Tuesday lockdown takeaway — picked up a vegetarian lunch plate for $3 from a hawker stall. Singapore Chinese-Buddhist vegetarian (素食) is one of those underrated hawker categories — proper variety, fair prices, and surprisingly satisfying meat-free plates.

We ordered:

Vegetarian lunch plate (rice + 3 sides) — $3

Singapore Chinese vegetarian stalls run the same cai png format as the regular ones — rice base, point at what you want from the steel tray, the auntie ladles each component onto the plate. The difference is that everything is plant-based or mock-meat, often with proper Buddhist temple-style preparation.

This plate had:

Steamed white rice (base)
Mock-meat (curry chicken substitute)
Stir-fried mixed vegetables (cabbage + carrot + wood ear mushroom)
Tofu in a sweet-soy braise

The mock-meat was the headliner. Made from seitan or soy protein shaped into chunks, marinated in a mild curry sauce with sliced onion and potato. The texture mimics chicken closely enough that you don’t immediately miss the real thing, and the curry coating brings actual flavour rather than relying on the meat for taste.

The mixed vegetables had proper wok heat — cabbage and carrot still crunchy, wood ear mushrooms providing that signature slippery-chewy bite. Light salt, splash of soy.

Tofu in sweet-soy braise was the comfort component. Cubes of firm tofu glazed dark with a sweet-soy sauce that had soaked into the surface, slightly crispy edges from the pre-frying.

At $3 for the plate this is one of the better lockdown lunch values — vegetarian Buddhist hawker stalls tend to keep prices low because their customer base expects affordability.

Eating vegetarian once or twice a week without thinking about it is the kind of dietary shift that probably makes sense.

Overall: 4.3 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Solid vegetarian lunch — would re-order.

Original IG post