Notes about Recipes in this book

• Sambal ulek

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    The first time we made it we used Fresnos as red jalapenos weren't available - not sure if this is normal, but it was SO HOT - much hotter than I would have expected with jalapenos. Delicious, but we cut down the amount used. Second time was a blend of Fresnos and a milder chili, which allowed for usage in the larger quantities she has in some recipes.

• Red lentil and chickpea soup with mint

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    Very good, very easy. Using dried chickpeas it took longer than 35-40 minutes to cook (which was expected because... chickpeas!). A nice and satisfying soup.

• Yellow lentil soup with cauliflower and spinach

  • jenburkholder on April 12, 2021

    Meh. Not an exciting dal.

• Split yellow lentil soup with opo squash

  • Babeng.Bubba on July 08, 2023

    Used dried butter beans. Cooking time much longer - perhaps twice as long. Added fried curry leaves.

• Malaccan-Portuguese spicy halibut soup

  • jenburkholder on June 08, 2022

    Good, but not super distinctive. Had with white rice and sautéed asparagus.

• Butternut squash soup in lemongrass coconut milk

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    As she says - comforting and creamy. If you like these flavors, this will be very satisfying and the "results to effort" ratio is reasonable. We added cilantro because it seemed appropriate (and we love it).

  • TrishaCP on November 17, 2023

    We really enjoyed this soup, and it did come together pretty quickly. I liked that the butternut squash stays in chunks rather than being puréed, as with almost every other winter squash soup. I only used one jalapeño, as mine are very spicy, and it was the right decision. Seasoning at the end with lime juice and fish sauce is a must!

• Sweet mango and cashew salad with chili-lime dressing

  • L.Nightshade on June 15, 2017

    I had one ripe mango! So I only made a third of this salad, which calls for three. It was quite sufficient for two. The dressing is made up of lime juice, liquid palm sugar (I omitted, did not substitute, the mango was super sweet), a bird’s eye chile (not around here, I used a mix of jalapeño and Serrano), and fish sauce. Diced mango and chopped cilantro are tossed together, roasted cashews and fried shallots are added. That’s it, easy as pie, and ever so delicious. I’d really think twice before adding the palm sugar if you have a sweet, ripe mango. It’s just perfect as is with the other seasonings. This was part of last night’s “fantastic” dinner which also included Pineapple Sambal Prawns and Cucumber-Yogurt Raita.

  • Beebopalulu on December 13, 2023

    Sweet, salty, and crunchy - refreshing and moresome. As a bonus, super quick to throw together

• Cucumber-yogurt raita

  • L.Nightshade on June 15, 2017

    OK, it’s not terribly photogenic, but it’s quite good. The usual simple prep: stir together yogurt, cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper, and grated cucumber. You’re supposed to sprinkle the cilantro on top, which would have been prettier, but I was rushing through and not paying attention. I just stirred it in. No big deal, the cilantro was evenly distributed, which I felt was an advantage. The one thing I would say about this is that it was a bit too salty for my taste. Mr. NS thought it was fine, however, and he usually likes things less salty than I. It worked beautifully with the Pineapple Sambal Prawns; I only noticed the saltiness when tasting it on its own.

• Asparagus and coconut salad with citrus dressing

  • MmeFleiss on May 13, 2017

    I really liked that she used asparagus in place of something that would be hard to get here. Easy and delicious salad.

  • clcorbi on June 13, 2017

    Easy and pretty good. I think I'd prefer to sautee the shrimp next time rather than boil them. Something about the flavor profile of the dressing was a bit off to me, but not sure what. Still, this made for a tasty and fresh dinner.

