SINGAPORE, May 11 — Author and chef Devagi Sanmugam is popularly known as the "Spice Queen” of Singapore.

Thanks to three decades of writing cookbooks, she is an authority on everything from rice to corn putu.

On Saturday, Sanmugam, 62, will lead people through Little India, as part of the Singapore Heritage Festival’s Celebrity Food Trail tours.

Her mission: To have people learn that what they can find there goes far beyond the usual fish head curry, biryani, roti prata or thosai dishes.

One of her favourite places to head to is Rasa Raja Bojun at Tekka Market. Sanmugam, who has been leading food tours in the area since 1997, said: "Few would know of Sri Lankan food in Little India ... It is not normally talked about”.

There, visitors will discover the Sinhalese cuisine such as coconut bread and traditional salads as well as curries — all priced from S$0.80 to S$3 (RM2.47 to RM9.25). The food here is freshest at 12pm, she added.

Sri Lankan food, Sanmugam said, is quite spicy and has a peppery zing. Since Sri Lanka is an island nation, coconut milk and fish — such as tuna — often feature in its dishes.

But the one offering Sanmugam really loves is a vegetarian dish — gotu kola salad, a classic offering that is touted to be good for health. It comprises gotu kola (pennywort) leaves dressed with lime juice and grated coconut.

Pennywort leaves "are very healthy, and good for the body’s nervous system”, said Sanmugam.

These leaves are used in both Indian Ayurvedic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, and are said to also treat bacterial, viral or parasitic infections.

Sanmugam said that although the food is prepared by the stall’s Sri Lankan owners every day, some dishes "have been Singaporean-ised”.

The chicken curry, for instance, is "more watery” than what you would find in Sri Lanka because people here prefer that consistency.

Sanmugam dishes out such nuggets of information on the hour-long tour, taking visitors to 16 different restaurants.

The catch — the tour does not allow for proper food stops.

"Walk back through after the tour, or come back another day to try the food,” Sanmugam said encouragingly.

Although she said that the smaller side streets of Little India hold the most gems for foodies, she cannot resist taking her tour participants to the ubiquitous Ananda Bhavan along Serangoon Road.

Established in 1924, Ananda Bhavan is said to be Singapore’s oldest vegetarian restaurant.

Sanmugam loves its appoms, fried discs made with rice flour and coconut milk, and typically served for breakfast.

She waxes lyrical about how the pancakes are made: "You pour the batter in the middle of the wok, then swirl the wok around so the batter covers the sides of the wok”.

"This makes the sides very crispy,” she said, while the middle stays light and fluffy.

Appoms were introduced to her when she was a child. Her grandmother used to make them, she said, and she remembers that they had a much sweeter taste because "back then, coconuts were sweeter and richer”.

Little India is filled with ingredients that Singaporeans ought to learn about, said Sanmugam.

She often never leaves without visiting Tekka market for moringa, dwarf copper and agathi leaves.

These are used in Ayurvedic treatments, and are common ingredients in Indian home cooking but are rarely found in restaurant dishes.

"You can cook them with dhal or stir-fry them with coconut,” she said.

In a "fusion food” experiment, she has sprinkled moringa leaves over pizza.

The leaves are known to be a nutritious superfood, rich in protein and vitamins. — TODAY