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 there’s a world of » Read More
10 Ways The Thermomix Is Great For Asian Cooking
January 15, 2021 by
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 food processor. I do that partly because » Read More
How To Cook Chilli Mud Crab
August 10, 2020 by
N.B. Please note that I've switched email providers so the link to sign up for recipes as displayed in the video is now expired. Please join my regular mailing list (there's a subscribe form at the bottom of this post to do so - the one that says "Join Jackie M for an Awesome Culinary Experience") if you want to keep up-to-date with all my » Read More
How To Cook Crispy Noodles With Sauce
May 16, 2020 by
You may have come across a number of different iterations of crispy noodles depending on the type of Asian restaurant you frequent; in this Lockdown Malaysian Cook-Along (yes, I'll explain in a bit) I made 2 different versions - one using vermicelli (aka rice sticks, depending on the brand), and one using fresh thin egg noodles (aka wonton » Read More
How To Cook Pandan Chicken Curry & Pandan Rice
March 12, 2020 by
As someone who's run a Malaysian food business for decades, I'm always trying to strike a balance between maintaining "authentic" flavours while cutting down on time spent in the kitchen (thanks to labour costs and staff shortage issues). My friends at MyBlueTea.com.au recently sent me some samples of their natural pandan powder (made from pure » Read More
Nasi Lemak-Udek-Campur-Kandar-Tumpang-Tumpeng – Part 1
February 12, 2020 by
Remember that time Australian cooking show Good Chef Bad Chef did a segment on how to make Nasi Lemak (steamed coconut rice with condiments, and what some would argue is Malaysia's national dish), and then proceeded to cook Nasi Goreng (fried rice)? When I shared it on social media, I found out many people didn’t even know what “Nasi” » Read More
How To Use The Keep Warm Setting On Your Cooker For Sous Vide Cooking
December 5, 2019 by
I mentioned in the past that the keep warm setting on your electric cooker - eg. your rice cooker, slow cooker or Instant Pot - could theoretically be used if you're too cheap (I'm kidding) for a sous vide unit. I had the chance to test it out with my Lao-style grilled ox tongue recipe that I published recently >> » Read More
How To Cook Lao-Style Grilled Ox Tongue
October 24, 2019 by
Lao-style grilled ox tongue is one of my favourite dishes in the world, but the traditional method of tenderising the ox tongue using shredded green papaya has never really turned out to my satisfaction (to be fair, I only tried it a couple of times). I finally decided to use my sous vide unit and the result is perfect. If you don't have a sous » Read More
How To Make Deep-Fried Sesame Balls (Vegan)
October 2, 2019 by
Deep-fried sesame balls are one of those snacks that are accidentally vegan as well as gluten-free, with the added bonus that they're pretty easy to make. The batch in this picture (not the prettiest, I know) actually contains mung bean paste filling, but let's pretend it doesn't, because I don't have time to cover the mung bean paste recipe in » Read More
How To Make Yee Mein (Fried Wheat Noodles)
September 3, 2019 by
Yee Mein (Cantonese) aka fried wheat noodles come in two varieties that I'm aware of - there's the thinner, darker version that some Malaysians know and love, and there's the more famous thicker, lighter-coloured version that's used in premium Chinese restaurant dishes like crab with ginger and shallots. This recipe is for the latter. I've » Read More