30-Min-Chef

7 September 2009

I was watching a cooking progarmme last night hosted by a young male cook (sorry couldn't recall his name), and as I was watching the show, I was thinking  to myself, "This young chap is not bad! He's not only young, but he's male, and he can cook too!"

I was quite fascinated with how easily he whipped up his 3 dishes, all within 30 minutes, hence, I reckon, how they cooked up the name of the progarmme, "30-Min-Chef".

I managed to catch two recipes, i.e Ayam Ungkep and Udang Masak Lemak Tempoyak.

And today, I decided to try Ayam Ungkep.  The recipe was mighty easy to prepare and boy, the dish tasted really yummy.

What I learned from watching that progarmme was 1/ Never underestimate a young male cook 2/ Anyone can cook if you put your mind to it.  And my mind reeled back to 1975.  I recalled what my English teacher, Mr L Zuzarte used to say in my English class in secondary school in Singapore,  "If you can read, you can cook."  And this statement couldn't be more true, at least in my case.

Cooking, just like language, needs constant practice.  And practice makes perfect.  What sets a good cook apart from other cooks is the following recipe:

4 cups love 5 spoons hope
2 cups loyalty 2 quarts tenderness
3 cups forgiveness 4 quarts faith
1 cup friendship 1 barrel laughter

Take love and loyalty, mix it thoroughly with faith. Blend it with tenderness and hope, sprinkle abundantly with laughter. Bake it with sunshine and serve with generous helpings.