SINGAPORE – Google “healthy hawker meals” and some of the suggested dishes that come up include sliced fish soup and yong tau foo. 

But are we resigned to just these options if we want to eat healthy at hawker centres?

That is not the case, said nutrition experts that The Straits Times spoke to. Small tweaks can be made to hawker meals like nasi padang or chicken rice to make it healthier, said Ms Fionn Chua, Changi General Hospital’s senior dietitian. 

What’s healthy? 

To eat healthily, we are told the Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) My Healthy Plate guidelines are the gold standard to follow. This means for each meal, we should strive to have...

– 1⁄2 plate with fruit and vegetables, which is about two servings of vegetables or one serving of vegetables and one serving of fruit.

– 1⁄4 plate with lean protein, which could be a palm-sized serving of fish or poultry, three eggs, or two small blocks of tofu.

– 1⁄4 plate of wholegrains, which could be a bowl of brown rice or wholegrain noodles. 

Healthy hacks

Tips from nutrition experts on how to ace this challenge

Plain rice can be the better choice than flavoured rice like chicken rice, duck rice, nasi lemak or nasi briyani, as such carbohydrates are cooked with salt and fat, said Ms Bibi Chia, Principal Dietitian, Raffles Diabetes and Endocrine Centre.

For noodle dishes such as fishball noodles and ban mian, opting for the soupy version is often healthier than choosing the dry version, as dry noodles are often mixed with a myriad sauces that may contain chilli sauce, oil, lard and gravy. Soupy noodles like mee soto or beehoon soto are healthier halal alternatives to fried noodles, said CGH’s Ms Chua. 

Are wholegrain options harder to come by in the hawker centres or coffee shops near you? Try bringing your own brown rice or noodles and ordering the other ingredients from the stalls instead, suggested Ms Chia. 

What Li Ying ate

Ratings by Ms Fionn Chua, Changi General Hospital’s senior dietitian 

Sweet potato porridge, two vegetable dishes of xiao bai cai and brinjal with long beans, one meat dish with two braised chicken drumlets

Bought at: Coffee shop at 203 Toa Payoh North.

Comments: It’s no secret that the SPH Media office at 1000 Toa Payoh North is surrounded by good and affordable food. But healthy? Fingers crossed that there are some options for me.

It was a late lunch at 3pm at the coffee shop just opposite the office, so there were very few choices. I made the best of what was still available at the mixed rice stall. There was no brown rice or wholegrain options, so I opted for sweet potato porridge instead, and took just half a bowl of the porridge. 

Nearly all the vegetable dishes had gravy, especially the brinjal with long beans. It took some willpower to not drench the porridge with gravy like I normally would. 

Another problem was ordering a healthy protein – all the remaining meat dishes were either braised with heavy gravy, or deep-fried, or worse, deep-fried with sauce, such as sweet and sour pork. I took the best option I could find – which was braised chicken drumsticks.

Cost: $4

Rating by nutritionist: 4/5

Good choices, with the proportions fitting HPB’s My Healthy Plate recommendations: 

• ¼ carbohydrates – although there are no wholegrains, the addition of sweet potato does increase the fibre content of this meal. 

• ¼ plate protein – braised meat is less oily than deep-fried options. However, it is advisable to make an effort to remove the skin and fat of the drumsticks as much as possible before consumption.  

• ½ plate vegetables – great effort to minimise the gravy. Having the dish on a separate plate helps as the gravy is not directly added to the rice/porridge.

There are also three varieties of vegetables in this meal, which is commendable, as we should aim for a variety of different coloured fruit and vegetables daily.  

Spinach soup with wholegrain beehoon

Bought at: Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre.

Comments: I did not have to look far for wholegrains today. Three out of the eight stalls open actually offered the option.

But they are not always prominently advertised – I would have missed that the soup stall had wholegrain beehoon if I wasn’t looking out for it. 

It was a cold, rainy day, so I decided to have a bowl of spinach soup to warm myself up. 

The pictures of the dish did not seem to show it as having enough spinach to make up half a plate of vegetables, so I decided to add more, just to be safe. The hawker was also very generous with his portion of wholegrain beehoon. 

