Chinese-ish by Rosheen Kaul & Joanna Hu
Rosheen Kaul and Joanna Hu come together for their new cookbook, Chinese-ish, fusing the traditional with the modern, with a bounty of inauthentic Chinese-influenced dishes from across Southeast Asia.
Words: Hande Renshaw I Photography: Armelle Habib
Fiery Sichuan fondue from Chinese-ish. Photo: Armelle Habib
Dumplings from Chinese-ish. Photo: Armelle Habib
As immigrants with Chinese heritage who both moved to Australia as children, Rosheen Kaul and Joanna Hu spent their formative years living between (at least) two cultures and wondering how they fitted in.
Food was a huge part of this journey - should they cling to the traditional comfort of their parents' varied culinary heritage, attempt to assimilate wholly by learning to love shepherd's pie, or forge a new path where flavour and the freedom to choose trumped authenticity? They went with option three.
Rosheen and Joanna’s new cookbook, Chinese-ish, celebrates the confident blending of culture and identity through food: taking what you love and rejecting what doesn't work for you.
In the pages you'll find a bounty of inauthentic Chinese-influenced dishes from all over Southeast Asia, including the best rice and noodle dishes, wontons and dumplings, classic Chinese mains and even a Sichuan sausage sanga that would sit proudly at any backyard barbie.
There are also plenty of tips and shortcuts to demystify any tricky-sounding techniques, and reassuring advice on unfamiliar ingredients and where to find them.
Below we share a recipe from the book: Hong-Kong style sago pudding.
Steamed savoury egg custard two ways from Chinese-ish. Photo: Armelle Habib
Char Kway Teow (rice noodles) from Chinese-ish. Photo: Armelle Habib
“Chinese-ish is the title we came up with to describe the style of recipes in this book, but it might as well be a description of our identities.”
Hong-Kong style sago pudding (recipe below) from Chinese-ish. Photo: Armelle Habib
Cheat’s egg custard tarts from Chinese-ish. Photo: Armelle Habib
HONG KONG-STYLE SAGO PUDDING
The bright, fruity and rich flavours of this sago pudding are reminiscent of mango pudding. The pops of citrus from the pomelo, and the chunks of sweet mango, make this one of my favourite desserts of all time, particularly during mango season. If you have difficulty finding pomelo, ruby grapefruit is a good substitute.
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
250 g (9 oz) diced mango, plus extra to serve
1/3 cup (80 ml) evaporated milk
1 teaspoon caster (superfine) sugar, to taste (optional)
60 g (2¼ oz) sago, cooked according to the packet instructions
2½ tablespoons coconut milk
2 tablespoons pomelo pulp (see Note), or 1 tablespoon ruby grapefruit pulp
METHOD
Place the mango, evaporated milk and 1/3 cup (80 ml) water in a food processor and blitz into a puree. At this point, taste for sweetness. If the mango is lovely and sweet, don’t add any additional sugar. Otherwise, add the caster sugar and blitz once more in the food processor, until the sugar has completely dissolved.
To assemble, stir the sago and mango puree together to combine. Divide between two chilled serving bowls and drizzle with the coconut milk. Garnish with the extra diced mango and plenty of pomelo pulp.
NOTE
To prepare the pomelo, break it into segments, peel off the membrane (pith) and discard, then separate the pulp.
