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A Cook's Tale, Petaling Jaya (2026)

20/03/2025

𝔸𝕚𝕣 𝔽𝕣𝕪𝕖𝕣 ℝ𝕠𝕒𝕤𝕥 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕖𝕤

When you have roast chicken or roast beef or roast pork, you will need accompaniments. What would taste better than roast potatoes? I know, I know... some of you will definitely give some better ideas, but I am a potato gal!

When you live in a country where you don't have many types of potatoes to choose from, and you definitely won't be able to find Maris Piper potatoes nor the Yukon Gold in your local supermarket, try the good ol' Russet potatoes.

Once again, I tried my best to follow the recipe found here https://lianaskitchen.co.uk/simply-the-best-air-fryer-roast-potatoes/ as it says, simply the best air fryer roast potatoes.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
4 Russet potatoes
2-3 sprig of fresh sage
Black pepper
Salt
Olive oil

Method:
1. Peel and cut potatoes to about 1" cubes or slightly bigger.
2. Boil some water with a little salt. Put the cut potatoes in when the water is boiling and boil for 7-8 minutes.
3. Drain the potatoes in a colander and toss them, to roughen the potatoes surface.
4. Place potatoes in a bowl. Pour 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle 1 tsp salt and about 1/4 tsp black pepper, and tear the sage leaves into small pieces onto them. Use your hands to ensure the potatoes are well coated with the oil and seasoning.
5. Put the potatoes in the air fryer tray and cook at 200C for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, toss the potatoes and check on them at intervals. They should be ready in the stipulated time of roasting.

Potatoes are the most wonderful source of carbohydrates.

Fun fact:
Did you know, by roasting them, that the dry heat allows more resistant starch to be preserved helping to reduce GI. (Source: https://perfectketo.com/carbohydrates-in-potatoes/ )

20/03/2025

𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕪 𝔸𝕚𝕣 𝔽𝕣𝕪𝕖𝕣 ℝ𝕠𝕒𝕤𝕥 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕟

A roast chicken that can be done so easily that you will be more than happy to cook this every week. I could never really get a roast chicken with nice crispy skin in the conventional oven but it's so easy with the air fryer.

I have done this many times, and it works each time. I first discovered this recipe from https://www.spendwithpennies.com/air-fryer-whole-chicken/ as I had wanted to roast a whole chicken. You will need a fairly big air fryer though. Mine is 7L in capacity.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken about 1.2-1.3kg
1 tbsp olive oil

Seasoning:
1.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp Greek seasoning ( you can use any seasoning you like, but I had the Greek one in my fridge)
1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:
1. Dab the chicken dry, including the cavity with kitchen paper towel.
2. Mix the seasoning together.
3. Rub the olive oil on the skin and then rub it all over the chicken including the cavity.
4. Fold the chicken wings in and tie the legs together with twine.
5. Place the chicken, breast down in the air fryer tray.
6. Cook for 30 minutes at 180C, then flip the chicken over and cook for another 30 minutes.
7. Remove from air fryer and rest the chicken before cutting.

Making the chicken gravy:
1. Pour the chicken dripping into a saucepan over low heat.
2. Slowly add and stir flour into the dripping until it's of a rich, thick consistency texture. It's like very thick rice porridge consistency.
3. Then add 1/4 cup of white wine and continue stirring.
4. Add chicken broth while stirring until the consistency which you like.
5. Season to taste.

Hope you will like this recipe as much as I do. Enjoy the simplicity of cooking with the air fryer.

03/12/2024

𝔹𝕒𝕓𝕪 ℝ𝕚𝕓𝕤 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℙ𝕝𝕦𝕞 𝕊𝕒𝕦𝕔𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕟 𝔸𝕚𝕣-𝔽𝕣𝕪𝕖𝕣

You know how it is, to try a different flavour rather than always using the same marinade. And I love sour plum sauce, so I went on a quest to look for a recipe which was simple enough to make.

