Porridge with frogs...in Singaporean style

I used to work for a mobile phone company, our regional headquarter was based in Singapore, so this small island but so well-developed became like my second workplace. Regardless of my countless trips to Singapore, I didn't explore this island well enough - their culture, their traditions and especially their cuisine!
My Singaporean colleagues or friends from time to time took me to different places for different meals. I still remember their favourite squids stirred (or deep-fried) in dark black-pepper sauce (?), simple but very yummy traditional kaya toast sandwich... and famous chicken rice at some luxury hotel! That was all my pour eating experience in Singapore!

                      The chef-owner is a friend of my friend, preparing the frogs 

Last night after the work-out with some friends we decided to try the porridge with frogs in Singaporean style in Saigon. It was quite far, in the heavy traffic after the rain, so it took us nearly 30' to reach the place! It's a small, newly open eatery, specialised in this special porridge and snails. The chef-owner is a young guy and a friend of my friend.

I thought it would be like our chicken or duck porridge...all cooked together! 

             but the frogs were freshly stirred separately in some special black sauce just before serving...

First, when I heard of frog porridge I though a kind of porridge cooked with frogs, like our popular chicken or duck porridge, but it's not! It's a pot of simple porridge, decorated with some sesame oil, pandan leave "sauce" and served together with another pot of freshly cooked frogs in some special black sauce.

I did ask the young chef what's the sauce, he mysteriously answered "it's a liquor". He's right as the smell reminds me something similar - it could be, or maybe not. the liquor that we use when making mid-autumn cakes!

                        It took few minutes to cook the frogs and ready to serve...

                    and here we go - the frogs in Singaporean style served with...

                  a pot of porridge with some sesame oil and beautiful green pandan leave sauce...

Anyway, the frogs meat was very tender, the black sauce was tasty, a bit spicy, a bit sweet and a bit of "Singapore taste"! It was really good when I had together with porridge, especially when I added the black sauce to my porridge.

           
The pot of porridge was not that big, but as I was eager to taste only the frogs alone so I couldn't  finish the whole pot, but you have a choice, instead of porridge, you can order the frogs with bread. That was also good, according to my friend.
So, I quite like a new dish, hopefully it's close to its original taste in Singapore, and it seems like one of many new eating trends these days in Saigon, exchanging between our neighbouring countries - the cuisine without boundaries!