So what I’ve done instead, is created something more casual and flexible – essentially an online Malaysian Cooking Club – run on the Skool platform.

You can join us here – JackieM.com.au/skool

Membership gets you access to me along with my Malaysian Hawker Pro students, who are already there sharing their cooking discoveries, results and tips.

The way it works is that twice a week (or more), we hop on a Zoom call and cook along or just tune in to watch and chat with our fellow participants.

The sessions are scheduled such that they cover different timezones, so that wherever you’re based around the world, you should find a slot that suits your schedule. Some people join occasionally, and others make time to do so every week.

A couple of days after each session, I publish key cooking tips from them, so that those who missed the sessions can go back and check them out.

For the record, we don’t all cook the same dish (though sometimes we do) – and you’re not restricted to cooking only Malaysian food – eg. in our most recent session, one of our members made pikelets using sourdough discards.

The idea is that we organically get feedback and support from each other (some of my Malaysian Hawker Pro students have culinary and nutrition training and bring a wealth of knowledge to the table).

Now’s a great time to join us, because you’ll be locked in to the founders’ membership price.

As a bonus, I’ll also give you access to my Malaysian Hawker Pro Masterclass on Homemade Rice Noodles once you sign up. Just message me after you’ve joined via Skool (I just need your email address to be able to set you up).

We’ve also built up a nice sub-community of Thermomix users, so if you own one, you’ll pick up plenty of tricks for adapting traditional Malaysian recipes for it.

Join Me for Live Malaysian Cooking Online

If you’d like to:

• Learn Malaysian food online in a relaxed, friendly environment,
• Take part in regular Zoom cooking classes, and
• Connect with others who share your passion for Malaysian flavours

then this is for you.

Join my Malaysian Cooking Club here

and start cooking with us online.

The post Join My Malaysian Cooking Club — Learn Malaysian Food Online first appeared on Jackie M..

The Masters’ Table: Jackie M’s Slow Food Pilgrimage to Hidden Malaysia

9 Days / 8 Nights – 11-19 January 2026

What You’ll Experience

• Join me, Jackie M, and selected Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) chefs on a one-of-a-kind food journey through Kuala Lumpur, Perak and Melaka.
• Discover the dishes, stories and people that make Malaysian cuisine so distinctive.
• Take part in cooking workshops and community-based exchanges with local chefs.
• Enjoy unhurried travel that leaves time to wander, taste and chat with locals.
• Step behind or in front of the camera – guests are welcome to observe or feature informally in MOMC’s Street Food Journeys: Perak filming days.
  

Tour Overview

This tour (maximum 8 full-time guests) is designed for travellers who value depth over speed, and it brings together the best elements of my previous culinary tour while removing the less compelling parts. 

We’re going with a small, intimate group and fewer tick-the-box tourist attractions so you have time to relax, wander off on your own, or just hang out with us. (Our late night hotel lounge chats and meetups were the highlight of my last culinary tour.)

You’ll experience Malaysia through the eyes of its cooks and gain an in-depth understanding of Malaysia’s layered culinary landscape. You’ll get to participate in cooking workshops with our elite Masters of Malaysian Cuisine chefs, and you’ll get to dine at eateries you won’t find listed in travel guides.

Your stay in Perak coincides with MOMC’s collaboration with Tourism Perak, who are hosting our chefs as we document the region’s food culture for our Street Food Journeys video series and MOMC eMagazine. 

Rather than being a “media shoot,” it’s an open invitation for you to share in the encounters that bring these stories to life – sampling, chatting and learning alongside us.

4 to 5-star accommodation or equivalent, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner, and transfers between locations are included so you can focus on what matters: food, culture and connection.

