BROTHER BEYOND
KWOKLYN WAN TELLS KATIE WRIGHT ABOUT THE JOY OF EXPERIMENTING WITH CHINESE FOOD AND LIFE GROWING UP WITH GOK
INGREDIENTS:
(serves 2-4)
180g plain flour ¼tsp baking powder
600ml sparkling water
1 large aubergine, cut into 5mm slices 4tbsp hoisin sauce 500ml vegetable oil ½tsp salt
METHOD: lucky dipping
1. Pour the oil into a large saucepan and heat to 175°C.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the sparkling water and use a fork to mix together. It is perfectly fine to have small lumps of flour in your mixture; it’s more important not to overwork the mixture as this will build up the gluten in the flour and make your batter doughy.
3. One slice at a time, dip the aubergine into the batter and then carefully lower into the oil. Fry in small batches for three to five minutes, turning occasionally for even cooking and colour. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot with hoisin sauce for dipping.
COOKING has always been a family affair for Kwoklyn Wan. Growing up in Leicester in the Seventies, the chef has fond memories of a childhood running around the city’s first Cantonese restaurant, owned by his parents, Myra and John.
“It was very much our playground growing up,” says the 48-year-old, describing days spent “literally crawling under the tables – because when you’re a kid you always want dens, don’t you?” with younger brother Gok, the fashion guru and foodie. “There are pictures of us when we’re three or four in bow ties, white shirts and black trousers. My dad would parade us around, you know, ‘This is a familyrun restaurant’.” As they got older, the mischievous brothers, along with sister Oilen, were enlisted in the kitchen. “Mum and dad could ring us from downstairs and say, ‘We’re really busy, you need to come downstairs and help out’, whether that was washing or peeling onions or carrots, or even just tossing fried rice. And that’s how you learn the trade.” Kwoklyn still lives in Leicester, with wife Lisa Jayne and daughters Maya-Lily, 20, and Lola-Rose, 14, which means he hasn’t been able to see Gok much during the pandemic.
“He came a couple of times
and we had socially distanced get-togethers at the front of my mum and dad’s house, but I haven’t seen him for several months now,” the chef says. “Sometimes I miss him, sometimes I don’t. He just annoys me sometimes – I think that’s normal!” he says, laughing. “With your siblings, it doesn’t matter how old you get, you’ve always got that sibling thing, ‘Oh he’s just bugging me now, just go home!”’
After cutting his teeth in their parents’ restaurants, embarking on his own culinary projects and later opening a martial arts school having also studied kung fu since he was a child, five years ago, Kwoklyn decided to focus on cooking full-time.
“I’ve concentrated on sharing my experiences and knowledge through books, articles, and TV,” which, he says, gives him the opportunity to be more creative in the kitchen.
“I get to play at what I know, and to be quite honest I think
I’ve become a better chef in the last five years than I’ve ever been, purely because I’m really looking at dishes, really looking at flavour combinations, different textures.
“When you’re working full-time in a restaurant, I don’t think you really look at it that way. You’re just trying to knock the dishes out because you’ve got 500 orders coming through, whereas now I get time to play and experiment.”
Now on his fourth Cantonese cookbook, Chinese Takeaway In 5 features recipes that require just five main ingredients (plus a few store cupboard essentials), an approach he says is ideal for anyone who’s looking to reduce the amount of meat they eat. “The nice thing about Chinese food is the Chinese really have learned how to bring out the best of the vegetable, give it the TLC it needs to bring out the flavour.” A regular guest on This Morning, Kwoklyn can currently be seen in Kwoklyn’s Chinese Takeaway Kitchen, an eight-part series showing now on Amazon Prime.
When the pandemic is over, the father-of-two is planning to go back to Hong Kong to continue his explorations into Cantonese cuisine. But before that, he’s even more excited about holidaying closer to home with the family in tow.
“We bought a minibus, which we turned into a camper van – so we can just jump in and set up on a clifftop somewhere.
“I’m hoping lockdown doesn’t go on too long, because I want to start disappearing. That’s what I’m really looking forward to.”
■ Chinese Takeaway In 5 by Kwoklyn Wan, photography by Sam Folan, is published by Quadrille, priced £15
INGREDIENTS:
(serves 2)
16 large raw king prawns, left whole and unpeeled; 1 medium white onion, finely diced; 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated; 1 green pepper, finely diced; 4tbsp salted butter; 2tbsp vegetable oil; 1tsp sugar; ½tsp salt; ¼tsp white pepper
METHOD:
1. Carefully cut a slit along the back of each prawn and remove the digestive tract. Rinse under cold water, drain and set to one side.
2. Place your wok over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the oil and swirl around the pan to warm, then add the diced onion and fry for 30 seconds, followed by the garlic; continue to fry for 20 seconds. Next add the green pepper and after 30 seconds add the drained whole king prawns. Continue stir-frying for two minutes, by which time the prawns should have started to turn pink.
