Fool-proof recipes for those who can’t cook
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 »
Malaysians are crazy about sambal belacan – a blend of hot red chili and umami fermented shrimp paste. It is then balanced with sugar and something sour such as lime juice or tamarind. One of the most popular dishes in the Nyonya and Malay community is Okra with Sambal Belacan. It is incredibly easy to …
Since I hit puberty, my mother started making for me two types of drink: a very bitter medicinal soup called ‘Pat ChanTong’ (八珍汤) and Red Dates Tonic (紅棗水). Though I hated the former, I could tolerate the latter. My mother made it almost every week. As I was more interested in other sweet beverages (e.g …
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 »
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 …
If soup is my comfort food, curry is a treat. Soup soothes my soul but curry stirs excitement. What kind of spices is in the curry? Are there potatoes in it? Will it be too spicy? The thing with curries is that you’ll never know until you take a bite. I have long searched for …
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 …
One of my constant battle in eating well is consuming enough leafy vegetables; Malaysian food is severely lacking in greens. In Vietnam, each dish comes with a huge plate of local vegetables and herbs. In Japan and Korea, where presentation of food is very important, meals are mostly accompanied with colourful vegetables. When I came …
Japanese Spinach Salad (Ohitashi) – 4 ingredients + 5 min Read More »
Japanese cuisine has a special place in my heart. At sixteen, I went on a student exchange programme to a little town in Ishikawa called Komatsu (小松市). Then, the ignorant teenager that I was thought the Japanese only raw food like sushi and sashimi, both which I didn’t learn to love yet. But my host …
Japanese Stock (Dashi With Kombu & Bonito Flakes) – 3 ingredients Read More »