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A
Cookbook For All Season(ing)s
When
you are young and learning about food preparation, "a cook is not a
cook without a cookbook". Sometimes it's actually a book, sometimes
it's you learning off your Mum, or by observation if you are lucky
enough to live somewhere where food is regularly prepared in front of
you.
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Even though
I now live in Spain, I grew up in the tropics, in Malaysia,
where good food rules.
On every
street corner
you'll find gems of delicious hawker-food, 24/7.
When you
come to
Malaysia, you might have ideas that Malaysian street-hawkers never
sleep? .. hmmm..
Fantastic
food is so readily available and many
more types and dishes than can be counted, hawker-complexes,
restaurants, street-side vendors, seafood villages, Mom+Pop cafes, the
'roti'-man on his beat-up scooter carrying fresh breads with his
pannier/see-through glass-box laden down with goodies.
Or, ladies,
balancing trays of gooey-sweets and cakes on their heads. Back then,
those were take-aways.
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Kuala Lumpur, seeing the sights
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Mum
and me out for dinner in Penang
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Kuala Lumpur hawker stall
'SATAY'
Penang hawker stall
'BAN
CHIAN KUEH"
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 Penang
hawker stall
"HUM
CHIM PENG" |
And
it's even more readily-available now, though maybe not so nostalgic.
I wonder if they use cookbooks, or it's in their genes? It's
quite common to be invited out 10 times a week, and
still
fight to be the one to find a new outlet for food.
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Vacations?
.. where food and gastronomy are quintesssential? Why bother
looking for ideas? For your vacations, come to Penang, to Malaysia, for
food heaven.
To
a kid, especially, growing up in fascinating PENANG (UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 2008) there were a lot of interesting combinations of
exotic food, fruit and vegetables right on my doorstep.
Like say, the
petai dish, a green-ish bean (stink bean), that special flavour and
aroma that goes so well with chilly, or sambal belachan.
- Malays (Beef
Rendang, Nasi Lemak)
- Chinese (Char Koay Teow, Bak Kut Teh)
- Indians
(Roti Canai, or Banana Leaf curry)
- Nonya (Assam Laksa, Kerabu Bee
Hoon).
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...
all have their own specialities. And the desserts are
something special.
FISH LAKSA
Cookbook: Travels
with a One-Handed Cook, p68
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Everyone is
already a great cook; the idea
is to find some exciting dish that you excel in, whether you find it in
a cookbook, or it's handed down to you.
Or, choose
a
vendor,
restaurant.. that does it, the exact way you like it... perfectly!
When
I was a young kid, we were visiting my maternal grandmother.
It was
before Chinese New Year, and we were helping make 'kuih
kapik'
(love-letter), a wafer-thin extremely-delicate biscuit, which is given
by the Chinese as presents on Chinese New Year.
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The
idea was to make a batter which was ultra-thin and made in
rounds with a waffel-iron; I had to fold them when they were done to
perfection, before the rice-wafer biscuits cooled.
Needless
to say, my
fingers were red and raw from folding the kuih kapik, once to half,
once more again to a quarter - though, my grandma's wafer-thin
biscuits
were the best I've ever eaten. Coming a close second is kuih
bangkit,
a crumbly biscuit from tapioca flour... the joys of home-baking in my
grandma's kitchen. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the recipe from her
cookbook because it was in her head!
Every
meal that is put in front of us, in our household, had to be
finished...and if it's delicious, that's even better. I'll always
remember my Mum's soups, which rarely came from a cookbook: clear and
wholesome, with lots of good things
in them. There were seaweed soups to clear the complexion, hearty stews
with gingko and goji
berries when you felt like a boost for exams,
cooling fevers with light
melon and cucumber soups and spinach congee. The dishes were
there, I just ate my meals without too much thought.
Now,
when I think
back to all those years ago, it made sense. Also when I noticed all the
new discoveries that the Western world have made, I thought, wow, my
Mum sure knew what was what, way back then. My Mum and the community
that I grew up in, prepared me for the travels I was later to do,
tasting foods around the world.
I've
lived in New Zealand,
Australia, UK. But it is only when I look around me, here in
Spain,
that I realise that the things I find important now, foodwise, are
mostly here in my garden or very easily available. For
example,
in nearby Santa Pola we have a huge outdoor fresh fruit
and vegetable market every Saturday morning.
I was
brought up in an environment where exotic food made with the
freshiest ingredients, was readily available
from street-vendors at every corner.
The cuisine and my
travels
have tempered my taste to sometimes unusual combinations of flavour.
I am now in the situation of being able to combine my approach to
cooking with fresh
seafood from the at Santa
Pola fish market, having just arrived off the fishing boat.
To see both the markets and environs in Santa Pola:
Imagine my surprise when reading about superfoods, or
anti-cancer foods, .. or even foods to choose when you would prefer to
be wrinkle free for as long as possible, to have smooth-as-silk
skin (click here
to jump to the Natural
Stuff page ; lots of suggestions and ideas regarding
superfoods etc).
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MUSSELS WITH SAMBAL &
HARISSA
Cookbook: Travels
with a One-Handed Cook, p69
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It's
way of life, the Mediterranean Diet, or the Hay Diet. Look to
the
building blocks first, and the rest (weight loss, looking
better & brighter, etc. ) will follow.