Itinerary Snapshot

Cost:

Inclusions

• 8 nights’ accommodation at 4 to 5-star or equivalent properties
• Daily breakfast, lunch and dinner
• All intercity and local transfers (depending on group size, this may include travel by train/Grab)
• MOMC-led workshops and cultural activities
• Perak filming participation (optional)
• Local guides

Not Included 

• Airfares
• Travel insurance
• Airport transfers

Why Join This Tour

• Cook & connect: Share kitchens and tables with Jackie M. & selected MOMC chefs.
• See what others miss: From big-head prawns in Tanjung Tualang to chee cheong fun in Teluk Intan, explore true local favourites.
• Travel slowly: Each leg of the journey reveals another layer of Malaysia’s food story.
• Make a difference: Your presence helps showcase Perak’s & Malaysia’s culinary treasures for Visit Malaysia 2026.
  

Additional Notes:

Due to the unique nature of this small-group culinary pilgrimage – relying on the availability of specific local experts and optimal conditions at highly-sought, off-the-beaten-path eateries – the itinerary, precise timings, and specific vendors are subject to change. 

Any necessary modifications will be made to ensure the highest quality and most exclusive culinary experience for our guests.

Meals:

Breakfast is included and offers two options at each stay:

Option A (Hotel): You may take breakfast provided by the accommodation (where applicable).

Option B (Local Style): You may join me at a nearby hawker stall or kopitiam. This provides direct experience of local food culture.

All lunches and dinners are covered by the tour price. Menu selection for the group will be set by me.

Please note that I don’t consume pork, and menu choices will reflect this bias. You’re welcome to order additional dishes (with or without pork), supplementary items, or beverages at your own expense.

The post Jackie M’s Culinary Tour #2 – A Slow Food Pilgrimage to Hidden Malaysia first appeared on Jackie M..

On the week I did Nyonya cuisine, a food brand came forward to sponsor some of the ingredients we would be using in our cooking session. Never one to say no the freebies, I happily accepted their offer.

One of the dishes we were tackling in that session was Penang Asam Laksa, which I used to sell as an occasional special at my restaurant. And one of the ingredients in my asam laksa recipe was tamarind concentrate. I used to buy this in bulk for my restaurant – a specific version from Thailand.

The food brand offered their version of tamarind concentrate and the students in my class used it like-for-like in the recipe. As it turned out, their tamarind was much more concentrated than what I usually used, so everyone’s asam laksa ended up too sour. We tried to fix it with mixed success. And yes, I take full responsibility for the stuff-up.

The point of this story is not to say that any particular brand of an Asian ingredient is superior to another, but rather that if you’re going to be following my recipes, developed by me (unlike, ahem, in the case of some bestselling cookbook authors), you need to be on the same page as me when working out exactly what iteration of an ingredient I’m talking about.

This is why I created a really basic PDF called the Malaysian Pantry Decoder – I compiled it for participants of my Malaysian Hawker Pro coaching programme so they knew what to look for when shopping for ingredients for the six restaurant-level dishes they would be tackling in the programme.

Then I figured everyone else who follows my recipes (which I’ve been sharing online for 15+ years) could benefit from it as well, so if you want to grab your copy, you can do so here – Malaysian Pantry Decoder.

It’s meant to give you a visual guide to the types of ingredients I commonly use, along with the brands I prefer (in some, not all cases) – since if you’re Asian you’ll know that no two soya sauces or oyster sauces are identical.

So next time you attempt my recipes here on my website and on YouTube etc., you can use it as a point of reference, and not blame me if your asam laksa is too sour or not sour enough.

If nothing else, it might open your eyes to the possibilities next time you visit an Asian grocery store (esp. the freezer section) for ingredients you might not have considered using in Malaysian cooking.

I’m going to dive further into some of these ingredient/brand choices in follow-up emails I send to my list, so you can make sense of why I use them as opposed to other stuff that might be more “conventional”.

By the way, if you’ve been sitting on the sidelines re: Malaysian Hawker Pro, where you get to master 6 dishes from my restaurant menu with personal virtual coaching from me, I’m gearing up for my next intake. If you want to skip the queue (because the price will be going up), drop me a line I’ll send you the details along with the current pricing.

Jackie M.

Photo from our Grace Hotel cooking class – and by the way, I know it was twelve and a half years ago because Noah was seven months old and still in Westmead Hospital, getting ready to finally come home after multiple operations etc.