Topped off with runny egg and minced pork, it was a satisfying, delicious and convenient meal. 

Cost: $5. It was $4 for the spinach soup, 50 cents for the wholegrain beehoon and 50 cents for the additional vegetables.

Rating by nutritionist: 4.5 (if not consuming all the soup)/5

More stalls in hawker centres are offering wholegrains, and it is advisable to ask if the stall owner for wholegrain options. Adding spinach was a good call to ensure that the fibre content of this dish can be increased. For those who may not wish to add an extra portion of vegetables to ensure adequate fibre intake, they can consider having one serving of fruit after this meal. 

Soupy dishes like this tend to be less oily, with lower calories and make good options. However, they can be high in sodium, so avoid drinking all the soup. 

Brown rice with two portions of vegetables, chicken breast meat from the chicken rice stall

Bought at: Market Street Hawker Centre.

Comments: People who work in the Central Business District have no lack of healthy options – with salad bars and cafes catering to the health-conscious. But I wanted to see if I would be able to get something healthy at a hawker centre.

After circling the two-storey hawker centre twice, I found wholegrains only at the mixed-rice and the vegetarian stalls. Disappointingly, food at the vegetarian stall was sold out, and there were no more lean protein options at the mixed-rice stall.

I thought it would be a stroke of genius to mix and match my meal by ordering brown rice and vegetables from the mixed-rice stall and chicken breast from the chicken rice stall. But alas, there was a minimum order, and I ended up having to pay for a $6 portion of chicken breast – which could last me two meals. I decided to save a portion for my dinner, and had brown rice left over as well. 

Cost: $2.70 for brown rice and two vegetable dishes at mixed rice stall, $6 for chicken breast from chicken rice stall.

Rating by nutritionist: 4.5 (if not consuming chicken skin)/5

Overall, a well-balanced meal with two servings of vegetables and controlled portions of brown rice and lean protein, assuming the skin of the chicken was not consumed.

It was a smart move to mix and match dishes from various stalls at the hawker centre to try to hit the proportions recommended by HPB’s My Healthy Plate. Alternatively, for those who eat with colleagues, friends or family members, this concept could be applied when sharing food.  

Meat patty, brown rice and leftover vegetables from the night before

Bought at: Senja Hawker Centre.

Comments: I didn’t feel drawn to the protein options at the mixed-food stall, so I ordered a meat patty rice from the herbal soup stall instead.

The auntie sounded surprised when I asked for brown rice and confirmed multiple times that I wanted it – most likely because I couldn’t swop out the white rice for the brown rice, and had to pay an additional 80 cents for brown rice. If I had stuck to regular white rice, it would have just cost me $4.60 only. 

I have had more vegetables than I could finish when ordering from a zi char stall the night before, so I’m having them for this meal. I did not expect that the meat patty rice would come with some cabbage as well, but the added fibre was a bonus. 

Cost: $4.60, with additional 80 cents for brown rice. I had paid $8 at the zi char stall for a small portion of stir-fried kailan, so the portion of vegetables for this meal is probably worth $4.

Rating by nutritionist: 4/5

Great variety of different types of vegetables and overall, the meal looks colourful and appetising. This combination also showcases healthier cooking methods like stir-frying and steaming.  

Something to note is that there would be a considerable amount of fat in the meat patty than in a lean meat option. Those who are watching their weight or have cholesterol issues might want to swop the meat patty for a leaner protein instead, for example, different varieties of fish, especially since I noticed that fish has not come up yet in the hawker meals over these five days.

I recommend eating oily fish, for example, salmon, saba, cod, tuna or mackerel, two times per week to obtain the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, such as anti-inflammatory and cholesterol-lowering properties.  

Braised chicken in Chongqing-style broth, with spinach and kailan, and sweet potato noodles

Bought at: Jing Chicken Pot at Plaza Singapura’s Kopitiam.

Comments: I had a busy day and felt quite grouchy at the thought of having to hunt for wholegrains at a foodcourt. The only stall that had brown rice was, as usual, the mixed-rice stall, but again, only deep-fried options were left. I tried to buy just a serving of rice itself, but they would not sell it to me!

