Peranakan Bite · Crispy Pastry Tart

Kueh Pie Tee

Photo: Alpha (from Melbourne, Australia) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

The name 'pie tee' likely isn't Malay or Chinese at all — food historians trace it to a corruption of the English word 'patty,' after the metal patty irons dipped in hot oil that Peranakan cooks used to shape the crisp shells.

A thin, crisp pastry cup — nicknamed 'top hats' for its shape — is filled with a sweet-savory julienne of turnip, carrot, and prawn, then topped with chili and a sprig of coriander, a Peranakan tea-table classic from Katong and Joo Chiat's Nyonya kitchens.

Why it's made this way: It's one of the signature dishes of Peranakan (Straits Chinese) cooking, the Chinese-Malay fusion cuisine shaped by British colonial influence as well, and it took root as a specialty of Katong and Joo Chiat, one of Singapore's historic Peranakan heartlands.