I found this oven baked ribs with plum sauce recipe and decided to give it a go. https://www.chasingtheseasons.com/oven-baked-ribs-in-plum-sauce/

As I didn't have time to slow roast the ribs, I had to find a way to cook them quick in the air fryer. https://dailyyum.com/air-fryer-ribs/

This is my adaptation:

Ingredients:

Dry Seasoning:
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder (because I wanted a more Asian flavour)

For the ribs:
1kg rack of baby ribs
Olive oil
1/2 cup dry seasoning
1/2 cup sour plum sauce

Method:
1. Clean the ribs by rubbing some coarse salt and tapioca flour and rinsing these off well. Remove the membrane on the underside of the ribs.
2. Massage ribs with olive oil.
3. Rub the dry seasoning all over the rack of ribs, cover and leave in fridge for a few hours. (I left mine for 8 hours.)
4. Preheat the air fryer at 180C for 5 minutes.
5. Line the air fryer basket with parchment paper and place the ribs inside. You may need to cut the rack in half to fit the basket.
6. Cook the ribs for 20 minutes, flipping them halfway. 10 minutes on each side.
7. Once the ribs look golden brown and crispy, coat/baste with the sour plum sauce for an additional 2-3 minutes until glaze is set and slightly charred.
8. Remove and place on plate to rest before serving.

Cooking time is less than 30 minutes, and the ribs can be prepared earlier. Makes cooking less stressful, when you do not have so much time to spare.

Do try and let me know how your ribs turn out. Love to hear from you.

25/10/2024

𝕂𝕦𝕟𝕘 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕚 ℙ𝕒𝕖𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕜𝕒 𝔻𝕠𝕝𝕝 𝔹𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕦𝕚𝕥
When I was a child, I used to look forward to the 'chu loong paeng' as it came in a plastic basket that symbolises a traditional chinese pig cage. The biscuit also comes in other shapes, and these days, while you can still find the 'chu loong paeng', the biscuit inside hardly resembles a piggy. Anyway, these days, we call the ones which come without any baskets, 'kung chai paeng' which means 'doll biscuit'. That's simple enough. 😆

It's believed that these biscuits were made from leftover dough for the mooncakes. They are made plain, without any lotus paste filling, which was why I loved them and still do. My late aunt used to make them for us but when she passed on, we couldn't even find the recipe. I was searching high and low to get one that was similar to hers, and this is the closest to hers, though my sister begs to differ. 😅

Here's the recipe I have been using to make the doll biscuits, thanks to Anncoo Journal:

Ingredients:
450g Hong Kong flour sifted
270g Golden syrup
9g Alkaline water
113g Peanut oil
Some red beans for the eyes
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp fresh milk

Method:
1. Mix golden syrup, alkaline water and peanut oil in a bowl thoroughly.
2. Add the sifted Hong Kong flour in a large bowl, and make a well in the centre and pour in the syrup mixture, mixing it with the flour slowly with a silicone spatula, until it forms a soft dough. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.
3. Lightly dust your working top and knead the dough till smooth. Measure dough to about 45g (this depends on your mould) and roll it into a ball and dust some flour on it.
4. Dust some flour on your mould too, and press the ball firmly into it and place on a lined baking tray.
5. Press red bean(s) onto the formed shape. Make sure the formed shapes are placed not too closely to each other to allow even baking.
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160C for 10 minutes.
7.Remove and let it cool and rest for 10 minutes before applying the eggwash on it with a soft brush. The eggwash is made of one egg yolk with a tablespoon of milk. Strain the mixture before applying.
8. Return the tray and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Cool the biscuits down and store in an airtight container.

Tips:
* You can spray the formed shapes with some water (fine-spray like mist), to prevent the biscuits from cracking during baking, before you first put them into the oven.

I really hope that these traditional biscuits will continue to live on as people of all ages enjoy them

14/10/2024

𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕄𝕠𝕠𝕟𝕔𝕒𝕜𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕡𝕖 (Mid-Autumn Celebration)
Making mooncakes is surprisingly quite easy when you don't have to make the lotus paste. Nice ones are easily available in baking supply stores now like in BWY.