At this point, my stomach was rumbling loudly in protest – and I caved to the delicious scent of herbal soup that wafted over from the chicken-pot stall. It is not the healthiest choice, but my willpower has been weakened. Instead of rice, I opted for sweet potato noodles because a quick Google search told me that it is a low-calorie option. I also added toppings of vegetables.

The dish turned out more gravy-like than soupy, and I honestly felt a little guilty for ordering such a sodium-laden dish and avoided drinking the gravy. 

Cost: $14.30 in total. $9.80 for small chicken pot, and $1.50 each for two portions of vegetables and one portion of sweet potato noodles

Rating by nutritionist: 3.5/5

Sweet potato noodles or any other noodles, for example, beehoon, kway teow, or pasta is a good alternative to rice. 

To ensure sustainability in your healthy eating journey, I recommend choosing a variety of meals. Considering that the previous meals were mainly rice with dishes, I understand that it can get boring at times and hence the reason you opted for a more exciting dish. Kudos for making a conscious effort to limit consuming all the gravy due to the sodium content and adding more vegetables.  

There are always small tweaks that we can make to our meals to make them healthier and to ensure  more fibre, less sodium, less fat or less sugar. Over time, this can become a habit and one would no longer have to struggle with negative emotions, for instance, feeling guilty about eating certain “unhealthy” foods or being anxious or disappointed over not being able to find brown rice. This is to ensure that in the long run, we still find joy in eating and that healthy, mindful eating becomes a part of our lifestyle.  

What Zhaki ate

Ratings by health coach Susan Tan, president of the Society of Behavioural Health Singapore

Naan with dhal

Bought at: One Punggol Hawker Centre.

The Healthier Choice sticker guided my choice of this South Asian flatbread for my meal, indicating that it was low in calories, and, coincidentally, it was also a budget meal.

Besides being low in calories, the dhal gravy (typically made with lentils) provided fibre and protein, which I had hoped would be enough to make this a healthy option, and I also paired my meal with a sugar-free kopi-o kosong.

Cost: $3.60

Rating: 2/5

Despite the low calorie count for this meal, health coach Susan Tan marked this down for insufficient vegetables as well as the sodium content and insufficient protein in the dhal.

Ayam panggang with white rice

Bought at: One Punggol Hawker Centre.

I’d wanted to get the brown rice to go with this, but by the time I got to the ayam penyet stall after work, it was almost closing time and there was only white rice left.

I chose ayam panggang (grilled chicken) instead of the typically fried ayam penyet, since grilled chicken has less oil and batter, and is lower in fat and calories.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realise that the grilled chicken came with a lot of gravy, which I presume made the dish significantly less healthy.

Cost: $6.80

Rating: 3/5

Health coach Susan Tan marked this down for insufficient vegetables, too much sodium in the gravy and the lack of wholegrain rice, though the meal’s nutritional value was saved by the protein in the chicken. 

Steamed chicken rice

Bought at: Compass One

Visiting this stall after work, I’d wanted to get the shredded chicken congee – which was indicated as being low in calories – but it was unfortunately sold out, so I ended up getting the steamed chicken rice instead.

The flavoured chicken rice isn’t the best option I understand, as it’s higher in sodium, but to make the dish healthier, I got the steamed chicken, ate less of the rice, ordered more vegetables, thus increasing the price of the meal, and I didn’t take the soup. 

Cost: $7.50

Rating: 5 /5

While the chicken rice was full of sodium and fat, as well as not being wholegrain, this was evened out by the protein in the chicken, and not finishing the rice or soup. 

Mentaiko rice bowl with brown, short grain rice, salmon, corn and tomatoes

Bought at: Amoy Street Food Centre

As part of my research for this assignment, I searched for “halal brown rice hawker stall” on Google, which turned up a stall in the Central Business District selling a halal version of this hip Japanese dish.

This is really not typical hawker fare at all, but with brown rice, protein and lots of veggies, I believe this rice bowl was easily one of the healthiest things I ate during this challenge. Also, it was the first stall I found selling brown rice while I was there! 

Price: $9.50

Rating: 5/5

The presence of vegetables, protein and brown rice made this a healthy choice, though Ms Tan noted that the seasoning and dressing for the salmon might likely be high in sodium. 