  • L.Nightshade on June 15, 2017

    I wasn’t quite sure about the prep instructions on this one. After instructing to peel the asparagus ends and cut the stalks in half, she says to boil them in a pot large enough to hold them in a horizontal position. If you’d cut them in half, isn’t almost any pot going to be large enough to hold them? Did she mean that one should cut them in half longitudinally? I don’t know. I did it a different way, I cooked the stalks in my asparagus pot, which holds them upright, stems in the water to boil, tops above to steam. I cut them in half after cooking. We liked this, but it didn’t ring our bells. It was a lovely part of our meal, but I doubt I’d make it again. Disclaimer: the only unsweetened coconut we can find is desiccated. Very very desiccated.

• Sweet and tangy pineapple salad

  • L.Nightshade on June 15, 2017

    SWEET AND TANGY PINEAPPLE SALAD, page 109. This. Is. Perfect. And easy to boot! Diced fresh pineapple, diced cucumber, and chopped basil are tossed with a dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, Thai bird chiles, sugar (stevia here), and salt. Sambal oelek (or Pineapple Sambal Tumis, if you are only slightly more ambitious than I) . Top with peanuts (I didn’t grind mine), and garnish with basil leaves. I made this a little too hot for Mr. NS, but he still couldn’t resist gobbling it up. It’s almost more like a relish than a salad, and would be a great accompaniment to many main dishes, if diced a bit more finely than I diced. Either way, I can just eat it with a spoon. A big spoon.

  • clcorbi on June 19, 2017

    Yum! Echoing L.Nightshade that this is easy and tasty. We did a pretty fine dice and I agree that this would make a really nice relish/condiment type of thing. Since I used storebought sambal oelek, which I know is hotter than the author's recipe, I reduced the amount to 3T rather than 5T. The salad was still quite spicy, perfect for our taste. I subbed cilantro for the basil just because I had a bunch to use up, and it tasted nice, but I'm sure it would have only been better with the basil.

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    As the other reviews say, this is good!

• Chickpea salad with cumin-lemon dressing

  • kari500 on November 10, 2019

    Made this with two cans of chickpeas, so I doubled the dressing. Love the amchoor powder (which is optional) in this, but you could get the same flavor bang by dicing up some mango and adding that. I didn't double the vegetables. L and I both really like it a lot. Good lunch salad.

• Stir-fried cabbage with soy sauce

  • Stephenn31 on October 25, 2022

    Delicious with minimal ingredients. The white pepper has a surprising kick

• Cabbage sautéed with eggs, turmeric, and curry leaves

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    Good, easy, different than the "normal" cabbage dish but definitely a repeater.

  • Stephenn31 on September 14, 2023

    A nice change for use of cabbage. I would make again as a side dish. I had just bought fresh curry leaves which added to the overall flavour.

  • Pandan on May 09, 2024

    This was really nice and easy to prepare. Also a cheap side dish if you have the essential curry leaves. I used more turmeric.

• Stir-fried Asian greens with garlic and oyster sauce (Sawi goreng)

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    Good. It's on the rich/savory side with the shiitakes, oyster sauce, and a fair amount of oil so we thought it paired best with something sharp as a contrast.

  • lkgrover on February 25, 2022

    Made with baby bok choy. Good side dish, made to accompany a spicier stir fry.

  • TrishaCP on November 15, 2024

    Loved this and will repeat it.

• Stir-fried asparagus with sambal belachan

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    This one was okay. My son liked it better than I did. Something about the long spears of asparagus with the sambal just didn't do it for me. Different veg? Even chopped instead of longer spears? Not sure, and I didn't like it enough to repeat.

  • Pandan on March 29, 2024

    I microwave steamed the asparagus in an Anyday dish for 5 minutes and tossed it in the Sambal. Simple and tasty. I do agree though when eating I would have preferred it if the asparagus where cut into smaller pieces

• Broccoli, cauliflower, and shiitake combination

  • lkgrover on March 14, 2019

    A great side dish for an Asian meal; will make again.

• Fried tofu and tomatoes in sweet soy sambal

  • jenburkholder on August 12, 2020

    This is astonishingly delicious. In our house it’s just known as “The Tofu,” and we eat a lot of tofu. If you bake the tofu or buy pre-fried, it’s almost laughably easy. A winner for sure.

