Fresh Bamboo shoots are swet and rich in dietary fibre, also helps  to reduce bad cholesterol – a natural and healthy option to weight reduction. Preparation of these tender delicacies is special ; cut open and peel off hard skin, cut clean bamboo shoots into slices, and pour enough water cover bamboo shoots. Cover pot and bring to boil before turning off the flame and letting cool. Do not open cover of the cover for ½ an hour. so that any natural bitterness can be removed. Rinse with clean water before cooking. Bamboo shoots are a favourite for many people in Taiwan, China and Singapore. My family loves bamboo shoot chicken; bamboo shoots cooked with chicken into a stew-like dish.

This caramel cake is very popular in many parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. It’s commonly called honeycomb cake – in Malay it is called Kueh Sarang Semut, which roughly translates as ant’s nest cake. The colouration of the cake depends on how much you caramelized the sugar. The texture is a little chewy, not not overly so. The process of making it is not as difficult as Indonesian bika-ambom and Chinese bak-tong-koh, which needs hours of fermentation, but it does require some skill to get just right. The ingredients and baking method are quite different to western cakes. Some people just use all purpose flour, some people use sago flour or even tapioca flour. The main reason I favour this recipe is because it’s a more traditional cake that doesn’t require the use of coconut milk (which is very high in cholesterol), and little butter. It also allows good control of the cake’s colour.

Where the Americans have buffalo wings, there’s also a local variant of this spicy treat as well. Chicken wings are always a favourite snack, and sometimes here we chicken in salt, pepper and flour. After the flour bath, dip the wings into hot oil and fry till nicely browned. Goes perfect with a hot chili sauce (or any other sauce of your choice, for that matter). Personally I like to cut my chicken wings into smaller pieces and season with mixture of black pepper, chilli powder, garlic powder, onion powder,  sea salt, plain flour and rice flour for few hours. Then fry in hot oil, it’s easier to cook through to the bone and makes the chicken taste better.

Cha siew sou is a type of savoury Chinese pastry, with a stuffing of barbecued pork. It’s commonly served at places selling dim sum. The pastry is a little flaky and melts in your mouth. Since it’s made with pork lard, it’s also very fragrant. When I make cha siew sou, I like to cook my own lard, somehow I just find it nicer that way. First, boil the pork fat for 10mins before rinsing with cold water, simmer to get  nice clear lard. Then knead the hot lard into the flour to make an oily dough, and work another part of water dough. Mixing and folding the water dough and oil dough is a special art, to make the pastry flaky with layers. Match that with awesome home-cooked char siew before baking into golden delicious cha siew sou.

Bell peppers or capsicums are a kind of vegetable high in vitamin C. Although they can be cooked in a variety of ways, Bell peppers retain the most nutritional value when eaten raw. Personally, I like to stuff my bell peppers with mushroom white sauce, onions, bacon, minced pork/ chicken, with a little salt, pepper and herbs to taste. I then grill them till the stuffing is hot and the peppers soften slightly.

Chicken pie is a very common type of savoury pastry, usually with a filling of potato, chicken, and peas/beans. How the filling is proportioned may vary, and it’s really up to individual liking. I like to use my own white sauce as a base, with mushrooms, vegetables, and generous amounts of chicken chunks filled into a dainty pastry.

I hand make the crust, it’s really easy – Butter, flour and ice-water, will give you the perfect crispy (and not crumby) crust. I even made my chicken pies into the shape of little piggies (even though the stuffing is chicken).

Breadfruit is rich in fiber, a potato like fruit. Breadfruit is very common in Hawaii, it is an important staple food in the pacific region, also found in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, where it is called sukun. Ripe fruit have yellow or yellow-brown skin and soft, sweet, creamy flesh that can be eaten raw or cooked.  For a short period of time, just wrap unripe breadfruit in newspaper and keep it in a cool and dark place until needed.

In Sarawak, the breadfruit is commonly dipped in batter and deep fried like banana fritters (goreng pisang). It is also steamed and drizzled with butter and syrup. Hawaiians like to use cooked bread fruit lightly mashed and mixed with sliced onion, minced meat or prawn, and egg, then pan fried like hash-browns. It also can be cooked into curries or stews. In Indonesia you can find bread fruit like potato chips, perfect to go with a cool beer.

Laksa comes in a few flavors and varieties, but to me the nicest is Sarawak laksa, which I often got as a child in my hometown. All of my family loves it too, even though we’ve moved all over the world. Anyway, I decided that since it tasted so good, why not try to use it as a flavoring to make a savory scone? I used Sarawak laksa paste, added some chicken meat and prawns – it’s just like eating laksa, without the gravy. Just as fragrant.

River eel meat is generally oilier than that of many fish, while the sea eel also has the added benefits of DHA and EPA. Most times people remove the head and center bone of the eel, as well as its blood, when they are preparing the meat. Grilled eel is a commonly encountered in Japanese and Chinese  cuisine, seasoned with a mixture of brown sugar, dark sauce, light sauce and ginger wine before grilling. It smells heavenly when being grilled, and tastes both sweet and savory at the same time – a most fragrant dish.

Kimchi is one of the cornerstones in Korean food. It’s almost certainly found at any korean meal, either as part of the main dish or served as a side accompaniment. Health Magazine claim Kimchi as one of the five of the  world’s healthiest food, being rich in vitamins as well as aids digestion. It is a high-fiber, low-fat food.

The basic and most often encountered Kimchi is cabbage with a mixture of ginger, garlic, salt, sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, and chili peppers. It can served either alone or mixed with rice or noodles. And, also is used in everything from soups to pancakes, and even as a topping on pizza.

Instead of just seasoning with salt water, I like to scald my Kimchi with boiling water, scatter salt and leave to drip of water, before I mix in my seasoning. I findd this method leaves the cabbage more crisp.