A classic Chinese dish from the cookbook Bao Family by Céline Chung. These tasty dumplings are simple to make and well-loved.

A popular Chinese dish from the cookbook Bao Family by Céline Chung. Tasty, simple to make, and packed with flavour.

“The quality of beef in Malaysia sucks, and my grandparents never ate beef because of their religious beliefs. One of the few times we ate it was at Kayu Nasi Kandar, a shop in Petaling Jaya that serves rice with a choice of curries on top. The rendang gravy at Kayu was delicious, but the beef was so tough and chewy. The only beef I liked was a McDonald’s cheeseburger. We’d go on a Monday for the one-ringgit cheeseburger special. My dad would ask me and my brother how many we wanted and, being growing boys, we’d take ten or fifteen home and smash the lot.

So the first time I properly appreciated rendang was in Australia. My take on rendang is controversial as I use good-quality Australian beef for the texture and flavour. Some people wonder what’s the point if you are going to slow-cook it, but when I ask if they like the sauce they say it’s bloody amazing. It’s all a by-product of using good-quality, fatty meat.”

“If you’ve eaten KFC – Korean fried chicken – chances are high that the first version you tasted was the sweet and spicy Dakgangjeong or Yangnyeom. The two are very similar, but my Korean friends tell me that Dakgangjeong is sweeter and sticker, while Yangnyeom is spicier. I prefer the spicier version.”

This showstopper of a dish originates from the Chittagong district, and is traditionally served to welcome a new groom into the bride’s family. Mellow, lightly spiced and creamy, the skinless chicken is melt-in-your-mouth and flavoursome throughout thanks to slow cooking and bhagar or tempering of golden fried onions.

Our lamb chops have become a signature dish at Cassia. We have guests who come in each week to just have their Cassia lamb chop fix. This recipe uses a key spice blend called chapli kebab masala, which was introduced to the north of India by the Mughal kings. The spiced cream is inspired by Goan cuisine, which is in turn influenced by Anglo-Portugese flavours — it provides balance to the heat, and adds tanginess to the dish. — Chandni Sahrawat

This was the beginning of our home-made hot sauce journey. One day Sarah said, ‘You know what? I could probably make a hot sauce that would go perfectly with our flavours . . .’ Habanero was our favourite sauce, and we wanted to start HOT so that one came first. But how hot? How thick? We made a batch, tweaked it, made another, tweaked it . . . And people loved it!

We love the old-world, gruff charm of Kao Rou Ji restaurant in Beijing’s Houhai precinct. This gorgeous area is right on the lake and although it has been hijacked somewhat by souvenir shops and pizza joints, it still speaks of a time when life was a little less polished and a lot less Westernised. The dining room is filled with the smells of cumin and lamb and barbecued meat and this dish reminds us of being there.