I recently inherited some wooden moulds for making mooncakes from my late aunt. I compared the picture of the ones made with the wooden moulds with the ones made with the plastic ones. While the latter may look very pristine and 'crisp', the wooden ones give a warm vibe, because of the rounded edges and the imperfections become the novelty.

I followed the recipe from Anncoojournal for the skin and the recipe is like this:

450g Hong Kong flour (sifted)
270g Golden syrup
9g Alkaline water
113g Peanut oil
2kg of Lotus paste or Red bean paste
Melon seeds (Optional)

Eggwash: 1 egg yolk with 1 tbsp of water. Mix well and sieve.

Method:
1. Toast the melon seeds in the oven till they start popping. Put aside.
2. Mix golden syrup, alkaline water and peanut oil together and combine it well.
3. Sift the Hong Kong flour in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the syrup mixture.
4. Use a silicone spatula to mix and form to a soft dough. Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes.
5. Lightly dust some Hong Kong flour on table and knead dough again until smooth.
6. Measure dough as per required for each mooncake and roll into a ball. Do the same for the lotus paste. If using melon seeds, mix the melon seeds into the paste. (1:2 ratio. If your mould is for 120g mooncake, measure 40g dough and 80g lotus paste)
7. Use 2 pieces of cling-film, large enough for you to put the dough in between and to be flattened and rolled into an approximately 3mm thick circular piece.
8. Place the round paste in the middle and wrap the dough around it and place in the mould. Make sure to dust the mould with flour first.
9. Dislodge the mooncake gently onto a lined baking tray. Make sure the mooncakes are not placed too close to each other for even baking.
10. Optional - Spray some water over the mooncake (fine misting) to prevent the skin from cracking when being baked.
11. Bake in a preheated oven 180C for 5 mins and rest to cool down for 10 mins before applying egg wash with a soft brush onto them. Bake for another 10 mins at 175C.
12. Leave mooncakes to cool and store in an airtight container.

Have fun making these mooncakes.

18/07/2024

ℂℝ𝕀𝕊ℙ𝕐 ℙ𝕆ℝ𝕂 ℂℝ𝔸ℂ𝕂𝕃𝕀ℕ𝔾 (An Airfryer Recipe)
Waste not, want not. I try not to waste anything as much as possible but I do fail. I have thrown away things from my fridge because they expired due to my forgetfulness. One of the items that normally gets thrown away is the pork rind/skin, not from my fridge but when I buy pork belly to make BBQ sweet pork (char siew). One day, I had the brilliant idea of making pork crackle (hmm, should it be pork crackling? Anyway, you get my drift) and after experimenting a few times, I got the crackling the way which I liked. Crispy and crunchy without it being hard.

Here's how I did it. I followed the method used for the Crispy Roast Pork Belly (if you like siew yoke, do check out my posting on how to make it) which is simple enough.

Method:
1. Clean the pork rind/skin and pat dry with some kitchen towels. Lay them flat on a plate or tray and prick the skin with the skin crisping tool. (Check out Avanti Pork Belly Skin Crisping Tool/Meat Tenderiser. I use that or you can get a standard one from the market/supermarket/kitchen store.) Prick all over the skin and have fun doing that.
2. Place the plate/tray of rind in the fridge overnight or for a day.
3. Remove from fridge when you want to cook and place the rind on a non-stick tray that fits into your airfryer. Otherwise, create a foil tray and place a non-stick baking sheet on it. You will also need to raise the tray, so that the rind is closer to the top heating element. I use a metal steamer rack with legs. Temperature at 95C for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from airfryer and brush the top of the rind with the oil which the rind has produced while in the airfryer. Sprinkle a little salt on it.
5. Place it back in the airfyer and cook at 200C for 8-10 minutes, till the rind has crackled and looks done. If the rind is still pale and not crackled, leave it in the airfyer longer, keeping watch closely.
6. Let the rind cool down and you can store them as you would prawn crackers in an airtight container.

Try it and I hope that this recipe works for you as it did for me.

