I remember when XO sauce started popping up in Chinatown menus as an option for your stir-fried Chinese dishes a couple of decades ago, and thinking it must refer to cognac. I eventually learned that it was in fact a condiment made with dried scallops, an ingredient that’s expensive enough that it would deter me from ever entertaining the thought » Read More
How to Make Khmer Red Ant Beef Salad
A Wok Around Asia Recipe by Chef Chanrith Van of Courtyard by Marriott Siem Reap Resort I can legitimately say that I’ve never looked at an ant (red or otherwise) and wondered what it would taste like. Nonetheless, I wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to try it during my visit to Siem Reap, where it was served as part of a carpaccio-like rare » Read More
How to Make Sambal for Prawn Noodle Soup (Har Meen) (Low-Carb)
If you've followed my Live Asian Kitchen broadcasts for any length of time, you would know that the term sambal belacan" (shrimp paste sambal) covers a number of different chilli dips - there's raw sambal belacan which consists of pounding chillies with toasted shrimp paste, some seasoning plus a dash of fresh lime juice - popular in » Read More
How to Render Duck Fat | How to Make Duck Crackling
The only time I’ll eat duck (or chicken) skin is when it’s crispy, so rather than discarding it, I decided to remove all the skin from the duck in this live broadcast, and render it to obtain duck fat. I also wanted to use up every last bit from this duck (I’m Asian, after all) so I made crackling from the skin. Removing the skin and fat also meant » Read More
How to Cook Duck Soup with Salted Vegetables
I used the duck bones (with a generous amount of meat left on it) from the same duck in my last post, to make duck soup with salted vegetables, a well-loved Chinese homestyle soup that originated from the Fujian province in China. The duck soup segment begins about halfway through this live video - Duck Soup with » Read More
How to Make Malaysian Popiah – 2017 Edition
I remember the time I was invited to Singapore to film a series of cooking videos for an online media company. I was quite happy with the results but for the fact that they described me on their portal as a "food blogger". Anybody can blog, but I'd bet my bottom dollar there aren't many Malaysian cooks in the world who can claim to know how to » Read More