Ayam kukus (steamed chicken) brown rice

Bought at: One Punggol Hawker Centre

After missing out on healthier choices on previous days to my having dinner late, I had decided to go earlier to buy my dinner to ensure that I would be able to get the wholegrain option.

Picking this pairing of steamed chicken and brown rice from the menu, I thought I had for sure chosen a healthy combination.

Unfortunately, as it was served to me, I realised the dish had more than likely significantly become less healthy due to the liberal amount of gravy poured on the steamed chicken.

Cost: $6.20

Rating: 3/5

While the steamed chicken and brown rice were good choices, the sodium in the gravy and the lack of vegetables got this marked down. 

Our reflections

Li Ying: Can we give wholegrain claypot rice or laksa with wholegrain noodles a chance? 

I came the closest to giving up on this challenge on an exceptionally rainy December afternoon when I was trudging through the lunch crowd in wet jeans at a hawker centre in the Central Business District, searching for that elusive bowl of brown rice or wholegrain noodles. 

Seven out of 10 times, I’ve been turned away by bemused or irritated stallholders when I asked for wholegrain options. 

This hunt for wholegrains meant that I spent an average of 40 minutes each meal combing the hawker centre or coffee shop for anyone who would sell it – twice longer than what it would usually take me to decide, queue and order my food.

Drenched and ravenous, all I wanted to do was slurp down a piping hot bowl of laksa. But as it turned out, I was lucky enough to get my wholegrain fix after scouring the two storeys. 

After five days, I realised that I had no issues topping up vegetables in my dishes or finding lean proteins like chicken, fish, tofu or egg at hawker centres.

But wholegrain options are not so readily available, and my best bet at finding them was to head for the mixed rice, fish soup or vegetarian stall. 

Outside of these examples, wholegrain options at hawker centres seem like a novelty, in part, shaped by consumer preferences.

I told my friends that I was going to try chicken rice, but with brown rice, and many of them reacted in horror and disapproval, with one of them dramatically clutching her chest and asking: Is chicken rice without the flavoured rice still chicken rice? 

While I’ve had nice surprises like stumbling across a claypot rice stall that served wholegrain rice, it seems as though the idea of wholegrain bak chor mee or wholegrain hor fun is a stretch too far for most hawkers and consumers. 

In fact, the auntie sitting next to me at the hawker centre asked me why I bothered having claypot rice with brown rice because it was not going to soak up much of the delicious soya sauce.

It’s a pity because food manufacturers are already offering wholegrain versions of Hokkien mee, kway teow, mee tai mak and ramen. But try asking for laksa with wholegrain noodles as I did, and you’ll get weird stares. 

In response to queries, HPB said that it conducts check-ins with hawker and coffee shop stalls twice a year to monitor and encourage hawkers to offer healthier options. 

The agency also works closely with managing agents of hawker centres to get their support to encourage hawkers to provide wholegrain options and other healthier ingredients, where possible. 

But a key stumbling block seems to be that very few people order the wholegrain options. 

“Some stall owners shared concerns over the low consumer demand of brown rice and to mitigate wastage, they will prepare only a small batch of wholegrain rice daily and will not replenish it after it has sold out,” said HPB. 

To further encourage hawkers to offer wholegrain options, HPB will continue to provide hawkers with wholegrain samples. It distributed more than 1,000 wholegrain rice samples to cooked food stalls between October 2022 and March 2023.

This wholegrain conundrum is a chicken-and-egg problem. 

I understand why people are averse to the idea of brown rice, for example. It has a firmer bite, and doesn’t soak up gravies and sauces as well as fluffy white rice.

HPB is supporting manufacturers’ research and development efforts under the Healthier Ingredient Development Scheme to develop wholegrain products that suit consumer preferences, such as in the texture of the products. 

But to be honest, I’ve had some dishes, like spinach soup with wholegrain beehoon, that I wasn’t able to taste the difference, and it has become a delicious and satisfying meal that I order regularly now. 

While it took quite a bit of effort to eat healthily at hawker centres, I could feel some of the health benefits kicking in after five days.