  • meggan on March 02, 2021

    I made this with canned tomatoes and fried my own tofu. It’s easy and delicious. Could benefit from the addition of some veggies.

  • TrishaCP on January 06, 2024

    This was sooo good. The spicy and sweet sauce is just great. I cooked my tofu in the air fryer and that was the most time-consuming part of this recipe.

  • Stephenn31 on February 25, 2024

    Nice rich sauce. Worked well.

  • Pandan on July 15, 2024

    Quite nice tofu sambal dish, definitely comes together quickly. I used one big Tomato and one can of chopped tomatoes. Also used already prepared sambal from the book instead of the kecap manis and added some ginger garlic paste.

• Traditional Malaysian stir-fried noodles (Mamak mee goreng)

  • MmeFleiss on May 13, 2017

    A definite keeper. Worth the price of the book just for this recipe!

  • Delys77 on June 13, 2017

    I also found this good but I am finding that the she has a sweeter tooth than us. I would cut back the kecap manis by half and increase the soy. I also would say that you need a very big wok to manage this, or you should cook half the portion at a time. I also found the eggs disappeared on me in this.

  • Stephenn31 on March 12, 2024

    Really good. I was able to use up some left over veggies too. I made my own kakapo manis so it wasn’t sweet

• Malaysian wok-fried spaghetti with kale and sambal

  • radishseed on February 21, 2022

    This was a bit bland, so I added a little more kecap manis and ate it with some soy sauce-pickled chiles like the ones in the photo. I'd say the recipe's 4 servings is closer to 6-8.

• Fragrant coconut rice

  • lkgrover on May 23, 2017

    "Fragrant" is an appropriate name for this recipe. If you enjoy coconut, I highly recommend this flavored rice. It cooks just as easily as normal rice too (in the rice cooker or stovetop). I served it with this book's Tilapia simmered in creamy tomato sauce recipe (which also contains coconut milk).

• Pineapple fried rice with chicken and cashews

  • lkgrover on September 21, 2017

    Excellent! I substituted pork for chicken, and added broccoli. Fried rice is my Indonesian former roommate's comfort food. This closely matches her version. (She adds whatever leftover vegetables are in the refrigerator: broccoli, carrots, peas, spinach, mushrooms were common additions. And everything was garnished with Sriracha sauce, which is too spicy for me.)

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    Very good. I subbed ham for chicken since that's what I had. Didn't need a whole pound of meat, and the cashews are a must. This one is definitely a must.

• Fried rice with anchovies, shrimp, and cabbage (Nasi goreng)

  • lkgrover on January 29, 2018

    This is a light version of fried rice. The heat from the sauce and chiles gets absorbed by the rice, so it is not overwhelming. It cooks quickly, especially if you use leftover rice. I substituted commercial Thai chile-lime sauce for the sambal belachan/sambal ulek. I left out the dried anchovies and the sugar.

• Stir-fried vermicelli with chicken (Bihun goreng)

  • MmeFleiss on August 23, 2021

    Very quick and very tasty dinner. Even my picky child willingly ate this.

  • Stephenn31 on January 07, 2024

    Delicious! Much more than the sum of the parts. I used shredded carrot instead of the bean sprouts. Will absolutely make again.

• Black hokkien noodles with shrimp and cabbage

  • Delys77 on June 05, 2017

    A bit too sweet with not enough heat or acidity. Also the pansit canton need to be reconstituted very gingerly as mine were mushy.

• Village fried rice with chicken and spinach

  • lkgrover on January 14, 2019

    Delicious! I added a julienned carrot, and substituted a jalapeno chile for the green bird's eye chiles.

• Fried rice with shrimp, bacon, and eggs

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    What's not to like about this? Son #1 prefers to avoid meat, and won't eat shrimp so he skipped it. Son #2 and I thought it was very good, to the extent that he asked me to make it again (very unusual occurance). I think I skipped the ground pork, feeling that bacon/shrimp/eggs was enough protein. The veg in it is needed as it's a pretty rich fried rice.

