Penang Makan - cookbook review, RM150 RRP
Subtitled “Heritage Street Food Recipes”, this hard back cookbook comprises about 50 halal versions of Penang street food by Penang born Dayana Wong. She is now based in Canada but flew back for a book signing at a tea tasting promotion at Ten Yee Tea @Beach Street yesterday. Dayana prepared Muar Chee and Bubur Cha Cha, two desserts to accompany 3 teas brewed for participants. The recipes are easy to follow and written in a clear prose style.
Published by Bulan Press, Penang Makan has colour illustrations and photos of the food plus step by step instructions on how to prepare the recipes. Herbs and spices used in the recipes are explained with accompanying photos and where possible alternatives are suggested.
However I think the photos do look a bit soft and under exposed. Also in this age of the ubiquitous Internet I was surprised to find there is no accompanying website for the book. Perhaps the publisher might want to emulate what other cookbook publishers are doing to market their products.
By the way, the halal recipes are all based on Dayana's mother's “hand me down” recipes, reflecting her Malay maternal roots.
Post Script and Disclaimer
My copy of Penang Makan was purchased at the full RRP of RM150 at a local lifestyle store on Beach Street.
The best cookbooks I've read are by a London restauranteur and chef Yotam Ottolenghi. I have a hard back copy of Ottolenghi's NOPI cookbook, co-authored with his head chef, Malaysian born Ramuel Scully. The Middle Eastern recipes in NOPI include the use of Malaysian herbs and spices such as galangal. The NOPI cookbook has a coupon with a password to download a PDF version into your iPad or iPhone. Brilliant marketing idea. 👌
Millennials might wonder whether paper cookbooks are even relevant in the Internet Age. Most if not all the recipes in Penang Makan can be found on YouTube.
Yours truly has a WiFi enabled Google Nest hub where I use voice commands to search for YouTube recipes. My Google Nest hub even saves a selection of recipes. I can choose to automatically download the ingredients of YouTube recipes I like directly into a shopping list on my phone. But I think there is still a place in my kitchen for a well produced cookbook where I can make annotations in the margins. 👍