The post Malaysian Pantry Decoder first appeared on Jackie M..

I ended up closing my restaurant soon after that to look after my disabled child Noah.  (FYI anytime I mention Noah it is to give some context re: why I no longer own a restaurant, so people don’t mistakenly think I’m a failed business owner; I’m not fishing for sympathy about Noah’s situation.)

Anyway, not operating a restaurant meant I had the opportunity to travel back to Malaysia regularly and collaborate with local chefs and hawkers. I learned A LOT about how things are done there, but I also realised that what I had taught myself and implemented in Sydney re: Malaysian hawker cooking actually held up pretty well (with the usual caveats re: ingredient availability this side of the world, etc).

I’m now finally ready to dedicate 100% of my attention and effort into helping motivated cooks online to master Malaysian hawker cooking.

This is the kind of person I’m looking to work with:

1. You’re comfortable handling food and you know your way around the kitchen
2. You love Malaysian hawker food, but you feel stuck when it comes to cooking it
3. You’re willing to expand your comfort levels (in a supported way) in order to test and master Malaysian hawker cooking
4. You’re friendly and coachable and have ~4 hours per week for 12 weeks to devote to this (most of it in your own time)
5. You might have even attended culinary school and found there’s a frustrating knowledge gap there when it comes to Malaysian/Singaporean hawker cuisine

If this sounds like you, go ahead and check out the full details at Malaysian Hawker Pro.

Let me know if you’re IN and I’ll get you set up.

PS this has taken much longer to get going than I had anticipated because a bunch of projects ended up on my lap (Masters of Malaysian Cuisine, The Durian Cookbook etc.).

The post Mastering Malaysian Hawker Cooking with Jackie M. first appeared on Jackie M..

Melaka-born Nyonya cuisine expert and Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) chef Debbie Teoh demonstrated how to make Satay Celup sauce in the first episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia (her segment kicks in at the 9-minute mark)

–

Here’s Debbie’s Satay Celup recipe from the show:

Satay Celup

INGREDIENTS:

1⁄2 cup cooking oil
Spice Paste:
2 stalks lemongrass, thinly sliced
8 shallots, sliced
80 g galangal, thinly sliced
15 g dried chillies, soaked in hot water till soft
20 g candlenuts
3⁄4 Tbsp coriander seeds, pre-toasted
1⁄2 Tbsp fennel, pre-,oasted
25 g garlic, sliced
2 chicken carcasses (or pork bones), chopped
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
50 g Gula Melaka (or brown sugar), to taste
1⁄2 Tbsp salt, to taste
150 – 200 g peanuts, fried & ground coarsely
Recommended Dipping Options:
300 g meat (beef/chicken/pork), sliced into 4cm
rectangles
500 g medium sized prawns, peeled
400 g squid, cleaned & cut into 4cm squares
350 g brown squid, cleaned & cut into 4cm squares
10 pcs tofu puffs, halved & filled with a slice of
cucumber then skewered
250 g Meatballs
250 g fish balls
1 packet deep fried bean curd slices
Some “yong tau foo” like stuffed chilly, bitter gourd
200 g cockles
20 pcs hardboiled quails eggs, peeled
200 g vegetable balls
1 packet fresh brown mushroom
1 packet young corn, cut into 3cm lengths
1⁄2 loaf Hainanese bread, cut into 2.5cm squares
2 cucumber, quartered & sliced
Deep-fried Chinese crullers “yau char kwai”
Bamboo skewers

METHOD:

1. Place the chicken carcasses and crushed peppercorns in a large pot, then cover with 2.5 litres water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or till it reduces down by a third.
2. Strain the stock & set aside. Alternatively, use chicken stock granules and add water.
3. Using an electric blender, finely blend the spice paste ingredients. Heat oil in a wok sauté spice paste until fragrant, stirring continuously.
4. Add the stock and gula Melaka, then add salt & ground peanuts to taste. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, then check for seasoning.
5. To serve, lay out a select of meat/vegetables to cook in the gravy. Keep the gravy on a simmer, stirring
   occasionally to prevent the gravy scorching at the bottom of the pot.
6. Using bamboo skewers, place the meat/vegetables into the gravy to cook through.
7. Serve with some Chinese bread, “yau char kwai” & freshly cut cucumber for dipping into the Satay Celup gravy.