  • meggan on June 04, 2024

    Fine but a little bland. I also left out the ground pork and added more bacon.

• Malaysian chili prawns

  • clcorbi on June 27, 2017

    My favorite recipe I've tried from this book so far. The sauce here is just luscious! Following the author's instructions, it won't turn out as thick as the photo, but the flavor is still amazing. I will note that I had to omit the curry leaves, which I'm sure would have only made this more delicious. The ketchup balances the spiciness of the sambal oelek perfectly. We served this over rice with some sliced, marinated cucumbers, but I think that the author's suggestion of serving with crusty bread would have been even better. One caveat about the recipe instructions--the author mentions in the headnote that these prawns develop a nice sear from the wok, but she then never has you cook them over higher than medium heat. You also add the chile sauce at the same time as the prawns. There is no way they can get seared like that! This didn't really affect the final outcome of the dish for me, but it did fit with my general impression that the instructions in this book can be iffy.

• Tandoori broiled salmon

  • Delys77 on June 19, 2017

    I have attempted a version of this dish a few times and there is something about the tandoori and the salmon that don't work for us. I have rated this one poorly but it might just be about personal preference.

  • Stephenn31 on October 25, 2022

    Delicious and easy!

• Tilapia baked in coconut sambal

  • jenburkholder on January 10, 2022

    Tasty; light and aromatic, the seasonings enhance the fish nicely and the baking time was spot on. Given that it’s a bit of a hassle, though, and the results are only good, probably won’t repeat.

• Salmon in creamy tikka masala

  • lkgrover on September 06, 2017

    Excellent salmon dish; spicy but not too hot. I served it with sticky rice.

• Tilapia simmered in creamy tomato sauce (Tilapia masak merah)

  • lkgrover on May 23, 2017

    Flavorful tilapia, almost like a stew. If you don't like spicy (hot) food, you may want to decrease the dried chiles and cumin used. Also, I substituted ground ancho chiles for dried chiles, and macadamia nuts for candlenuts. I served it with this book's Fragrant coconut rice recipe.

  • Delys77 on June 05, 2017

    For us this had far far too much liquid. It was almost a soup and I found that the fish got lost in it.

  • TrishaCP on July 17, 2021

    The recipe notes say this is good for winter, but we made this in the scorching hot summer and it was just fine! I agree that there is way too much liquid- you don’t need all of the fish stock when you are adding all of the coconut milk too. I think if you eyeball the liquid it is fine. We otherwise really enjoyed this dish.

• Baked fish with fennel, turmeric, and olive oil

  • TrishaCP on July 20, 2020

    This is a simple and tasty baked fish recipe. We used barramundi rather than pompano. My fish was fairly thin and only needed 10 minutes to bake rather than 20 minutes. I followed the recipe’s instructions for sprinkling the spices on in order, but I wouldn’t do that again once the turmeric is on, because I didn’t feel like the spices were sprinkled evenly or equally that way. Instead, I would just mix them together before coating the fish.

• Portuguese debal prawns

  • jenburkholder on August 22, 2021

    Good and so easy, would definitely make again. Used leftover sambal from the same book.

• Pineapple sambal prawns

  • L.Nightshade on June 15, 2017

    This recipe starts with a spice paste consisting of dried chiles de arbol soaked in boiling water and drained, a yellow onion, tomatoes, and shrimp paste. These are all puréed together then added to a pan with hot coconut oil. For the tiny amount of shrimp paste called for, I didn’t want to go through the recommended procedure of baking it in tin foil, so I just cooked it in a bit of the oil before adding the rest of the paste ingredients. Once the mixture comes to a boil, chunks of fresh pineapple are added. Everything simmers until the sauce thickens and the pineapple is tender, then the prawns, fish sauce, and sugar are added (I used xylitol instead of liquid palm sugar). Mr. Nightshade had his with rice, I had mine as-is. Alongside I served cucumber-yogurt raita, and sweet mango and cashew salad with chile-lime dressing, both from this book. “Fantastic” was heard more than once at table, and I had to agree. Lovely combination of flavors, and a perfect level of heat.

