Yvonne Foong

Once upon a time, a student named Alan from China used to stay with us. Alan loved cooking, and used to whip out authentic mainland dishes to share with me. I enjoyed eating his food.

Now, at that time, Yvonne was a very busy girl. Since cooking takes time, her own meals consisted of instant food and dishes that require simple preparation.

Sometimes, I specially request Alan to cook for me.

But one day, he jokingly said, “”.女人è¦?会煮饭”.

EXCUSE ME! When I don’t cook, it doesn’t mean I can’t, okay? Sigh…

My cooking depends on my mood and the amount of time available. I mostly cook very simple dishes. Like this.

My first time cooking Bayam. It wasn’t bad. Fried with oil, with no seasoning. I prefer my vege to taste natural

Today is one of those days I feel like cooking. I dove into the refrigerator and fished out celery, potatoes, and carrot.

My purpose of eating is to obtain nutrients for survival. So I don’t really care when it’s just a simple meal, as long as it is balanced.

For taste, I prepared an onion and a clove of garlic as well.

First thing I did was to boil the sliced potatoes, because potatoes take longer time to turn soft. Heat up the water until it boils, then insert the potatoes and lower down the heat.

Meanwhile, heat up some oil in a wok until you see smoke, then add the chopped garlic.

After a minute or 2, remove the potatoes from the pot of water, drain the water, then add them into the wok for a bit of frying.

But don’t fry too long. Once the potatoes are a bit burned, add water, and add the sliced carrots. Then, let it simmer in low heat for 5 minutes or so. This is when you should add any seasoning you want. I added a hint of black pepper and sesame oil.

Right before you think it’s ready, add the sliced onion. Make sure there is enough water left as gravy. Leave to simmer for a minute or two, then turn off the heat.

Done!

After scooping up the previous dish and all it’s gravy, I added a bit of oil to the wok, and fried the stems of the celery.

When they seemed a little burned, I added water and left it to simmer for a couple of minutes with a bit of thick soy sauce. Celery is quite tough so remember to simmer longer than you normally would do to other leafy vegetables.

At this point, I realized it’s a bit too salty a moment after adding some salt, so I scooped up and threw away most of the gravy, put in the leaves, and added a bit of water to the wok.

Fried the celery more for awhile… and tada!

You might have noticed my cooking is actually all very simple. I think it runs in the family. My maternal grandfather passed away when his youngest daughter was only a few months old, my mother seven years old. My maternal grandmother was a vegetable vendor who woke up in the wee hours of mornings, and was outdoors most of the day. Being children to a single parent in a poor family, my mother and her 6 other siblings were left to fend for themselves at home. They did not have much money, so the dishes they cooked were very simple but essential.

My mom learned from watching her mom, and I in turn learned from watching my mom. She never taught me how to cook, or shared any recipes with me. I simply grew up hanging around the kitchen and watching her cook.

Cooking is a lot of common sense. I hardly use any seasoning. But when I do in the midst of cooking, I usually take whatever bottles within reach after contemplating the kind of flavor they’d add to the dish. Common sense is what dictates if flavors match.

But Mom tend to overcook her vegetables. Therefore, I prefer to cook my own. One of her sister, my Aunt Lu Min prefer leaving her vegetables a little raw to preserve ithe nutrients.

Bet you have heard about her eldest son, my cousin brother, Yeoh Ken Nee - the olympian diver. Hasn’t he got silky smooth skin? Now you know why.

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