Stories and recipes from a Malaysian home kitchen
I’ve passed D North Star ‘s unassuming frontage a million times but never bothered to check the restaurant out, because our goal is to withdraw money from Maybank Canning Garden Ipoh next door. Zip and go. A few weeks ago when I was by myself, I felt a sudden stab of curiosity and went in….
Read More “Nyonya & Hainanese Comfort Food at D North Star, Ipoh” »
I’ve been curious about Jason Nyonya House for a while. We must have passed it at least half a dozen times because it’s near my husband’s nanny’s house. However, we never really got round to trying it out as Nanny always cooks for us. Then a few weeks ago, a most serendipitous incident led us…
Read More “Home-style Nyonya Cooking at Jason Nyonya House, Penang” »
This delicious gulai labu is the combination of two brains – a friend, and my mum’s! How did that happen? Well, it all started when Madam R gifted us her gulai labu to eat for dinner a few days before Eid. Food gifting has become common during the COVID19 pandemic era, as a way of…
I just realized I’ve never featured a dessert recipe in this website, so what better way than to start with one of my favourites: pengat pisang! What’s pengat, you ask? It’s a popular Malaysian dessert prepared by simmering together sugar, water, santan (coconut milk) and one key starchy ingredient (usually). We usually enjoy it for…
When I feel under the weather, I automatically think of ABC soup, the comfort food of many a Malaysian Chinese household. More so during this COVID pandemic period, when we should keep our immune systems as strong as possible. While some turn to supplements, I am focusing on using nutritious, immune system boosting ingredients that…
Sometimes called noodle salad, kerabu beehoon is a Nyonya dish of rice vermicelli and lots of fresh herbs and aromatics, tossed with a spicy sauce and zesty lime juice. Colourful and refreshing, it’s a delicious representation of Malaysia’s diverse culinary culture. While I’ve eaten this many times before, it took a weekend getaway at EQ…
Does this braised fish head with dried beancurd (fuchuk) look appetising or gruesome to you? 🙂 It definitely makes my mouth water. This dish is my father’s invention – well sort of. Years ago, while he was buying groceries at the local market, he saw a particularly fresh looking piece of fish head. Being a…
If you’ve attended a Malaysian national school, you would have fond memories of mee goreng makcik kantin. Or as some of us call it, mee kosong. Because this type of fried noodles was really, literally “kosong” (empty): hardly any vegetables, no meat to speak of, not even egg, the cheapest of proteins. But somehow the…
Next to kai si hor fun, wat tan hor must be the most popular noodle dish in Ipoh. I’ve never received so many responses to my Instastories until I posted a picture of the wat tan hor I made last Friday! A rich eggy sauce poured over wok-charred rice noodles loaded with vegetables and…
How do you prevent fried beehoon from sticking to the wok? Ask any cook and that is probably their no 1 pet peeve when cooking fried beehoon, a simple and most delicious dish. Washing the wok after frying, however, is a pain of epic proportions. I usually soak the wok in hot water to “lift”…
I’ve known Danny Boh, the contributor of this otak-otak recipe, for a long time. Nearly 20 years in fact. We go way back to the days when I joined Dell Penang as a fresh graduate and Danny was a sales manager in another department. Sure we said hello once in a while. But life…
Every Ipohite has their favourite kai si hor fun stall. Mine is Canning Garden’s Little Katong, a relative newcomer compared to the old stalwarts in other parts of Ipoh. I prefer this version because the soup is rich and flavourful without being overly sweet. For the uninitiated, kai si hor fun stands for shredded chicken…
Before I dive into the mechanics of making braised turmeric chicken, allow me to digress a little. When I started sharing recipes on social media, I didn’t expect it to become such a rich learning resource, thanks to friends who comment. The recipe for this braised turmeric chicken is inspired by a FB post about…
First of all, thank you so much, Chef Francis Cheah, for being the first guest contributor of Cook with Ipohbunny. He shares with us his recipe for creamy pepper prawns, which I’m sure all of you will love for its simple preparation and gorgeous flavours 🙂 I’ve been a fan of Chef Francis for a…
Growing up in Ipoh, I got to know claypot chicken rice at a very young age. I still remember where I ate it: a roadside stall in Hugh Low Street. The uncle and aunty would monitor multiple claypots on stoves like hawks, holding fans to control the flame and lifting the lids occasionally to check…
