I spent a day at Kuala Lumpur around Bukit Bintang and wanted to record a lil vlog to share with you. Also went to Malaysia’s first Apple Store and Shake Shack. The burger was RM33 lol and total bill was RM62. Let’s be friends: https://www.instagram.com/shaunyoongdy/?hl=en For work enquires and collaborations, pls contact me via e-mail shaunyoong@gmail.com

I highly encourage you to try making your own chicken stock at home. It’s so therapeutic. 🫰🐥 Here’s what you need: 2 to 3 chicken carcasses (better if you can get the head and heart too) 2 large onions, quarted (no need to peel) 1 whole bulb of garlic, sliced in half (no need to peel) 1 stalk of celery roughly chopped 1 large carrot roughly chopped (no need to peel) 2-3 bay leaves 2-3 sprigs of thyme and rosemary 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns (white works fine too) Steps: 1. Roast the chicken carcasses, onions and garlic with just a slightest drizzle of oil in the oven. (just ensure the garlic and onions are lightly coated in oil, it’s ok if the chicken isn’t because it has its own fat.) Roast at 230C for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until nicely browned. 2. Once roasted transfer everything including the rendered out chicken fat into a large pot, throw in your pepper corns, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, carrots and celery. Fill with water to the top. (about 1.5 to 2L) You may also add in any plant-based kitchen scraps here for extra flavour and to save food waste. 3. Bring to a boil on high heat, and skim off any white gunk that floats to the top. Immediately turn to low heat to a very gentle simmer. It should not be boiling here, super important. Let it simmer and reduce for at least 3 to 4 hours, more if you dare, checking every so often in between to make sure the water doesn’t fully evaporate and nothing burns. 4. Once reduced to at least half, strain and store in a closed container in the fridge overnight. This stock will be cloudy if you reduce it a lot and your heat is high, but for home cooking you don't have to worry too much about making your stock clear like in restaurants. 5. The fat should rise to the top the next morning. Save that for cooking. Keep the remaining gelatinised stock in ice cube trays in the freezer for easy portioned use and long term storage. This keeps well for a month or two.

This is my attempt of stir fried clams with what I have in my kitchen, but using the same techniques in Cantonese style cooking, which involves fermented black beans and slightly different aromatics. I’m not a chef, but I love testing recipes and learning new things in the kitchen. This clam dish is a winner in my books. Ingredients: 1kg of clams 3-5 red chilli padi 3 cloves or garlic 3 stalks of coriander Small piece of ginger Dark green part of 2 stalks of spring onion 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce 1 tablespoon spoon of Chinese cooking wine 1 tablespoon of sugar 1 tablespoon of corn starch Steps: 1. Rinse the clams in cold water and let them sit in the water for 1 hour with a bit of salt and corn starch to purge out any remaining sand. 2. Slice the ginger, chilli, garlic and coriander root into small pieces or even better, use a pastel and mortar. 3. Simple sauce: Combine Chinese cooking wine, sugar, soy sauce and corn starch. 4. Blanch the cleaned clams in boiling water for around 2 minutes or until they open. Immediately strain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. 5. On high heat, fry all the aromatics until fragrant for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the clams and sauce, stir fry until well combined for 2 to 3 minutes or until clams are fully cooked and coated in the sauce. 6. Finish with spring onion and serve with a sprinkle of coriander leaves.

Ingredients: 1kg of strong bread flour 700g of water 10g of yeast 20g of sugar Pinch of salt to taste Steps: 1. After letting the yeast bloom in some warm water and sugar, combine the yeasty water and the rest of the water to the flour. 2. Mix until well combined. It will be shaggy and rough now. Don’t worry. Let it sit for about an hour. 3. After an hour, do the stretch and fold process around the whole loaf. This builds tension and promotes a strong gluten network development. Cover the dough again and let it sit for another 30 minutes to an hour, and come back and do the stretch and fold again. Do this for around two to three times. 4. I would recommend to separate the dough into two. So you’ll get two 500g loaves. That’s what I did. The lamination process I showed you is optional, but it does help to build more tension and structure to the dough. 5. Before baking, shape the loaf into a ball (you can stretch and fold it one more time and flip it upside down so it’s seam side down), let it cool on the stove top on low heat for around 10 minutes. 6. Transfer to a preheated oven at 180C and bake for 30 to 45 mins or until golden brown on the top. The water steam trick is handy but also optional if you’re baking at home. It helps to create steam which will promote rising during baking. 7. Let it cool before slicing and enjoying. Because this bread doesn’t have preservatives, it will keep in the fridge for around 3 days. I recommend pre-slicing it and keeping some in the freezer.