Oh..
by the way, I suffered a massive, haemorrhagic
stroke
14 years
ago? It was called an AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation), a congenital
disorder a tangle web of blood vessels in the brain.
In the event of an haemorrhage, the risk of serious stroke or
death is
approximately 30-50% (about 1% per year).
Click the 'article' icon to read an article about me on stroke
recovery,
written/published this year (2009).
EASY FIG FABULOSA
Cookbook: Travels with a
One-Handed
Cook, p95
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Well, I
survived
this... cheated death, but I couldn't: walk, talk, read, write, my
short-term memory was lost, was paralysed on my right, and confined
to a
wheelchair for many years.
I had open-brain surgery for
nine-hours, as the Neurosurgeons fought to save my life and stem the
massive haemorrhage. The stroke resulting from my AVM (haemmorrhage)
was very severe, resulting a major loss of function. How did I cope?
It's explained in the Travels
cookbook synopsis.
Now I can walk (though use a legbrace), and my right
arm
is still paralysed but many of the things I did before my stroke,
which I thought I'd never be able to do again, I can do gradually to
varying degrees...
I'm travelling once more, maybe a trifle
slower than before, and have written cookbooks - the recipes
are a
mixture of South-east Asian and Mediterranean cuisine with the nuances
and flavours of my travels injected into them.
At school, I
was an avid
amatuer cook always willing to try our new recipes - now, I'm a
One-Handed Cook. |
And
lastly, a cookery/cookbook section - that says: all is not lost when
you encounter setbacks, just a detour an a re-work, and try something
new.
It's
a second chance at life for me - the journey through life is never
done until you're done. ENJOY!
If
you'd like to leave comments, please use the form on the Contact Us
page.
If you have a favourite Penang hawker food location, please tell us where and why, click here:
My
books are titled:
| TRAVELS WITH A
ONE-HANDED COOK |
Click the
front cover of the cookbook
for a preview
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AVAILABLE NOW
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AVAILABLE NOW
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AVAILABLE NOW
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TRAVELS WITH A ONE-HANDED COOK
SYNOPSIS
Travels with
a
One-Handed Cook has excerpts about her stroke and the challenges of
those first few years. This is actually a cookbook but with a
difference: it is a celebration of life in that major obstacles do not
herald the end: instead they foster a new beginning, but that does
primarily depend on the belief you have in yourself to overcome such
challenges. Also, it does make a huge difference having a
support
structure that consistently encourages you (her husband).
It
represents a reason for living, as in to experience travel again, and
try new things, to cook new things! …and because she’s one-handed now,
she’s made cooking easy and versatile, a delight for home cooks
everywhere.
Her travels
before and after the
stroke have influenced the recipes. The cookbook features dishes
created from her unique perspective from South-East Asia, and
Mediterranean countries including Morocco, all shown in full-colour
stunning photos. All were prepared and cooked by Mrs.
Hynd. Could
you cook a full dinner with one hand tied behind your
back?
The book is
unique in that it shares her
story of triumph over adversity, with the two feel-good activities that
all of us enjoy: travelling and eating.
Click
the imageloop logo to see Jackie in action |
| COOK, EAT, BE
HAPPY! |
Click the
front cover of the cookbook for a preview
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AVAILABLE NOW
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AVAILABLE NOW
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COOK, EAT, BE
HAPPY! SYNOPSIS
Hot on the
heels of her first book, Travels with a One-Handed Cook, Jacqui Hynd
has created a tasty sequel, focusing on economical dishes given the
current global state: the quote is "good ingredients alone do not make
fabulous food: it's how you prepare them."
In this
book, 'Cook,Eat, Be Happy!', luxury is the end product made from humble
ingredients: its not only easy but clever as well. For
example, liver is economical and is used in expensive pate - you can
easily make your own (try my Chicken Liver & Green Pepper Pate
recipe). There is even an orange almond cake that doesn't need flour or
butter.
Enjoy a
quiet night in with drinks, my recipe for 'Pizzapalo with Three
Sauces', or 'Ikan Bilis with Peanuts'. Entertain with 'Muesli
Chicken with Asparagus', or 'Roast Lamb BBQ', and keep warm with
comfort food such as the 'Tomato Slasher'
recipe. Mix and match to your hearts
content: there are no rules to what you can create, only the size of
your imagination.
The book
encompasses dishes from across the menu: starters, soups, one-pot
cooking, chicken, pork, beef, vegetables, egg dishes, and desserts, and
since they are done by a cook who can only rely on one hand (courtesy
of a stroke), they are definitely a cinch for people who can use two
hands.
I've learnt
to appreciate the great things in life that seem so taken for granted
before I had my stroke. Every day is a great day and for me
it has to be full of colour. So my recipes have to taste
good, be economical, and be vibrant and colourful. So that
it's already uplifting before you start preparing the dishes.
The book also includes
interesting and humorous travel anecdotes regarding eating out around
the world... and accompanying cartoons.
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Remember:
anyone can cook, but not everyone is a good cook. Famous
chefs
use cookbooks, even though some may not admit it. Having
many cookbooks is great if you use them, and
sometimes
necessary as some books only have a few of the recipes you like.
I've tried to incorporate as many different angles in my
cooking,
as I think its good to have variety, and I've reflected it in these
cookbooks.
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