• Butterscotch Bread

    Butterscotch Bread

    I remember when Gardenia’s Butterscotch bread first came out. People were literally waiting for the bread guy to stock the shelves (I think it was every Wednesday) before snapping them all up like piranhas, and they were gone in a flash. At that point in time I was working in Menara TM, and since…

  • Pizzaman (Japanese Steamed Pizza Buns): Halal Version

    Pizzaman (Japanese Steamed Pizza Buns): Halal Version

    I’ve always loved Japan and so many things about it, the language, the culture, and of course their food. Japanese konbini or convenience store food is practically a whole unique segment of Japanese cuisine, and one of their most fascinating food items is pizzaman (a contraction of the words ‘pizza’ and ‘manju’), literally a…

  • Italian Sausage: Homemade and Halal

    Italian Sausage: Homemade and Halal

    In my earlier days of cooking I focused on one chef in particular – Emeril Lagasse. His recipes often called for Italian, Spanish chorizo or Andouille sausages, and oftentimes I could only obtain Italian sausages at more upmarket grocers like Village Grocer or B.I.G. Even then, there was only one type available, and I…

  • Sausage McMuffins (Chicken): McDonald’s Copycat

    Sausage McMuffins (Chicken): McDonald’s Copycat

    The McDonald’s breakfast menu is one of my guilty pleasures. I particularly like their Sausage McMuffins (even better with egg). But nowadays McDonald’s breakfast ends earlier at 10:30am, and I always end up missing the window. I also noticed their sausage patties are insanely salty of late. It could just be me getting older,…

  • Air-fryer Donat Susu

    Air-fryer Donat Susu

    As always, during the month of Ramadan, the uber-famous Malaysian cooking content creator Khairul Aming (@khairulaming) shared a video of him making Donat Susu, which apparently went viral for some time. Honestly I didn’t even know this was a thing until I saw his post, nonetheless the idea of using sweetened condensed milk in…

  • Roti Paung Terengganu

    Roti Paung Terengganu

    When I was younger, afternoon tea was pretty much a daily routine.  Mummy would drive out (practically every place in Kuala Terengganu was only a 5 minutes’ drive away) and buy cakes or snacks for our afternoon tea, such as banana fritters, traditional Malay kuih, and occasionally, freshly baked roti paung.  A favorite place for us to buy…

  • Christmas Roast Duck

    Christmas Roast Duck

    This amazing Western-style roast duck by Jamie Oliver has been my go-to recipe whenever I feel like having duck at home. I recently made this for our usual end of year get-together in place of turkey, due to a complete shortage of turkey in the market this year. I’ve updated the recipe with some…

  • Chocolate Swirl Bread

    Chocolate Swirl Bread

    When I was a kid, there was a local bakery which sold a two-colored white and chocolate bread loaf, a ‘chocolate swirl bread’, so to speak. We called it ‘roti kahwin’ (literally translates to ‘married bread’) at home, for some reason. This was a misnomer, as roti kahwin usually refers to two pieces of…

  • Vietnamese Duck Noodles in Soup (Mi Vit Tiem)

    Vietnamese Duck Noodles in Soup (Mi Vit Tiem)

    Back when I was living in New Haven, I used to frequent a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant called Pot au Pho. Especially on those cold winter afternoons, mi vit tiem, egg noodles with braised five-spice flavored duck and shiitake mushroom, was my go-to order. I think the restaurant has closed down now, and even here…

  • Lepat Pisang

    Lepat Pisang

    Achievement unlocked: lepat pisang! I generally love bananas and every form of dessert or snack we can make with bananas, and lepat pisang is one of my favorites. The thing is, this Malay kuih isn’t as common as some others, and quite often the ones I get are quite disappointing.