Breaking Bread

No one can deny that the Peranakan people are serious about their Nyonya kuihs – bite sized treats that have entranced the nation’s palette ranging from the ang ku kuih, pulut tai-tai, seri muka, kuih lapis and more. But how much do we actually know about our Nyonya kuihs? Renowned Nyonya cuisine chef Debbie Teoh joins us this week to share her knowledge on all things kuih and Peranakan culture. 

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Sometimes the best things in life are made from the simplest of ingredients. Such is the case with sourdough bread – a universally loved bread made from basic ingredients like flour, water, sourdough, culture and salt. Joining us to share more about the world of sourdough, we have sourdough enthusiast, educator and serious home baker, Gan Kim Poh. 

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We’re all used to the sweet, viscous and familiar taste of honey but what about kelulut honey? Known as a health elixer to some, kelulut honey is harvested from the stingless Trigona species of bees and contains 16 Amino Acids, Glucose, Vitamins A, B, C, D and E, Bioflavonoids and Minerals. Azril Dino, beekeeper and founder of Dino Kelulut Honey joins us on the show this week, to educate us on the myriad benefits of what could possibly be Malaysia’s 1st superfood, kelulut honey.

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Breaking Bread is a show that aims to foster any and all geeky discussions surrounding food. Although the exact origins of cheesemaking are pretty ambiguos, Malaysia would probably be the last country you'd think of when it comes to making the universally loved dairy product. On the show this week, we are joined by Annisa Iwan, a passionate local cheese maker with a penchant for all things cheesy. We'll be learning more about her cheese making journey of using milk from Malaysian cows, the different types of cheeses that she makes at home and more. 

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Breaking Bread is a show that aims to foster any and all geeky discussions surrounding food. On this week’s episode, Skye Lin from BEAM café joins us to drop some knowledge on all things coffee from the different varieties of beans, third wave coffee and even our local kopitiam culture. We also share an easy to make dessert that you can make at home – coffee jelly.

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Breaking Bread is a show that aims to foster any and all geeky discussions surrounding food. On this week’s episode, we are joined by Malaysian pastry chef Helen Goh, long time product developer at the famed London Ottolenghi restaurant  and co-author of the best selling recipe book, Sweet. We’ll be finding out all about her culinary journey thus far and the incorporation of Asian ingredients in her recipes.  

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Breaking Bread is a brand new show that aims to foster any and all geeky discussions surrounding food. This week, Chef Yogi from FLOUR joins us on the show to educate us on all the different types of indian breads while sharing the story of how his restaurant came to be one of the fastest rising indian restaurant in the Klang Valley.

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Breaking Bread is a brand new show that aims to foster any and all geeky discussions surrounding food. Whether it’s figuring out the intricacies of our kuih-muih, deep-diving into Malaysian coffee culture, or hunting for the best Laksas in town, this show shines a light on the food we eat and how it ties to the very fabric of our Malaysian culture and identity. This week, we’ll be delving into all things Kombucha, a delicious 2000 year old fermented drink that can be brewed at home.

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Yakult Kombucha Recipe

Makes 1.5 litres of kombucha

Ingredients:

• 1.2L water

• 150g sugar, granulated or caster

• 3 tea bags, black tea works best, you could alternatively use 15-20g of loose tea leaves

• 1 SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), which you can get from anyone you know who makes kombucha

• 100ml starter tea, from the previous batch of kombucha

• 2 bottles (160ml) Yakult

Directions:

1. To make the tea base, add the water and sugar to a pot or saucepan and bring to a boil. Take it off the heat, add in the tea bags, and let it steep for an hour or two, until the water is cool to touch. Then, remove the tea bags and pour the sweet tea into a glass jar, preferably one with a large mouth.

2. Add in the SCOBY along with the starter tea, cover the jar with a few layers of cloth tightly secured with a rubber band or string, and leave to ferment for 1-2 weeks at room temperature, away from direct sunlight.

3. The SCOBY with turn the sugar in the tea into alcohol, and then into various acids. So with time, the kombucha will turn increasingly sour. Start tasting the kombucha after 7 days, and depending on your desired level of sweetness vs. sourness, you can halt the fermentation process and proceed to the next step.

4. Remove the SCOBY from the now fermented tea, along with a bit of the tea itself. You can place the SCOBY in another jar of sweet tea to immediately begin brewing another batch. But if you’re not quite ready for this level of kombucha commitment, you can keep the SCOBY in an airtight container in the refrigerator, along with some starter tea, where it’ll happily hang out for a few weeks.

5. As for the fermented tea itself, mix in the Yakult, and transfer this into an airtight glass bottle (or two if it doesn't fit in one). Leave the kombucha out at room temperature for 2-3 days, which will further ferment and carbonate the tea. Then transfer it to the refrigerator to chill, and it's ready to drink! If you see the kombucha split into 2 layers – clear liquid on top and a murky sediment underneath that – don’t worry, this is normal! You can strain the liquid through a few layers of cheesecloth and discard the sediment, though it’s perfectly drinkable if you just give it a quick stir so it all comes together.

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