The word “kaya” has two meanings in Malay – it can mean “rich” as in “wealthy”, or it can refer to a coconut and pandan jam that’s universally loved by Malaysians. Making kaya at home properly can be laborious and time-consuming – back in the old days you would cook it in a double-boiler and…
Watching a Malaysian mamak flip roti canai never gets old, but many have tried and failed to master the art of the perfect roti canai in their own kitchen. Thankfully, you can buy frozen roti canai easily here in Australia – the caveat is that it’s marketed as “roti paratha”, which can be a source…
Most Malaysians grew up eating and enjoying instant noodles, or what is popularly referred to as “ramen” in the USA, long before it became popular on a global scale. I remember as a kid being taught by my brother C.S. on how to cook it – his preferred style being to drain most of the…
Ginger is widely known for its health benefits, and most people would be familiar with using it to add flavour and aroma to their dishes. If you’re Malaysian like me, you probably use it regularly in curries, stews and in “tong sui” (sweet soup). I’d never tried consuming ginger as a crisp, however, until My…
What does a Malaysian like me think of when I think of jackfruit? I think of a fully-ripened, golden-yellow, firm-fleshed super-sweet, delicious fruit – described elsewhere as something like a cross between a pineapple and a mango. Watch here>> https://youtu.be/C1fXy6bl4UI So it came as quite a shock to me when I was alerted to Zoe…
I grew up with Malaysian curry powder – we used it in all our cooking; not just in curries. It was (and still is) so much a part of my life that it took my own daughter, Becky, (yes, I do have a grown-up daughter who’s married with a kid, etc.) to make me appreciate…
Musang King durian is considered by many Malaysians as the king of durian varieties, with a flavour that’s more potent and flesh that’s firmer and richer than the frozen Thai durians that Australians might have encountered in the freezer section of their Asian supermarket. Nowadays, at least here in Sydney, we’re pretty lucky that we…
Most of you are too young to remember, but if you lived in Australia in the 80s like I did, you’d know how hard it was to find Malaysian ingredients anywhere. That was why I had to learn how to make everything myself when I wanted to indulge in my craving for Malaysian food….
Ikan bilis, aka dried anchovies, is so highly-prized among overseas Malaysians that my stepmom makes a point of using her entire luggage allowance on ikan bilis each time she comes home from a visit to Malaysia. (I’m aware you can buy ikan bilis from other countries, but once you’ve tried the Malaysian variety you’ll realise…
In all the years I’ve cooked Live On Air, I’ve elicited more comments about the Thermomix TM5 behind me than all my other kitchen gadgets and utensils put together. I usually brush these off by telling my audience that it’s really just a multi-function kitchen unit and that I mostly use it as a glorified…