Malay cooking techniques that are at the heart of your favourite dishes

According to Khir, bahulu made in brass moulds and baked over charcoal fire has a superior taste and crust to any other iteration of this sweet treat. — LAW SOO PHYE/The Food of Singapore Malays by Khir Johari

The Malay culinary universe serves up a gamut of wondrous dishes – from gulai to rendang to a range of grilled meals like ikan bakar and fermented temptations like tempoyak. The cooking methods and processes that make up all these multi-faceted meals are in themselves multi-faceted.

In his ground-breaking book, The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels Through The Malay Archipelago, Singapore food historian Khir Johari outlines the whats and whys behind many of these long-standing techniques and processes in a chapter devoted to the subject.