EASY ASIAN

EasyAsian.com has stopped for a beer

But when it returns, expect a food blog from a Singaporean languishing in Suburbia, USA, dreaming of the tastes of South East Asia. Join me as I summon the plates and palates of the most delicious place on earth from my kitchen here in the New World. I will eat (and cook) my way through America’s culinary catalogue and split the difference.

EasyAsian is what I cook at home - to impress at parties, to remember my family and friends far away, but also to fill the hearts and stomachs of the ones I love the most (and am legally responsible for).

What makes it “Easy”?

I am lazy. For, me, especially, it takes hard work to take something I’ve never done before, think the process through, follow the steps attentively and then achieve some level of success. It takes discipline to repeat that action until it becomes second nature, until it can be done off the top of your head. If you don’t have that, it might take some time.

I’ve had seven years of time to cook every day. The most important thing it’s taught me is this - if it isn’t simple, I’m not going to do it. Every dish I write about will be presented as simply, briefly, and pictorially as possible. Its aim? To be so simple you never have to look it up again, but to taste so good that it stays with you, to re-visit over and over (especially on a busy night when you need a quick fix).

Will everything be Asian?

There are some truths that I will defend to the death - no cuisine appreciates the fried egg better (pfft, over easy? sunny-side up? Give me crispy on the outside with the yolk that bleeds, please) or does a more spectacularly satisfying array of chili sauces. The ballad of fish sauce and soy, deep fried shallots and garlic (and its resulting aromatic oil), that is the song of my heart.

I will be cooking whatever my stomach desires, but inevitably, some methods of Asian cooking will seep into the food of other cultures that I appropriate. I guess if you’re looking for authentic Peruvian food, you’ve taken the wrong exit. But this is an immigrant kitchen in America, and there is something strange and wonderful, something deeply unapologetic about this place that might be rubbing off on me. I am emboldened by Asia’s street food rep - unmatched flavors, cooked in a flash - forget tradition, what I’m looking for is delicious yum, and I think you’ll find it here.