  • MmeFleiss on June 21, 2017

    Really delicious; we couldn't stop eating it. Definitely a repeater. I deseeded 3 of the chiles de arbol and my mom still found it a bit too spicy, so next time I will deseed more.

• Tamarind fish curry

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    This was good, but not tamarind-y enough for us (we love "sharp" flavors). Next time I'd make a stronger tamarind water from my block of tamarind. It's very rich, which I think I wasn't expecting - could even do light coconut milk which I usually avoid. I'd make again but potentially riff on it a bit, changing the veg in it (not a big eggplant fan) and making the tamarind stronger.

• Chicken satay kajang

  • Delys77 on June 19, 2017

    We really aren't having much luck with this book. I found this recipe also had far too much turmeric. Having enjoyed my share of satay in Indonesia I found this to be a bit one dimensional other than the slight acrid quality of the turmeric and galangal. Not a winner for us.

• Malay-style chicken omelet sandwich (Roti john)

  • clcorbi on June 19, 2017

    I was very intrigued by the idea of this sandwich. I subbed ground pork for chicken and used white sandwich-sized potato buns rather than white bread, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I found the instructions to be pretty flawed, and as I was reading them I didn't think they'd work, but I tried anyway. Theoretically, you pour the omelette mixture into a hot oiled pan and then place your buns directly onto the raw egg, and then scrape the egg mixture underneath the bread until it's cooked through and is the same shape as the bread. What actually happened was that the egg never cooked all the way through so the bread was covered in raw egg, while the bottom layer started to get burnt. It's also pretty impossible to form the raw egg into a round bun shape. If I were to repeat these I'd just cook the mixture like a normal omelette and then cut it up for each sandwich. A good swipe of mayo is really necessary here. These were all right but I don't think I'd bother to repeat.

• Penang's famous char kway teow

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    Good, but plain-ish with the main seasoning of sweet soy and soy sauce (I didn't use authentic kecap manis b/c I had Thai sweet soy around). The shrimp got overcooked using her method, I'd take them out next time before stir-frying the noodles and sauce, though might work her way if my shrimp were larger (I used 31-40s). I used XL dried rice noodles, soaked then briefly dipped into off the boil water to get them to perfect stir-fry texture. Worked well, and I'd make again but maybe a little different method.

• Ginger-sesame chicken wings

  • MmeFleiss on May 13, 2017

    Really easy weeknight dish. It really would make a great appetizer for a party. I wish I had doubled it as the full recipe wasn't enough for 4 adults.

• Curried beef with okra

  • Stephenn31 on February 07, 2026

    Very easy, but a bit plain. I added extra curry powder at the same time as the tomatoes and some beef bouillon to try to amp up the flavour. Great with some other dishes.

• Oven-baked chicken tandoori

  • jenburkholder on September 20, 2022

    A rare miss from this book. I followed the recipe, though using chicken drumsticks instead of thighs. Marinated 24 hours. The chicken came out a bit mushy and not very enjoyable to eat, and the oven baking didn't give it any crispy edges that can help offset that texture. Would not repeat.

  • Stephenn31 on June 04, 2023

    Excellent and easy. Made extras for chicken tandoori wraps the next day

• Braised pork belly with soy garlic sauce

  • MmeFleiss on May 13, 2017

    Another really easy and delicious recipe that is 99% hands off. Great with rice and a bland veg side due to the strong flavor.

  • jenburkholder on May 26, 2022

    Very easy and delicious. Only made a half recipe with a nice lean piece of pork belly - a normal one would have probably been too fatty for us. Had with stir-fried celtuce and a sharp tomato salad (+ rice). Will make again.

