SydneyLibrarian SG One newly-published cookbook with v. nice pictures came to my attention yesterday It's called "Eastern cuisine: the best in Asian food" & features recipes from China through to India, Vietnam, and Japan. Verrrrry drool-licious!
elindra SG I'm the el cheapo cook who downloads recipes from the internet and they have some pretty good ones too. Chris have a few cookbooks though. He is a great fan of Jamie Oliver though I think his books cost a bomb
Rhonda SG I think there will be three more locally-published cookbooks that I shall try to get before my departure. Cecilia's book on Chinese Herbal Cooking, Terry's on the same subject, and one new book, 'About Wraps'.
Rhonda SG I've come to realise that for Chinese cuisine, there are handy books that are under $5, published from Taiwan / China / Hong Kong, that give really authentic recipes of home-cooked Chinese food! The sad thing is, they're all in Chinese! Biangz! My Chinese is like rotten, man! But, the recipes were so authentic, I've actually bought a few cookbooks. Next, the daunting task of trying to read and make sense outta them! Looks like this box of Chinese cookbooks shall have to be packed with an Chinese - English dictionary!
Rhonda SG OK, guess where I managed to find the titles of the books? The NLB online catalogue! Here they are : Cooking with Chinese Herbs, Terry Tan Betty Saw's Ultimate Herbal Cookbook, Betty Saw The Family Herbal Cookbook, Cecilia Tan Terry Tan's cookbook is a new edition with a few new recipes. It's easy-to-follow. The other two are recommended too - Betty Saw is a prominent cook and cookbook author from Malaysia. She used to be Betty Yew, I think, before she got married. Cecilia Tan is another prominent cook and cookbook author, also from Malaysia. She has another cookbook on Penang cooking as well.
Rhonda SG Actually, Master, I would like to ask - How often do you actually cook French cuisine? And, don't you own any cookbooks of local / Asian cuisine?
Rhonda SG Ah yes... the delicious Nyonya Bak Chang! Actually, I've always wondered what gives the bak chang that bluish tint? Mom said it must be some kinda herb or flower. Does anyone have any idea?
ShrodingersCat SG its this little blue pea flower that nonyas use to colour their kueh kuehs... grows on a vine and has pea-like pods. You can see them growing wild around Singapore still.. one place I remember seeing them was at Little India where I .. err.. pinched a bit to plant back home
Rhonda SG Thanks for the info! After a few google searches, I finally managed to find the name of that flower that's being used - the Butterfly Pea Flower! Looks a tad like the Morning Glory plant!
Kuali Baba SG It's the clitoria/butterfly pea/bunga terlang. Don't get caught pinching the pods from plants in homes in Katong.
Rhonda SG OK, so now that the mystery blue flower has been unveiled, my next question is, how do they use it? Do they crush it for the pigments? Do they boil it to extract the colour out of the flower? How?
