In February this year, we made our very first trip to Tamil Nadu. We were mainly in Karaikudi, an area known as the land of the Chettiars – Chettinad. Chettiars are a mercantile community who made their wealth overseas in the early to mid-twentieth century and returned to their ancestral homeland to build palatial homes….
Spiced Skillet Roast Chicken
It was our second holiday as a couple. We’d intended to celebrate Christmas away from the crowds and so we decided to have a simple meal in our serviced apartment. I’d never cooked for him before and had no idea what we were going to cook together. A short walk to a supermarket in Bukit…
Everyday Egg Masala
If you haven’t heard, eggs have taken over the Instagram world. Tags like #yolkporn and #eggporn and open face sandwiches with molten yolk centres have invaded social media. The simple reason why eggs have become the superstars of the food instagramers is that they’re easily available, cheap, nutritious and beautiful to look at. I love…
Ayam Kalio (Lazy Man’s Chicken Rendang)
A quick internet search for ‘rendang’ will yield several thousands of recipes for rendang as this is a much loved dish in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Ancient maritime trade and shared histories have ensured that this dish crossed over from its West Sumatran origins to Malaysia and Singapore. It is not known when this dish…
Ultimate Seafood Pilaf
Aromatic basmati rice infused with a rich prawn stock and a vivacious scent of ceylon cinnamon, cloves and green cardamom all swaddle this luxurious take on a simple, mildly spiced pilaf. A pilaf is completely different from a biryani. The pilaf is a lightly spiced rice dish that is usually accompanied by gravy and other side…
Rich Prawn Stock
A simple way to add a natural umami boost to your cooking is to make your own stock. So much of basic, good cooking is about the extraction, distillation and concentration of ingredients’ flavours. As such, I have never understood the allure of cooked, frozen prawns or deshelled prawns as all the…
Lamb Bhuna
In many non-vegetarian households, a lamb or goat dish is often found amongst a plethora of other decadent dishes on Deepavalli day. My family usually ate vegetarian breakfasts before heading out to the temple and in the evenings when we had guests over, we almost always had a lamb or goat curry with idli (steam…
Photoessay: Temples and ruins in Siem Reap
This will be a very quick post of mostly photos I’d taken during our trip to Siem Reap last July (!!!) We took 3-4 full days to see the some of the ancient temples of Angkor on our own. We read up on the ruins using Micheal Freeman’s and Claude Jacques’ Ancient Angkor before each…
Crispy Malaysian Pancakes (Crispy Apam Balik)
The mere mention of Apam Balik (Malay) or Min Chiang Kueh (Mandarin) evokes a sense of nostalgia in many Singaporeans and Malaysians. So adored and relished is this childhood tea time treat that there are variations of this versatile pancake all across South East Asia – a namesake fluffier, yeasted version and Murtabak Manis…
Spicy Fish Head Curry
Look away if you’re squeamish about heads, eyes and odd food bits … Welcome to the delicious world of the tender, flakey flesh of a gorgeous fish head. Fish Head?! Let’s pause for a second and consider this – What do you think happens to the heads of the filleted fish in your supermarket aisles?…
Monsoon Table 