SINGAPORE, Jan 12 — For close to six decades, the taste of the dishes from Gerai Nenek Obek hawker stall at Geylang Serai Market has remained largely unchanged.

The recipes have been passed down from mother to daughter for four generations since 1963.

The latest in line to keep cooking popular Malay dishes such as lontong and nasi rawon (black beef soup with rice) is Filzah Miranti Mohd Dawood, 29, who has been working full-time at the stall for most of the last decade.

When she was seven years old, she would help her mother serve customers at their hawker stall.

She gradually took on more tasks as she grew older.

Although she graduated from the Institute of Technical Education College East with a National ITE Certificate (Nitec) in Chemical Process Technology in 2011, Filzah, then 19, chose to work at the stall full-time as she was concerned about a lack of job opportunities in the chemical process industry.

It was several years before she could get her great-grandmother’s recipes right.

"I had 30 over dishes with many kinds of ingredients to remember, and techniques... but eventually my mum felt satisfied I could go forward by myself,” she said.

After a brief stint as a technician at oil and gas company Shell from 2013 to 2014, Filzah returned to take charge of the stall as she was passionate about cooking.

For her efforts to keep her family’s traditional recipes alive, Filzah yesterday was one of 15 recipients of the inaugural Singapore Hawkers Awards.

The event recognises the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of hawkers in three categories: "Promising new hawker”, "hawker heritage” and "enterprising hawker”. It was organised by the Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore and Chinese-language daily Lianhe Wanbao, with the National Environmental Agency (NEA) supporting it.

Filzah, who won under the "hawker heritage” category, received her award from Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, during the SG Hawker Seminar held at Our Tampines Hub.

The seminar brings together more than 100 hawkers and industry stakeholders to exchange ideas about sustaining the hawker trade in Singapore.

Another winner was Elayne Ang, 40, who took home the award for "promising new hawker”.

Wanting to run her own business, the former banker had left the corporate world to set up her own hawker stall in 2019 with her friend, Samuel Tan, 46, a former army regular.

But with no experience in the food-and-beverage industry, the first day at their fried carrot cake and hokkien mee stall at Block 84 Marine Parade Central was "chaotic”.

"There was not enough stock and we had to close the shop early. Our ingredient proportions for the carrot cake were not correct, too,” Ang recounted.

But Ang and Tan pressed on, gathering feedback from customers and scouting famous carrot cake stalls to watch how experienced hawkers cooked.

They perfected their fried carrot cake recipe within six months and now both dishes at their stall sell out daily.

"I proved everybody wrong and was able to go beyond that,” Ang said of her award.

Elayne Ang, holding a plate of Hokkien mee, and Samuel Tan, with a plate of fried carrot cake, at their stall Tien Kee Carrot Cake/Hokkien Mee located at Blk 84, Marine Parade Central. — TODAY pic

New schemes pave way for aspiring hawkers to join trade

Dr Khor yesterday announced new initiatives by the Singapore government to attract young, aspiring hawkers such as Filzah and Ang to the trade.

New work-study post-diploma in hawkerpreneurship for graduates