to break a sweat). The recipe is easy: 1.5 tablespoons of Nescafe gold, 1.5 tablespoons of sugar, and 1.5 tablespoons of hot water. Let the stand mixer do the rest of the work, and in exactly four minutes (yes, I timed it) you’ll get fluffy stiff peaks. Dole that into a glass of cold milk and ice and viola! Cafe-standard, insta-worthy Dalgona coffee.

This is the perfect cup of coffee to me. The coffee is fragrant and aromatic but not too strong. Tip: Use instant black coffee (Nescafe Gold is my go-to), I learnt the hard way that 3-in-1 sachets don’t work. Because of the whipped coffee, the texture is really creamy, frothy and smooth. It’s super milky, which I love. My only gripe is the scary amount of sugar that goes into this.”

“The other day, my mum saw a lone packet of mee kia sitting on the shelf at NTUC. So she decided that lunch, for the next day, would be bak chor mee. And I couldn’t say no to a mum-made feast.

What she did: She made fresh dumplings (from scratch!), blanched the noodles and added some meatballs. Then, she tossed the springy noodles in a sauce made out of ketchup, vinegar and sweet soy sauce. For added texture, she sprinkled on some freshly fried pork lard and braised shitake mushrooms.

Needless to say, it was divine.”

“Before you ask, no, I did not roll out the noodles by myself. All I did was throw dried anchovies, one shitake mushroom and salt into a pot of water. Then, I let it come to a boil for 5min. After simmering it for 20 min, I added in my minced meat and store bought noodles.

Hack: Make your soup stock one day in advance, keep it in the refrigerator. You can now have ban mian in less than 20 mins.”

“All the ahjummas are quaking at the sight of my concoction. But well, I am someone who experiments with the stuff I find in my fridge. I was craving something smokey, soupy and spicy so I decided to try my hand at making jjampong (or something similar).

I stir fried garlic, scallions and korean red pepper flakes and added in the same stock I use for my ban mian. It’s really good for most asian soup dishes.

I wanted to use up the vegetables I had in my fridge so I chopped up mushrooms and cabbage. Then, I poached a cod fish in the soup and added flat noodles.

It wasn’t as good as the real deal, but satisfied my craving nonetheless!”

“It looks fancy but is very easy to do. I’m done in 30mins. Bake salmon fillets at 120 deg C for 15minutes (I like mine on the rare side). Cook pasta in a pot while making the garlic oil (garlic slices in olive oil; low heat). Mix both with ready. Creamed spinach = spinach + whipping cream and salt.

I like the combination of aburi-textured salmon with the garlicky hit of the pasta. It’s a quick home-cooked lunch for one, or full-on family dinner.”

“Teatime treat from my 14-year-old, who makes a mid-afternoon treat for her siblings on most afternoons. Sometimes, I get some too. Really mayo-ey (nothing but Heinz Seriously Good Mayonnaise), perfectly hard-boiled eggs, sandwiched in between soft buttered bread. And no crusts!”

“Having a taco meal is one of the easiest ways to clear out random meats and vegetables your have lying around, and to please everyone in the family (my brother is vegetarian so he can easily avoid the meat dishes). For this taco tuesday, we had sides of guacamole, sauteed mushrooms, herbed tomatoes, corn and radish salad with lime dressing, bean stew, stir-fried beef, salsa, cheese, sliced lettuce and agave tortilla.“

“Banana bread started out as a way for my family to get rid of overly ripe bananas. But after (somewhat) perfecting the recipe, it’s now turned into a staple and we have a loaf every week. Throw in some chocolate chips and they make for a perfect breakfast or tea time snack.

Banana bread is comforting before it even emerges from the oven. The smell is divine and my dogs often wait around for it to come out (I’d toss them a piece sans chocolate chips).”

“Not only is carbonara one of the easiest pastas to whip up at home (after aglio olio), it also means you don’t have to deal with the cream-laden version that most restuarants offer.

To make your own, you only need eggs, cheese (pecorino and parmesan but if you can’t find pecorino, any hard salty cheese would do), garlic, butter, pancetta/bacon, and spaghetti. It’s super quick because after cooking your pasta, you’d just have to toss it in your eggs-cheese mixture. Plenty of good recipes online!”