From a family dish to a national icon: A tribute to Mdm Cher Yam Tian, 90
“Mum, I am very proud of you. Today, your name is [still] there, because you’re the one who made [this chili crab dish] an icon, and her name is Mdm Cher Yam Tian. I am very proud of her.”
Roland Lim, son of Mdm Cher and the present owner of Roland Restaurant
Photo source: The Straits Times, 17 February 2023
The traditional way of life of fishing and mud-crabbing began to end in the 1950 and early 1960s in Singapore – land reclamation of the east coast of Singapore was key to its post-independence future.
A favourite pastime of Mr Lim Choon Ngee – catching mud-crabs and prawns – had to end.
Under the creative and skillful hands of Mdm Cher Yam Tian, her husband’s pastime became their family’s livelihood.
She experimented and the original recipe of stir-fried crabs with chili and tomato was conceived. It was her brainchild. It was a Singaporean dish.
Thereafter, Mr Lim and his wife, Mdm Cher Yam Tian, with a couple of kerosene lamps, wooden tables and stools, began a seafood restaurant business, selling chili crab, tau you prawns, crispy baby squid, cockles with chili and seafood hor fun, along the Kallang River.
Singaporeans growing up on a diet of Mdm Cher’s chili crabs would most certainly have remembered the hurricane lamps and those wooden tables and chairs.
Business was brisk and the couple's business at the then-Bedok beach expanded.
A family dish, concocted and cooked by Mdm Cher, grew into the Palm Beach Restaurant.
Photo source: ieatishootipost/FB
A family dish became a notable national icon.
In the aftermath of decolonisation and Cold War tensions in Southeast Asia (including continual wars in Indochina) alongside an unhappy political marriage with Malaysia, Singapore and her many inhabitants had to find ways to survive.
If it means that Singaporeans had to innovate, create and slog hard for our success, we will.
That the chili crab exists as a uniquely Singapore dish and that quintessential Singaporean dish was due no less to Mdm Cher’s hard work, grit and persistence amidst difficulties.
That Mdm Cher was able to make chili crab works and popular among Singaporeans is also due no less to the spirit of the times in Singapore between the 1950s to 1980s.
Her culinary gifts and that audacious idea to cook crabs with a bolder and stronger form of chili sauce gave rise to a future national icon.
Mdm Cher’s story and her family’s business came of age in a time of uncertainty and a young nation searching for an identity and soul.
The chili crab was a testament to the entrepreneurial and can-do spirit of Singapore’s pioneer generation.
It was with the hands and on the backs of Singaporeans like Mdm Cher that Singapore is what it is today.
Her creativity and hard work gave her children a better future.
Today, the chili crab is a marker of Singapore’s culinary heritage.
Mdm Cher’s chili crab story is, incidentally, that of Singapore’s too.
For that, we must thank Mdm Cher Yam Tian – an unassuming lady, whose brainchild is, today, well-loved and respected by many.
She may have passed on, but her deeds and innovations will continue to live on in the hearts of Singaporeans and friends from all around the world, each time we tuck in to enjoy our favourite chili crab dish.
Mdm Cher and her recipe were a key ingredient in putting Singapore on the map.
She was passion made possible.
Photo source: Roland Restaurant
Top image:
AsiaOne
Today we bid farewell to a culinary legend. Mdm Cher Yam Tian, who would have turned 90 this year was the lady who...
Posted by ieatishootipost on Wednesday, 15 February 2023
