Friday July 20, 2012
Cooking street food
By GAYATHRI NAIR
Goh: 'I'm not here to improvise or change any of the authenticity found out on the streets.'
THE Asian Food Channel (AFC) will be screening its first Malaysian produced travelogue and cooking programme, Back to The Streets, starting July 24 on Astro channel 703 at 9pm.
The new cooking show stars celebrity Chef Malcolm Goh and radio DJ and TV host Tham Zher Pheen. The zany duo make the perfect combination of funny and insightful food lovers who pry the streets of Kuala Lumpur in search of mouth-watering, authentic Malaysian favourites.
The 12-part series, 30 minutes per episode, was created in collaboration with Berjaya University College of Hospitality and will see the pair playing the role of secret agents going undercover on the streets of Kuala Lumpur searching for local culinary delights.
On their mission, they will interact with stall operators and cooks to try and get them to share their recipes and even to reveal a little bit of the secret ingredients used in their meals.
Inspired by what they saw on the streets, Goh and Tham with the assistance of students at the university's kitchen will create their own variations of the dishes.
“I'm not here to improvise or change any of the authenticity found out on the streets. I'm simply seeking inspiration from the talents out there, tasting the textures of flavours, the spices they use, bringing it back to my kitchen and creating my own variation of a completely different dish.
“For example, I tried nasi lemak at one of the stalls and really loved the sambal they served. So using that sambal, I would match it to a different dish of my own,” said the 27-year-old chef.
Chief executive officer and co-founder of AFC Maria Brown was delighted with the premiere of another successful AFC original series production.
“We really saw this as an opportunity to explore the rich culinary heritage that is present in Malaysia and at the same time, showcase Malaysian local talent pan regionally and even globally.
"Chef Malcolm and Zher Pheen can only be described as a passionate and dynamic duo and I strongly believe that they will capture the hearts of all our AFC viewers easily,” said Brown.