How tricky is that for you as a chef? Any tips to share?
I don’t think it’s that tricky at all. What’s important is the quality of the produce and to bring out as much flavor as possible. I just try to keep it pure and simple, definitely seasonally and locally sourced, organic where possible. Experiment with different spices, fruits and vegetables, even marinating something can do wonders. I would also say reading recipes from various sources, as well as trial and error, because practice makes perfect. One of the easiest things to have is a well-stocked pantry, so you have ingredients such as spices readily available to you at home. Then the cooking process isn’t so laborious and all you need to do is pick up fresh ingredients.
So you cook healthy, but do you eat healthy as well?
I’m a bit of a salad freak. I love tomatoes, avocadoes, romaine lettuce and sweet corn, so I always make salads around those ingredients. I don’t have a real hankering for junk food. I just need to do more exercise and stop eating too much, that’s my problem. I’m not a big beef eater. I would never order a steak unless I was in a steakhouse. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever cooked a piece of steak at home in my life.
You travel quite a bit, what are some particularly memorable meals you’ve had?
Grilled lamb brains in Morocco where they have a big night market. I was a little starved for some good street food. In Thailand, you’re always getting weird and wonderful things such as bugs and rice roaches. David Thompson uses rice roach fish sauce in this particular green chili relish and it imparts the most unusual flavor, but if you have it by itself, it just tastes like ammonia. It’s terrible. I did a charity dinner with Jean Georges, David Thompson and Neil Perry in Bangkok. David took us out for dinner after and made us all eat the actual rice roach. It was in a salad and they had the rice roach fish sauce, as well as pounded up rice roaches.
Chef Amanda Gale will be in town on Apr 11-15 for Superfoods Revolution: Cuisine for Life. She’ll be cooking up lunch and dinner at One-Ninety (G/F Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, 190 Orchard Blvd., 6831-7250) with organic ingredients from SuperNature (#01-21/23/27 Park House, 21 Orchard Blvd., 6304-1338), and conducting three cooking demonstrations ($120) on Apr 12-14, 4-6pm.
