Mala Xiang Guo 麻辣香锅 is a dish from China that has recently taken root in Singapore's hawker culture - MLXG stalls are found in many hawker centres and food courts across the island now.
Origins of Mala Xiang Guo 🤷
While no one disputes that Mala Xiang Guo originate from China, its birthplace is a bit hazy. MLXG is part of Sichuan cuisine which is known for its signature mala 麻辣 numbing spicy taste and myriad flavours. What is not so clear is where in the vastness of China did Mala Xiang Guo first appeared 🤔
Was it in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province or Chongqing the capital of Sichuan cuisine? Or, did MLXG first appeared in Beijing or Shenyang or elsewhere in China where many native Sichuan chefs worked in Sichuan restaurants across the vast country.
Whether it was Chengdu, Wanzhou (Chongqing), Beijing, Shenyang, or Shanghai (where I first tasted MLXG in 2016), by 2005 the whole Middle Kingdom was engulfed in a fiery Mala Xiang Guo frenzy.
Mala Xiang Guo Comes to Singapore
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| Food Republic Indigo Beijing |
The trend in China caught the eye of the management of Singapore's Food Republic food court chain who promptly sent a chef to Beijing to learn how to cook the dish.
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| Food Republic 313@ Somerset Singapore |
In 2009, Food Republic opened Singapore's first Mala Xiang Guo stall, Piao Xiang Mala at their foodcourt in 313@Somerset.
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| Food Opera @ ION Orchard Singapore |
Response to Piao Xiang Mala was good from Chinese nationals as well as local Singaporeans. Food Republic capitalised on the momentum with a second stall in Food Opera @ ION Orchard.
Then came Ri Ri Hong Mala Xiang Guo in 2011 - the first MLXG hawker stall in Singapore located in People's Park Cooked Food Centre (I first heard about Ri Ri Hong from my Johor Bahru friends 😛 ).
At first, most customers of Ri Ri Hong Mala Xiang Guo and Piao Xiang Mala were Chinese nationals living in Singapore. At that time about 400,000 Chinese national students and workers lived in Singapore, not counting new citizens (Xinyimin 新移民). The market was ripe.
But, it didn't take long before local Singaporeans too caught the MLXG bug. In a few years, the trend was reversed - most MLXG customers were local Singaporeans and by around 2015, Mala Xiang Guo was firmly established as part of Singapore hawker culture.
Following the success of pioneers Piao Xiang Mala and Ri Ri Hong, many jumped on the MLXG bandwagon. From the beachheads at Orchard Road and Chinatown, MLXG stalls fanned out across the island. Now, there are dozens of MLXG stalls scattered across Singapore with many hawker centres and food courts sporting MLXG stalls. Singapore media outlets churned out dozens of "best Mala Xiang Guo" viral lists adding to the hype.
That pioneers Piao Xiang Mala and Ri Ri Hong are still in business today attest to the enduring popularity of Mala Xiang Guo.
What is Mala Xiang Guo?
Mala Xiang Guo is a derivative of the iconic Chongqing Mala Hotpot 麻辣火锅. Hotpot or steamboat is found across China with the numbing spicy Sichuan style being one of the most popular.
Chongqing hotpot (or hotpot in general) is a communal dish with diners sharing a table, cooking individually in the same pot of soup. Eating hotpot is a social event - hotpot time is party time. Time slows down as individual ingredients simmer and stew in the spicy pot - the intervals filled by conversation, sometimes singing, and more often than not, free flow of beer.
But, not every one has time for parties whenever they want to enjoy a Mala meal.
So, some unknown genius came up with the idea of a "convenience Mala hotpot" so to speak and gave birth to Mala Xiang Guo.
Instead of diners cooking the ingredients in a shared hotpot of spicy soup, a chef prepares the dish a la minute.
Mala Xiang Guo is a relatively difficult dish to cook as it requires many steps. It also requires mastery of the ingredients as they all have to be cooked separately according to their different characteristics. Potatoes have to be cooked in water for several minutes first, bean sprouts just barely scathed, pork cook a little longer, beef just a quick blanch, etc.
The Mala sauce is prepared separately involving more than twenty spices, pickled chili, fermented chili bean paste, red chili oil, dried chili, Sichuan peppercorn, ginger, garlic, etc., fried in lots of sizzling oil. Sichuan Mala sauce has one of the most intense and complex blend of flavours and aromas in Chinese cuisine.
Everything is then tossed and quick stir fried together, smothering and infusing the ingredients with the signature Sichuan Mala numbing spicy taste. Served dressed with coriander, fried peanuts and sesame seeds.
The thing about Mala Xiang Guo or Sichuan cuisine in general is they don't look very pretty - it looks like a nondescript, tangled heap of fiery embers. The emphasise of Sichuan cuisine is in its flavours and this is where Mala Xiang Guo wins. MLXG is full of savoury numbing spicy, sour-sweet flavours, and pungent aromas. It has interesting textures as every ingredient has a different mouth feel, from soft tofu to crunchy bamboo shoot.
Eating Mala Xiang Guo in Singapore Hawker Centre / Food Court
At the Mala Xiang Guo stall, pick the ingredients you like (aka yong tau foo style) from the chiller at the front of the stall. There's usually vegetables, mushroom, chicken, pork / beef slices, offal, tripe, prawn, squid, meat balls, canned luncheon meat, tofu, lotus root, bean sprouts, black fungus, etc. Hand your filled bowl to the stall holder, pay the bill, receive a pager or numbered token, go to your table and wait. When your pager buzzes or your number is flashed, go back to the stall to collect your cooked Mala Xiang Guo.
One thing about Mala Xiang Guo is - everybody's bowl is different as we pick our own ingredients. It is easy to like as it is our own favourites in the bowl. The main deciding factor is the mala sauce which every stall have their own secret recipe.
Truth be told, what I experienced so far at hawker centres and food courts seemed to be watered down versions of their Chinese counterparts. In Singapore, most MLXG stalls offer three levels of spiciness - Little Spicy, Medium Spicy, Very Spicy. My experience with Singapore MLXG is the grease, saltiness and spiciness intensity are tuned down for local palates. That adaptation was how Mala Xiang Guo conquered the Singaporean palate. So, if you like numbing spiciness as well as no holds barred flavours and grease, I suggest opting for Very Spicy.
Mala Xiang Guo is a relatively expensive hawker dish by Singapore standards. It costs about $10 per person for a sharing portion and slightly more ($12 - $15) for an individual serving (especially in a food court), if one chooses more meat ingredients. This debunks the notion or premise that Singaporeans will not pay more for hawker food. Singaporeans are value eaters - if the perceived value is high (tangible or intangible), they will dig deeper into their pockets.
Where do you get your Mala Xiang Guo fix?
I haven't found any that I really like in Singapore 🤔 So I am still looking.
Such an interesting article. Has always been wondering why so many MLXG stores sprouting around Singapore.
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