agak agak
2024 (Hardie Grant/ Quadrille, Penguin Random House)
‘Agak agak’ is a colloquial term rooted in the Malay word for ‘somewhat’. This term comes to life especially in the home kitchen, where cooks rely on their senses and experience, rather than tools or exact formulas.
Singaporean cuisine, as we know it today, has come from a long history of adjusting and adapting and doing things ‘to taste’. In Agak Agak, Shu Han Lee encapsulates this approach to cooking with recipes that bring punchy Singaporean flavours to simple home cooking, whilst encouraging you to use these recipes as inspiration to create other dishes.
Try classic and modern recipes such as Second Auntie’s Achar, Chilli Crab Spaghetti, Kaya Toast with Half-Boiled Eggs, Green Beans with Turmeric and Toasted Coconut, Mum’s Steamed Pumpkin Rice, Pandan Swiss Roll and Black Sticky Rice Pudding with Rhubarb, amongst others. With tips and tricks, Agak Agak shares more than Singaporean recipes perfect for home cooks, it shares a fun, fresh and creative way of cooking.
"The book I wish I had written." – Meera Sodha
"Shu’s immense talent is in clarifying and distilling the fabulously complex foods of this multi-racial island without diluting any of its vibrance." – Helen Goh
"Shu has captured not just the richness and diversity of Singaporean food - through this book she is inviting you into her kitchen to share all the happiness that food brings to her life." – Asma Khan
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CHICKEN AND RICE
2016 (Fig Tree, Penguin Books)
Shu Han Lee moved to London from Singapore as a student. Homesick and hungry, she started teaching herself to cook the food she'd grown up with. These recipes, from her mother's sesame oil chicken to ox cheek rendang, are ones you will want to make time and time again.
There are also recipes that Shu has picked up on her travels throughout Southeast Asia, such as Vietnamese caramel pork ribs, Thai baked glass noodles with prawns and black pepper and Burmese chickpea tofu with fish sauce, lime and honey dressing.
For quick, easy and healthy midweek suppers, try: fennel and minced pork stir fry, fried hor fun noodles with kale and beansprouts or tom yum soup with mussels. For weekends, there are more adventurous projects: learn how to make your own steamed buns, egg noodles, or BBQ sambal lemon sole - a whole fish barbequed on banana leaves.
Although these are Southeast Asian recipes, Shu's seasonal approach to the very best of UK produce is reflected throughout this book: from Brussels sprouts with smashed garlic and oyster sauce to no-churn rhubarb and condensed milk ice cream.