Techniques from the rice pot
Devagi Sanmugam’s 22nd cookbook I Am A Rice Cooker! explores the litany of Asian cooking techniques in the continent.
DEVAGI Sanmugam is quite a force to be reckoned with in the Singapore culinary scene. Dubbed the ‘Spice Queen’, Devagi has over 34 years of experience in the culinary scene and has written 21 cookbooks to date, like and
(which was the winner of the Best Health and Nutrition Book, Singapore at the World Gourmand Awards 2007).
She has also appeared on numerous television shows around the world (including hit British series with celebrity chef Keith Floyd) and has conducted a litany of cooking classes across the globe.
In fact, Devagi’s resume is so glittery (and long) that you’ll find it almost impossible to believe that this down-to-earth, smiley lady could have accomplished so much. But she has – and continues to do so.
With the release of her 22nd cookbook,
Devagi has once again proven herself quite the versatile cook, with a compilation of recipes devoted to different Asian cooking techniques, like deep-frying, double-boiling, grilling, pickling, simmering, smoking and slow-cooking, among others.
Each technique offers lots of advice and tips as well as a corresponding series of recipes, designed to make it easier for readers to learn how to master all the different cooking methods in real life. An added bonus is that some recipes offer step-by-step pictorial guides to enhance the learning process.
“The reader can practise the technique through the recipe that was chosen for it,” says Devagi.
The super-sized book took Devagi nearly two years to complete and was a labour of love from the get-go. Devagi’s main aim with the book was to re-introduce classic Asian cooking techniques to the younger generation, who may not necessarily have grown up learning these skills at home.
“I realised that when I grew up in the 1960s, children would help their mothers in the kitchen and some would even cook from a young age. But these days, many mothers don’t cook and so children never get to learn by observing or even by eating a good homecooked meal, so I felt that there was a need for a book on Asian cooking techniques so that those who want to improve their cooking skills can learn,” says Devagi.
Even the book’s size is aimed at helping maximise reader satisfaction and is something Devagi was really keen on after years of collecting feedback from students in her cooking classes.
“As a cooking instructor for many years, I listened to the grouses of students who had bought cookbooks written by other authors, and one of the major complaints is that the fonts are too small! You see, when someone is bringing the cookbook into the kitchen, the book has to be propped somewhere – large books prop well. Also, when you are cooking a recipe from the cookbook that is propped in the kitchen, the font must be big enough for you to read from your work table – hence the size of the book and font,” she says.
In the book, you’ll find all sorts of recipes for delicious Asian dishes like Kerala style fish curry, poached egg curry, Thai-style grilled beef salad, Vietnamese vegetarian rice porridge, Japanese chawanmushi – all the way down to simple recipes for things like kaya.
While there are a fair amount of Indian recipes in the book, Devagi admits that she didn’t want to just come up with another book on ethnic cuisine, which is why
also has recipes for Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese dishes.
“Since it is Asian, I did not want to stick to only one recipe. For example, a technique like velveting is usually used in Chinese cooking and dum cooking technique is used by Indians mostly – so I thought it is better to have all sorts of Asian cuisines incorporated,” she says.
The recipes are generally very easy-to-follow and Devagi says anyone with even the most basic kitchen tools can attempt the recipes in the book.
Throughout the book, you’ll also notice photographs from Devagi’s travels scattered everywhere. Although the pictures sometimes seem incongruous when placed next to recipes that have nothing to do with them (e.g. a photograph of a vendor in Myanmar selling rice pancakes plonked right next to a recipe for tamarind prawns), Devagi says she wanted them there for a reason.
“The travel pictures are mostly food-related. One of the reasons for incorporating such pictures is to break the monotony of seeing only styled food pictures; secondly, the pictures were all taken in Asian countries; thirdly, I took those pictures and wanted to show off,” she quips cheekily. has already nabbed the award for Cooking Schools Category, Singapore, at the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards 2017, but Devagi is not content to rest on her laurels. She is already hard at work on her 23rd cookbook, titled
The new book will focus on Indian superfoods with recipes and home remedies.
Devagi says writing each cookbook gives her a renewed sense of purpose, which is why time management is so essential to her.
“Time management is a part of my life. Even before I write a book – it is the purpose of the book that gives me the energy and time to complete it,” she says.
can be purchased through the website www. iamaricecooker.com at RM240.
COCONUT FISH (Thengai Meen)
Serves 4
300g shallots, peeled
80g ginger garlic paste
60g dried chilli paste
200g coconut cream
4 tbsp coconut oil or cooking oil 1/2 tsp cardamoms
1 tsp fennel seeds, coarsely pounded 200g shallots, peeled and sliced 2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp black peppercorns, pounded coarsely
300g water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp grated jaggery
800g Spanish mackerel
60g dry-roasted coconut
60g coconut cream Place the first 4 ingredients in a blender and process till smooth.
Heat the coconut oil in a wok and fry the cardamoms and fennel seeds until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add shallots and curry leaves and sauté till the shallots turn golden brown. Add blended ingredients, turmeric powder, pounded peppercorns, water, salt and jaggery. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally till a thick paste forms and the oil separates, about 10 minutes.
Arrange the fish on the paste, cover and cook over low heat till one side of the fish is cooked. Turn the fish over and cook. When the fish is done, transfer it to a dish, leaving the thick masala in the wok.
Add the dry-roasted coconut and 60g coconut cream immediately. Turn up the heat to medium. Once the masala boils, reduce the heat but keep the liquid boiling. Keep stirring and scrape the bottom to break down all the crusted masala. By now, the dry-roasted coconut will also stick to the bottom of the wok and more oil will surface.
Put the fish back into the wok and keep turning the fish until the masala is crusted on the fish and the oil separates and remains in the pan, about 10 minutes. Serve the fish with rice or bread.
AYAM JAKARTA
Serves 5 sambal
50g cooking oil
80g dried anchovies
200g fresh red chillies
15g red birds’ eye chillies 150g shallots
15g garlic cloves
300g ripe tomatoes, sliced
2 tbsp shrimp paste, toasted 80g chicken stock, coconut milk or water