Don’t miss any of the recipes by yours truly and by my Masters of Malaysian Cuisine chefs; sign up to my mailing list here and I’ll send the PDFs to you directly along with our latest news etc. >>

The post How To Cook Satay Celup by Debbie Teoh (Street Food Journeys S1E1: Melaka) first appeared on Jackie M..

Johor is highly-regarded among Malaysians and Singaporeans as a foodie destination, so much so that Singaporeans regularly travel across the border into Malaysia just to eat a meal in this, the southernmost state of the peninsular of Malaysia. In this episode of Street Food Journeys: Malaysia, we explore Johor through the lens of its food.

Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eB2JJz7sZE 

Tourism Malaysia Culinary Ambassador and Masters of Malaysian Cuisine At Heart chef, Dato’ Ismail Ahmad, showed us how to make Laksa Johor. Laksa Johor is unique in part because it uses spaghetti (incidentally it was the subject of the recent “Laksa Wars” on Malaysia’s social media where netizens debated the merits of the different versions of laksa in Malaysia).

My experience of Mee Rebus (literally, boiled noodles) from my years growing up in Seremban, is quite different to what is known as Mee Rebus in Johor. The version I knew was mindblowingly spicy and completely savoury (unlike the Johor version which is noticeably sweet). It also came with a light yellow (not orange) sauce, and it was vegetarian.

I had to look up the Johor recipe before attempting it in my cooking segment – interestingly my research yielded a number of markedly different versions, so I picked elements from a couple of different recipes to produce mine. I was grateful to have Masters of Malaysian Cuisine’s Michelin-trained chef Rene Juefri on hand to discuss these variations afterwards.

Rene spent a large amount of time during his childhood in Johor, so he was well-positioned to speak about the cuisine. The Mee Rebus Johor I made turned out very flavoursome and it reminded me somewhat of Mee Rojak which is a version of Indian Rojak (salad with a spicy sweet potato sauce) that’s served with egg noodles.

YouTube and TikTok star Mark O’Dea made his first appearance in Street Food Journeys (you’ll be seeing more of him in future episodes), and he discussed his experience of Johor with MOMC’s Vegan Chef Dave, who was born and raised in the state.

We also interviewed Kelab Alami co-founder Serina Rahman about the Sea Warriors Market which was founded to help local fishermen to make more money for their catch. Other regulars in this episode were The JetLag Warriors, Malaysian tour guide Shaukani Abbas, and MOMC Chef, Bob Adnin.

Don’t forget to sign up at https://MalaysianChefs.com/StreetFoodJourneys if you want the recipes from our cooking sessions, along with the bonus content we couldn’t fit into the episode.

The post Johor: Laksa Johor, Mee Rebus, Places To Visit & Things To Do first appeared on Jackie M..

MEDIA RELEASE

16 April 2021

Tourism Malaysia Australia Partners with Jackie M for Street Food Journeys: Malaysia

Tourism Malaysia Australia is delighted to partner with Malaysian-born, Sydney-based hawker food expert Jackie M. to produce an 8-part video series titled Street Food Journeys: Malaysia.

Each 20-minute episode covers a different Malaysian state, with a focus on its famous hawker dishes. The viewer is then transported to the kitchen where Jackie M and her celebrity chef friends from Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC) demonstrate how to recreate these dishes at home using locally-available ingredients.

“I’m excited at the opportunity to celebrate Malaysia’s hawker offerings and to honour the people behind the food”, says the show’s host and producer Jackie M, whose own parents used to sell street food back in her hometown of Seremban. 

She continues,“Covid-19 means we have to wait a little longer before we can travel again, but this series gives everyone a chance to virtually explore Malaysia’s diverse street food offerings and use it to inform their future travel plans to Malaysia.” 

