When I first came to Australia in 1984 I watched an Australian TV chef misconvey how to handle a basic Asian ingredient (rice vermicelli) on breakfast television. It made me so angry I swore off watching cooking shows, and the passage of time hasn’t really repaired my cynicism about TV chefs (I’ve never even watched my own cooking segments on TV).   All this is to say that I don’t have my finger on the pulse of who’s who in “celebrity chefdom”. However, there’s one name I do recognise – Martin Yan.  That is because Martin Yan predates my disillusionment with TV chefs; in fact ..read more

I’d always assumed high-powered gas stoves were my only option if I wanted to – 1) use my round-bottom traditional Chinese woks 2) generate good “wok hei”. That was before I met Kenneth Lim, the owner of Omnomnom Food Truck in Perth. Kenneth convinced old-school (behind-the-times?) me that chefs in China have long ago adopted concave induction stoves and that they can generate as much wok hei as any high-pressure gas stove I’ve ever used. So, after checking out my options online, I went ahead and bought the most powerful one I could find, that was also cheap enough (I paid AUD$195 for a 3500W ..read more

Plus – A Case Study Using My Easy Prawn and Pineapple Curry Recipe If you’re a Thermomix TM6 owner you’re likely familiar with Cookidoo – a platform where you can pick and choose out of thousands of recipes. You select what you want to cook, and it guides you step-by-step with preset temperatures, times and speeds.  But if you’re a Malaysian food enthusiast like me,  you might notice that many Malaysian recipes have yet to find their way onto the platform.  I have some 400 recipes on this website which I’m working on adapting for the Thermomix, but in the interim, one of my Mala ..read more

So, last week, one of my online students threw me a curveball — could I demonstrate how to use a Thermomix to cook non-Thermomix-specific recipes? Now, I have some 400 recipes on my website (the one and only jackiem.com.au) but most of them weren’t written for a Thermomix audience. I figured, why go back to the drawing board and reconstruct my previously-published “Easy Prawn and Pineapple Curry” recipe from scratch? Why not see if the much-hyped revolutionary A.I. tool ChatGPT can help, and do it all Live On Air? Maybe it’ll pull up rubbish (which it’s been known to do) and we can all have ..read more

Curious about whether I still do markets post-Covid lockdowns? The short answer is, yes I do. But before I get into what markets you can find me at, and what I now sell, here’s a bit of an update since I last published about my in-person (IRL) activities back in early 2020 (check it out here >> https://jackiem.com.au/2020/03/10/concord-hospital-markets-coronavirus-notice/) So yes, Covid-19 meant that Concord Hospital Market, which I used to attend weekly, had to shut down in March 2020. It didn’t resume for two and a half years, during which I’d gotten rid of most of my gear (including ..read more

How to Cook Laksa Sarang Perak, Easy Curry Mee and Vegan Laksam Laksa Sarang by Chef Amin at Mu Hotel, Ipoh Laksa Sarang (literally, bird’s nest laksa) refers to the egg that’s beaten, then poured in a thin stream into hot oil to create a nest-like effect. It’s served on top of the laksa, which adds a beautiful crispy texture and rich flavour to what would be recognised as a sour fish-based (asam) laksa. Chef Amin, the head chef of Mu Hotel in Ipoh, Perak, demonstrated how to make Laksa Sarang in this episode of Street Food Journeys: Laksas of Malaysia, and provided his insights into how to ..read more

How to Cook Laksa Sarawak, Laksa Goreng, Laksa Kedah and Easy Laksa Nyonya Melaka In the third of our four-episode web series, Laksas of Malaysia, we were thrilled to be invited by Datin Suraya Kusaidi, a friend of Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC)’s Mazna Merten, to film a segment on Laksa Sarawak. Most Laksa Sarawak recipes do not disclose how to make the laksa paste from scratch, but Datin Suraya, who’s originally from Sarawak, was happy to share her own family’s recipe for what the late Anthony Bourdain once described as the “breakfast of the gods”.   Laksa Sarawak by Datin S ..read more

How to Cook Laksa Terengganu, Laksa Melaka, Laksam, and Laksa Lipat Gulung   In this episode of Street Food Journeys, we travelled to Terengganu Cultural Village courtesy of Tourism Terengganu, to learn how to make Laksa Terengganu (two versions – white and red). The beautiful backdrop of the Terengganu Cultural Village (photo courtesy of Rosita Heilek) We saw how the laksa noodles were made using a traditional giant mould suspended over a cauldron of boiling water.  Yours truly having a go at making laksa noodles the traditional way Then, we were joined by local expert Gay ..read more

Most Australians who know laksa think “curry laksa” when asked to describe it. There’s no shame in this – curry laksa is essentially the laksa I grew up eating myself, in my part of Malaysia (Seremban, 40 miles south of KL).  What many don’t realise is that among Malaysians, laksa means something completely different depending on which part of the country you grew up in. The most obvious example is Penang Asam Laksa, the sour broth made using fish and served with fresh herbs such as daun kesum (Vietnamese mint), shredded cucumber, torch ginger bud and pineapple, and topped with a gooey ..read more

MEDIA RELEASE 26 August 2022 Street Food Journeys Returns With Series 4 & 5 Filmed In Malaysia Tourism Malaysia’s Street Food Journeys is back with two new series, Laksas of Malaysia and Malaysia: Melting Pot of Asia, to once again showcase Malaysia’s culinary diversity through the lens of Sydney-based former restaurateur Jackie M. and her team of elite chefs from Masters of Malaysian Cuisine (MOMC). Masters of Malaysian Cuisine chefs Johari Edrus, Zaleha Olpin, Jackie M, Rene Juefri and Bob Adnin. Not pictured – Debbie Teoh, Dave Murugaya and Dato’ Ismail Ahmad Produced by Jackie M an ..read more