18/07/2024

ℂℝ𝕀𝕊ℙ𝕐 ℝ𝕆𝔸𝕊𝕋 ℙ𝕆ℝ𝕂 𝔹𝔼𝕃𝕃𝕐 (An Airfryer Recipe) updated 19/12/25.
I had never understood why people loved the Chinese style roast pork (siew yoke) so much when I was younger. It was a sought-after dish during festive seasons and special occasions, but I would not touch it. Not until a few years ago, as a friend (JP) made it (homemade roast pork is a big deal!) and out of courtesy, I tried it. And it was good. Knowing how much my family loves this, I decided to make for them, using the convection oven. There were times I was successful and times when I was not. I could remember my mum chipped her tooth eating an unsuccessful attempt, as the pork rind was too hard. Till this day, I can remember how much it cost to fix that tooth.

Then came the air fryer craze. I did not jump onto the bandwagon immediately but one day, I just placed an order on one, which was enormous as it was of a 7.7L capacity. My first attempt of using it to make potato chips failed and the air fryer was banished back into its box and was left there was another 9 months.

I was preparing a meal for some company and the convection oven was overworked, when I thought of the redundant air fryer. One of the dishes I had to prepare was the Chinese-style roast pork, and I remember friends telling me that the air fryer can make siew yoke too. So, thanks to Mr Google or was it Ms Bing, that I found a video on how to make a fail-proof slab of roast pork with crunchy skin.

You can watch this video which I discovered here and if you do not understand Chinese, there are subtitles in English.

https://youtu.be/vbexfy7j7mY?si=o5BWKDxhOdR-lwTD

The recipe from the video requires the following:
- A nice square slab of pork belly
- Vinegar
- Oil
Seasoning:
- Onion powder
- Chinese 5-spice powder
- Black pepper powder
- Garlic salt
- Cumin powder
- Sweet Paprika powder
- Salt
- Italian Seasoning
- Brown sugar
As the quantity is not shared, the amount of each ingredient will be based on your discretion.

The method is extremely useful as it is very quick to produce the roast pork. I used this method but followed my own seasoning preference.

Directions:
1. Make sure the slab of meat is not wet. No piercing or scoring the skin is required. Turn the slab of meat skin down and cut squares, about an inch apart and ¼” to ½” deep into the meat, carefully not to cut into the fat. (See my tip 1 at the bottom of this posting.)
2. Mix your seasoning together in a bowl and rub the seasoning onto the meat only and NOT the skin, and into the crevices of the cuts.
3. Place meat skin side up onto a folded aluminium foil, bid enough to fold the 4 sides up to make like a box for the meat.
4. Pat dry the skin with a kitchen towel and brush on a layer of vinegar on it.
5. Place in the air fryer to pre-dry for 30 minutes at 200F/90C.
6. After 30 mins, remove from air fryer and sprinkle some salt on the skin and then brush a coat of oil on the skin.
7. Place in the air fryer at 400F/180C for 40 minutes.

The skin would have crackled by then and you can remove the meat from the air fryer and let it rest before cutting to serve.

For a more authentic Chinese-style seasoning, you can try this, which is from https://thewoksoflife.com/cantonese-roast-pork-belly/ :

- 1.35kg slab of pork belly (Make sure it can fit your airfryer. I normally use about 800g of pork belly, so you will have to proportion the below accordingly.)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

What is good with this method is that it’s super fast and absolutely easy to make. Your roast pork should turn out fine and if it does not, blame it on the pig.

Other tips:
- By piercing or scoring the skin and leaving the slab of meat overnight in the fridge will also help make the skin crispier. Then pre-dry it in the air fryer for 30 mins with a coat of vinegar. After you have completed the 40 mins of roasting in the air-fryer, put the slab in your oven, with the top griller on at 220C for about 5 mins. Keep watch here constantly. It helps to make the skin super crispy without the hardness.
- You can also add some cumin powder in the Chinese-style seasoning for more aroma.
- My personal preference is of course the Chinese-style seasoning and to ensure that you get the skin really crispy, do follow the 1st tip above.

A Cook's Tale

20/03/2025

20/03/2025

03/12/2024

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