Co-producer Paul Gray says, “This is a culinary travel show with a difference, in that you get to learn how to make the dishes we’ll be showcasing, from some of the top Malaysian chefs in the world”.

Apart from the MOMC chefs, the series will also feature Kuala Lumpur-based YouTube and TikTok star Mark O’Dea, and multi-award winning Malaysian tour guide Shaukani Abbas.

The series airs on multiple platforms and channels online starting 2 May 2021, with a new episode to be released every Sunday evening at 9pm AEST:

Episode 1: Melaka

Episode 2: Johor

Episode 3: Pahang

Episode 4: Perak

Episode 5: Terengganu

Episode 6: Penang

Episode 7: Kedah

Episode 8: Sarawak

For more details, contact:

Jackie M.

Ph: +61 (0) 425 797 718

E: jackie@jackiem.com.au

The post Tourism Malaysia Australia Partners with Jackie M for Street Food Journeys: Malaysia first appeared on Jackie M..

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 19 June 2020

MASTERS OF MALAYSIAN CUISINE JOIN FORCES TO PROMOTE MALAYSIAN FOOD TO THE WORLD VIA LIVE COOKING VIDEOS

On 27 June, a coalition of eight Malaysian cuisine masters based in different countries around the world will begin a series of monthly Live cooking videos to showcase Malaysian flavours to a global audience.  

This initiative in partnership with Tourism Malaysia is the first campaign of its kind, and it’s aimed at inspiring people to cook restaurant-quality Malaysian and Malaysian-inspired dishes in their home kitchen.

Experience has shown that despite the popularity of Malaysian food among those who have tried it, most people find it difficult to navigate the ingredients and cooking techniques involved in producing quality Malaysian meals at home. 

These live videos which will run for 7 consecutive days with a different chef scheduled each day, will aim to make cooking Malaysian food fun, easy and accessible for all cooks regardless of skill level or where they’re located.

Each of the chefs in Masters Of Malaysian Cuisine brings a different approach and specialty to the mix, and viewers are encouraged to tune in to every session so they benefit from the combined knowledge of these giants of their respective niches.

Street food expert and Masters of Malaysian Cuisine member Jackie M believes that awareness and education coupled with a big dose of entertainment is the best way to encourage people to introduce Malaysian flavours into the kitchen.

“Food brings people together, and Malaysian food, with its unique mix of influences from the different ethnic groups in Malaysia, is a perfect example of how our different racial and cultural backgrounds can result in a cuisine that’s unparalleled in its variety and depth. We are so obsessed with our food that we greet each other by asking if we have eaten!”

The eight Masters Of Malaysian Cuisine are a mix of some of the world’s best known names in Malaysian cuisine along with some hot new talents:

Chef Johari Edrus MasterChef Malaysia Judge | Restaurateur – Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Chef Norman Musa Award Winning Chef | Author |Tutor | TV Host – The Hague, The Netherlands

Jackie M. Restaurateur | TV Presenter | Street Food Coach – Sydney, Australia

Zaleha Olpin MasterChef UK | Author – Bristol, United Kingdom

Pearly Kee Award Winning Nyonya Cook – Penang, Malaysia

Chef Rene Juefri 5-star Hotel Executive Chef – Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Nora Haron Chef Owner – Local Kitchen, Nora Haron & FYUB San Francisco, USA

Chef Dave Murugaya Vegan Chef | YouTube Viral Sensation Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Viewers are encouraged to sign up so they get notified when the events start; those who do will receive a special eBook collection of 8 recipes from the Masters of Malaysian Cuisine chefs.

To sign up, visit >> https://www.malaysianchefs.com/jointoday << 

Ends

For more information or interviews with Jackie M and the Masters of Malaysian Cuisine chefs contact:

Jackie M, Food Fame Founder | M: +61 (0) 425 797 718 | E: jackie@jackiem.com.au

The post MASTERS OF MALAYSIAN CUISINE JOIN FORCES TO PROMOTE MALAYSIAN FOOD TO THE WORLD first appeared on Jackie M..

