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
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 Vegan Kaya II
May 22, 2019 by
This was my second attempt at a vegan version of Kaya; the first time around, I used mashed taro (=> https://jackiem.com.au/2017/02/23/make-vegan-kaya-onde-onde/ ), which basically tasted like sweetened mashed taro. Nice, but you're not fooling anyone who has any inkling of what kaya is like. This new recipe is adapted from one I found at » Read More
How to Make Egg Noodles II
February 14, 2019 by
During a recent Live Asian Kitchen broadcast on Twitch, I decided to experiment with a couple of different variations of homemade egg noodle recipes and techniques. I made 2 batches of dough - one using my regular Hakka pan mee recipe (ratio of 1 egg : 1 kg plain flour), kneaded in a machine mixer one using 4 eggs : 500g plain flour, » Read More
How to Make Hainanese Roast Chicken Rice
January 8, 2019 by
I prefer my Hainanese Chicken Rice with roast rather than “white” chicken, though my recipe actually calls for it to be deep-fried, since it produces a crispier skin (it’s a personal preference, folks, I know that’s not how most people make it). Here’s my take on Hainanese “roast” chicken rice; I’ll post a new update down the track, especially if I » Read More
How to Cook Khmer-Style Grilled Squid
December 3, 2018 by
This Khmer-style squid recipe was inspired by the Sihanoukville Cuttlefish at Courtyard by Marriott Siem Reap’s Lok Lak Restaurant. (That recipe, courtesy of Chef Chanrith Van, can be found here >> https://jackiem.com.au/2018/10/30/how-to-cook-sihanoukville-cuttlefish/). I figured I’d have a go at making it using frozen squid tubes, which » Read More
How to Make Kanom Krok – Thai Coconut Cakes
November 20, 2018 by
I had never eaten kanom krok (aka Thai coconut cakes or Thai coconut custard) when I attempted to make it during a recent Live Asian Kitchen broadcast. Without a frame of reference as to how it should taste, I found both the recipe I used and the final outcome somewhat perplexing. First of all, it produced a gooey topping that had no chance of » Read More
How to Cook Yee Mein Noodles with Garlic Butter Sauce
November 5, 2018 by
I recently had some crab yee mein noodles at The Good Kitchen restaurant in Hurstville, and they were so memorable I decided to attempt making the dish during my Live Asian Kitchen broadcast (but with prawns due to budget constraints). The noodles were served up with a butter and garlic sauce, and I was told that the secret was to add a small » Read More
How to Make Shanghai-Style Pancakes
November 5, 2018 by
I remember Shanghai red bean paste-filled pancakes being a staple on the sweets trolley at yum cha back in the day, but I have to admit that I haven’t really seen them around in recent years. The good news is that they’re actually pretty easy to make, and apart from red bean paste, all you really need are flour and eggs, and oil for frying. I used » Read More