3. Add the butter and evenly sprinkle in the sugar, salt and pepper. Mix well and fry for a further two to three minutes until the prawns are cooked through. Serve and enjoy.
INGREDIENTS: (serves 4)
340g chicken breast, cut into 3cm cubes; 80ml honey; 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated; Juice of 1 lemon; 250ml light soy sauce
METHOD:
1. If you are using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak them in water for at least one hour before using.
2. Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl and mix well, making sure the chicken is well coated. Cover and allow to marinate for at least two hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Thread three cubes of chicken on to each skewer, then place on a foil-lined baking tray. I’d recommend two skewers per person. Once all of the chicken has been threaded on to the skewers, spoon over the remaining marinade.
4. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, basting and turning the skewers every 15 minutes.
5. Once you are happy that the chicken is cooked through, transfer to a serving plate. These are best eaten warm but are also tasty as a cold snack or filling for baguettes, wraps or pittas.
SPENCER MATTHEWS found fame on Made In Chelsea, the award-winning reality drama which followed the love lives of a group of wealthy London 20-somethings.
But now, at 32, the ex-Etonian says life couldn’t be more different from his boozy days on the popular show. He’s been married to Irish model Vogue Williams since 2018 and has two children – Theodore, two, and Gigi, six months.
He’s also sober and a successful entrepreneur in his own right, having recently launched a lowalcohol liquor company called CleanCo (clean.co).
“I’m not sure I’d know myself, or even be friends with myself, three years ago,” says Spencer, reflecting on all the changes.
He says sobriety seemed a natural lifestyle choice ahead of the birth of his son. “I remember Theodore was going to be born in a few months and I was at the stage where I was drinking really rather very heavily and it was going to be a big shock to the system. When you have kids, you realise it’s not really about you any more – suddenly you have to be ready and available for them at all times.”
That said, the TV star says there’s a difference between being teetotal and being sober, and there wasn’t a dramatic intervention moment where he finally said no to drinking. Like an increasing amount of people, he was simply ‘sober curious’ – interested in questioning his drinking habits for healthfocused reasons.
“I choose not to drink alcohol but I don’t see it as an enemy,” he stresses. “I’m not in recovery and I don’t have an alcohol dependency issue; I just prefer living my life in a sober manner, having been drunk for a lot of my 20s and late teens.
“In the past, I’d drink to be social and I’d formed poor habits over time. I didn’t even realise I drank to excess in the way that I did, as it wasn’t this big looming problem. I wasn’t being sat down by my friends and being told they think there’s some kind of issue.”
His interest in sobriety led him to founding his low-alcohol drinks start-up, which has just raised funds to expand worldwide.
CleanCo uses traditional distilling methods to create ultra low-alcohol spirits including rum and gin with 1.2% ABV that taste remarkably like the real thing.
Spencer saw a gap in the market for people like him, who don’t class themselves as ‘problem drinkers’ as such, and still want to enjoy their favourite spirit on a Friday night. “A lot of people aren’t alcoholics but probably feel like they drink a bit too much,” he says.
“When I decided to quit alcohol, there wasn’t anything to fill that gap. If I was in the pub, I’d have to order a Coca Cola and it makes you stick out negatively for making a positive decision, which is rare.
“If you decided you want to lose weight or take up running, most of your mates will think that’s a ‘good for you’ moment. Whereas if you don’t go out drinking, your mates think you’ve become boring. That’s a shame. I think the stigma around not drinking should change, so it’s not just socially acceptable but a positive thing.
Having made drinking a less regular fixture in his evenings though, Spencer only has good things to say about the positive impact cutting back has had on his life.
“I’m the kind of person where if I have one or two beers, I’ll become a bit inherently lazily. I’ll put stuff off until the next day and I’ll stay out for another hour. It really gets in the way for me,” he says.
“My goals in life were completely unachievable when I was drinking alcohol and now they seem within reach.”
Does he have any regrets about the ‘old Spencer’ he left behind? “I wish I’d done less reality television, to be honest,” he laughs. “I probably would have left TV to pursue a career in business earlier. “I’m finding it really hard as a young entrepreneur to break that mould of being ‘that guy’ from ‘that show’. It isn’t the end of the world, because it was a popular show, but my life is so different now.
“I kind of feel like saying to people, ‘Well what were you doing when you were 19? Do you want to be remembered for that for the rest of your life?’ It’s kind of an unfair label to carry.”
“I try not to regret those things from my past though,” Spencer concludes. “As had I not lived those years of hedonism, the importance of what we’re doing now wouldn’t have been quite as potent for me.”
A lot of people aren’t alcoholics but probably feel like they drink a bit too much
Spencer explains that sober doesn’t mean teetotal