• Truly Malaysian Street Food At Home
• Truly Malaysian Breakfasts

Check out the video to see what they look like >>

And all you have to pay is the cost of the USB drive to be shipped out to you. I must admit I’m very conflicted about this because it requires me to spend a decent amount of time copying the files, packing the product and going to the post office, and if you’re overseas, filling out tedious customs declaration forms. (Don’t even get me started on the close call I had with getting ripped off by a scam artist when I tried to source these USB drives from China.)

The point being, grab this offer before I change my mind!

GET THIS OFFER NOW

Some of you have asked whether you can just get the online version (ie. to save me the hassle of mailing the product); yes you can (though everyone who buys the USB drive also automatically gets to access these books online as well). So if you only want the online version, here’s the link >> GET JACKIE’S COOKBOOKS ONLINE

Others have asked where they can buy the physical cookbooks; I have a limited number of Truly Malaysian Street Food At Home available, which you can buy as a discounted “upgrade” in both links above, or if you just want the physical cookbook and not the online version, you can get it at my estore >> BUY HARDCOPY VERSION ONLY.

Just a reminder, the eBook version is a recent update but the hardcopy is the original, non-updated version.

There is no hardcopy version of Truly Malaysian Breakfasts available, since that was only ever published as a paid iPad App.

Now I’m exhausted explaining all the above (which were questions that came up over the last few days since I posted the offer on social media), but hit me up if you need any more clarification.

But yes, get your USB drive now before I decide to pull the offer

Jackie M.

Finally, if you’re looking to learn how to cook Malaysian and Singaporean Street Food to an expert level, have you considered hiring me as your coach online? JOIN MY LIST TO LEARN MORE

The post My Malaysian Cookbooks Free For A Limited Time Only first appeared on Jackie M..

I had the privilege of meeting Chef Johari Edrus during my last trip to Kuala Lumpur, and I was intrigued  by the concept of his restaurant, Symphony By Chef Jo, located in Damansara City Mall. The cuisine is “eclectic”, meaning it derives ideas, styles, and tastes from a broad and diverse range of sources.

The oxtail asam pedas he shares here is an example of how the classically-trained Chef Jo uses the traditional flavours of asam pedas (literally, “sour/spicy”) – a popular Malay dish from the southern states of the Malaysian peninsula – in an oxtail stew, and serves it up with pasta.

Here’s the video showing how Chef Jo prepares the latter part of the dish as we talk about his professional experience –

This recipe for Oxtail Asam Pedas is courtesy of Symphony By Chef Jo; as with all the Wok Around Asia recipes, it is presented in its original form (hence why the units of measure might differ from my own) –

Oxtail Asam Pedas Pasta

INGREDIENTS:

0.25 pc bunga kantan (torch ginger flower)

4 to 5 pcs daun kesom (Vietnamese mint)

30 g ginger

50 g red onion

30 g garlic

5 g shrimp paste / belacan

30 g dried chilli (boil, then blend into a paste)

50 g tamarind paste

100 ml brown sauce 100g/LTR water

60 g tomato concasse

2 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP butter

400 gm oxtail (braised in seasoned stock)

85.00 gm egg pasta, pappardelle (or pasta of your choice)

METHOD:

1. Boil the pasta in boiling salted water for 7 to 11 mins – 7 minutes is the best for an ‘al-dente’ texture. Keep aside for later use.
2. For the sauce, start by blending all bunga kantan, daun kesom, ginger, red onion, garlic, dried chilli and roasted shrimp paste in a food processor. Then sauté them in hot oil until fragrant.
3. Add in tomato concasse, tamarind paste and brown sauce. Let boil, then simmer. Adjust seasoning with salt & sugar. You may add more tamarind juice to taste.
4. When the sauce is ready, add in the braised (in-advance) oxtail. Let it continue to simmer.
5. Toss in the blanched pasta. Add cold butter to monte the sauce.
6. Dish out & serve.

My Wok Around Asia Kuala Lumpur project is made possible through the support of the following >>

The post How to Cook Oxtail Asam Pedas first appeared on Jackie M..