For example, by taking in more wholegrains and fibre than I usually do, I felt more satiated after every meal. 

I genuinely have less desire to drink sugary bubble tea or reach for snacks in the pantry, which helps cut those excess empty calories. 

Swopping that fragrant aromatic chicken rice for brown rice might feel sacrilegious to our favourite national dish, but if we are willing to give wholegrain claypot rice a chance once in a while, it seems like a good balance between indulging in our hawker favourites and looking after our body.

Zhaki: Planning ahead to eat healthily

Before taking on this assignment of searching for healthy hawker food, I had not put much thought into what I consumed when eating out, often basing my choices largely on what was convenient.

So having to consider the “healthiness” of my meals as my primary criterion in choosing what to eat was a big change for me. 

Adding to the challenge was the fact that many hawker centres and food courts have only a relatively small number of halal stalls, which limited my choices for healthier options. 

To make the process easier, I decided to take a different tack from my colleague Li Ying, and tried my best to research where I could find healthier meals.

“Making healthier choices when eating at hawker centres requires some thoughtful decision-making,” said Singapore Nutrition and Dietetics Association president Kalpana Bhaskaran. 

“If possible, plan your meals in advance. Knowing what types of healthier options are available in the area can help you make informed choices.” 

Online research helped me locate a stall selling halal salmon rice bowls – complete with brown rice – at the Amoy Street Food Centre. Admittedly, it is not what most would typically consider hawker fare, but I think it did fulfil the criteria for a healthy meal.

Health coach Susan Tan noted that the meal contained sufficient protein and vegetables in the form of tomatoes and corn that came with the dish. 

Still, Ms Tan, who is also president of the Society of Behavioural Health, Singapore, marked down the meal for the sodium in the dressing and seasoning that accompanied the salmon – something I hadn’t even considered. 

Sauces proved to be inescapable in some instances. What I thought was a perfectly healthy combination of steamed chicken and brown rice I ordered ended up getting served with sauce slathered over it. 

My research didn’t always pan out though. For example, one location I went to was supposed to have wholegrain options available according to articles I found online, but as it turned out, that information was outdated. 

For another meal, I went to the food court of a hospital where I had an assignment, thinking it would be easy to find healthier choices there, and opted to eat at a stall which had pictures of brown rice dishes on its signboard. 

As it turned out, the stall did not have brown rice, or at least not when I was there. 

Another thing I found useful were the Healthier Choice stickers, which help identify healthier meal options at hawker stalls.

Still, I found that these labels often only indicate just one marker of a healthy option – for example, that a certain dish is low in sodium or calories, or if a stall offered wholegrain alternatives.

It was often not clear to me if a low-sodium meal is also low in sugar or calories, for example. 

When asked about this, HPB said it was working with hawkers to guide consumers to choose “holistically healthier options”.

“For example, we want to ensure that meals which are lower in calories are also lower in sodium. To do this, we are providing lower-sodium ingredients to hawker stalls from mid-2024 to encourage them to incorporate such ingredients in their dishes,” said a HPB spokesperson. 

“Consumers will be able to see more dishes that are lower in sodium and calories from late 2024.” 

HPB suggested that consumers ask hawkers for healthier options when they eat out. 

“This can help to create a demand for healthier options and in time, stall owners may adjust their menus to reflect consumers’ preferences for healthier options,” the HPB spokesperson added. 

With the exercise over, the question remains: Would I still go out of my way to choose only healthier options? 

I might not want to, but as I get older, I may not have a choice as it becomes increasingly important for me to make the dietary and lifestyle changes necessary to ensure my body works the way I want it to.

After all, if I can make the effort to look for halal dishes when eating out, surely I can do the same for healthy meals too.

Dr Kalpana said making informed decisions and incorporating a variety of nutrient-dense foods are key when eating out. 

“It’s also worth noting that occasional indulgences are acceptable as part of a balanced lifestyle; the key is balance, moderation and overall dietary variety,” she said.

Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, we said Ms Bibi Chia was the principal dietician of Raffles Hospital. This is wrong. She is the principal dietician of Raffles Diabetes and Endocrine Centre. We are sorry for the error.