My family like calls this dish: ‘fake char siu’. It’s our go-to dish when we don’t know what else to cook or short of time. It’s so easy. All you need is a slab of pork belly or pork shoulder. You most probably have the rest of the ingredients: sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, …
Easy Cheat ‘Char Siu’ Pork – 5 Ingredients + 20 minutes Read More »
My ongoing quest to eat healthier means that I try to eat a variety of plants in different colours. On top of a must-have leafy green vegetables on my dinner table, I like to have another plant-base dish like mushrooms, beans, or gourds. One of my go-to plant base dish that I cook to up my …
Pumpkin Stir-fried With Dried Shrimps and Thai Basil – 3 Ingredients Read More »
Aunty Clara cooks but rarely. Like many working mothers, she doesn’t want to toil in the kitchen but still enjoy making a delicious meal for her family. When she does cook, we do get quite fancy Indian meals (to me, least). One of my favourite is her version of prawn paratel (‘paretal’ means dry curry). …
Easy Dry Prawn Curry (Prawn Paretal) – 7 Ingredients Read More »
If you’re visiting Malaysia, one of the drinks you must try in this beautiful tropical country is Limau Asam Boi or Kat Chai Suen Mui (桔子酸梅), in Malay and Cantonese respectively. This drink is a thirst quencher favoured by most Malaysians on a hot day. It’s commonly available in Malaysian kopitiam as calamansi lime grow very well …
Limau Asam Boi / Lime & Plum Juice – 3 Ingredients Read More »
On the first day of Chinese New Year, every year without fail, my relatives will pay a visit to the Buddhist temple. Although neither a believer or a vegetarian, I do enjoy the special plant and soy-based dishes prepared for the festivity. Among my favourites are chicken drumstick made from soy milk (the ‘meat’ is …
Do you know the sour, spicy, and rather pungent soup served in small metal bowl when you have banana leaf rice? It’s called rasam. It wasn’t love at first taste. I didn’t learn to like it until a few years back. The spice can be a little too much to handle. But then, what we …
Easy Malaysian Rasam (Indian Soup) – 10 Ingredients Read More »
“Who eats vegetables for breakfast?” he asked when I help myself with ratatouille during breakfast in a hotel at Paris recently. “The French?” I replied. “Weird” said he. This is another dish I make to include more vegetables into my love one’s diet. How do you convince a boy who loves steaks and ignore vegetables to …
Easy Chinese Chives Pancake – 3 main ingredients Read More »
As my family is of Hakka descent, we love making typical Hakka dishes like Yong Tau Foo and Hakka Stuffed Oyster. I remember we have Yong Tau Foo almost every week! My father would buy huge tenggiri (mackerel) from Pudu market, and my mother will be scrapping the meat with a spoon and bouncing the fish …
Steam Tofu With Fish Paste & Oyster Sauce – 10 min Read More »
Instead of the usual chicken congee, why not make flower crab congee instead? Unlike mud crabs, flower crabs are not sold alive therefore easier to handle. Chuck the crabs, rice and aromatic ingredients into the PHILIPS All-in-one cooker, cook under pressure and have a sea-flavoured congee in no time! This recipe is one that I …
I first tasted sardine paratel at a cafe which offers modern local cuisine. One of their most popular sandwich is toasted bread with sardine paratel fillings. The common canned sardine is made so much more interesting with spices; browned onions, fragrant curry leaves, and hot chillies. This is an incredibly easy dish when you’re in …
People often say: never trust a thin cook. Well, you can trust that a thin cook cooks food that keeps you slim. My palate naturally gravitates to light and healthier food. I’ll choose asam laksa over char koay teow, and kuih bingka over pisang goreng. When I cook, I tend to cook lighter food – even if …
For years I’ve been persuading my busy friends to occasionally make home-cooked food to nourish themselves. I know it’s hard – most of them are young professionals with no time, skills, or interest to cook. But learning to cook for yourself (even if once in a while) is very important. It makes you more aware …