• Butter chicken masala

  • Delys77 on June 08, 2017

    This was good. went with a bit over 2 lbs of chicken and made about 4-5 servings. If you have the ginger garlic paste made it is doable on a weekday. Flavour profile is more reminiscent of a classic curry than butter chicken but not in a bad way.

• Cashew chicken

  • Delys77 on June 13, 2017

    I was pleasantly surprised by the thai roasted chile paste as it was very spicy and had a lovely sweet/heat/funk to it. Overall this dish was good but I would much prefer it with thighs and i would also add some vegetable such as green beans. A possible repeat.

  • jenburkholder on October 01, 2020

    My notes in the book are "good, easy". I like the chili paste flavor - a lot of easy bang for your buck in a recipe. I always prefer thighs in this sort of thing. It's pretty much all meat so a good veg side dish or two is a must! Or adding beans or greens here would also be good, maybe reduce the chicken or up the chili paste.

  • lkgrover on June 01, 2023

    Good chicken stir-fry recipe for a main course. I substituted a commercial Thai chile sauce for the book's chile paste recipe, because I am lazy. Served with rice and a broccoli stir-fry recipe.

  • kari500 on August 05, 2023

    Only used 1 lb chicken, thigh instead of breast. Added sliced green beans and baby spinach. Upped the sauce slightly. Delicious and easy.

  • Pandan on March 29, 2024

    Didn’t have the right kind of chilis on hand, came out really great though. Used belacan and Gula Melaka I actually bought in Melaka for the homemade chili paste recipe provided in the book

• Grilled lamb chops with rosemary-garlic pesto

  • lkgrover on November 11, 2022

    Delicious lamb chops.

• Malaysian chicken curry

  • Babeng.Bubba on July 09, 2023

    Recipe is missing information on water quantity to be added. I added 2.5 cups. Also used a lot more curry leaves than recipe calls for.

• Pan-roasted chicken with spiced rosemary

  • TrishaCP on November 15, 2024

    Not bad- I don’t think I was quite convinced with this spice blend though.

• Kopi tiam pork tenderloin in black pepper sauce

  • ezwriternc on May 03, 2023

    This was amazingly good and simple. I wish i had cut my pork thicker as she recommends 2 inches and i probably cut mine 1 inch. My pork was on the verge of being over cooked i a,so added mushrooms to the pan with the onions. This was such an easy delicious weeknight dinner and a definite keeper.

  • Stephenn31 on March 22, 2026

    Comes together quickly. The pork was a bit tough. Don’t need to add extra salt. The pork needs to go in before the onions take any colour or they’ll burn by the time the pork is browned

• Pandan chiffon cake

  • Pandan on May 09, 2024

    My cake looked perfect in the oven but unfortunately tottally deflated after taking it out out the oven. Maybe I should have inverted my angel food cake pan. Was nervous to do so, because I thought the cake might break this way. I still tasted really nice though but was way more dense than it’s supposed to be.

• Pandan-coconut custard cake

  • Pandan on May 09, 2024

    I’m not sure whether the instructions are correct. My dough was totally liquid. That could be due to the fact that the exact amount of pandan water was not stated. I used one cup (the recipe only tells you the amount of water to use before mixing with the pandan leaves). Maybe you are supposed to use less? Also I am not sure whether the 6 inch square pan is right. In the picture the custard cake looks really flat. My dough filled up almost the entire cake pan. Also 3 tablespoons of butter was quite a lot for the little cake pan. I poured the dough into a pool of melted butter. In the oven the dough rose so high, that some butter spilled on the bottom of my oven. Should have put the cake pan on a sheet pan and/or used a bigger pan. That being said, this still was a nice pandan custard cake, but would have worked better in an 8 inch pan maybe.

• Eat Your Books by Jenny Hartin

  This beautifully photographed book will transport you to Malaysia with simple recipes that focus on flavor.

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