Malaysians are a harmonious lot, but we can barely agree on our food…where is the best place to get what? Well, one thing’s for sure, every true blue Malaysian would unanimously vote nasi lemak as our national dish. Literally translated, this ‘rice in fat’ is cooked with rich coconut milk – a necessary evil – which lends the most heavenly creaminess to the rice that cannot be achieved with anything else.

When thinking of what to cook for The Weekend Chef, I was kind of lost for ideas. My cooking tends to be like me, rather care-free and simple. Surely there is nothing of note that would catch the attention of the visitors to our little site. Still there has got to be something I can do that could work. So while pondering this dilemma, some stray thoughts of mushrooms started popping up. Hmm… mushrooms. We have often used mushrooms in our meals but how about an entire meal featuring mushrooms in one form or another?

When asked to think of an Asian-themed barbeque, one invariably imagines skewers of satay grilling over hot charcoal embers, and stops there. Truly, we have been so acculturated to franks, chicken wings and jacket potatoes over the barbi that we are lost for ideas on grilling food, Asian-style. Well, not that it is a bad thing, but the wealth of spices and ingredients that we have at our disposal in this part of the world is so astounding, it is almost a sin to let them go to waste without trying to use them to your best advantage for a barbeque.

So how shall I start my first meal story for The Weekend Chef? Probably at the beginning, I guess. It all started when Stephanie suggested I do a meal story, since I seem to know a lot about food. Well, in all honesty, I do know a lot about food – in the manner of trivia. I can tell you the different techniques and styles of cooking, but it is all theory. I have not done any form of serious cooking since I came back from the UK more than 10 years ago. So this little weekend do is going to be my first major attempt at cooking anything remotely resembling a presentable meal. After all, my idea of a meal is a large pizza and a bottle of carbonated soda. I am lazy when it comes to preparing food. Eating is another matter, of course!