Sambal Shiok

Mandy Yin is Malaysian-born Chinese of Peranakan Nyonya heritage. She moved from Kuala Lumpur to London at 11 and later studied and practiced corporate law. She eventually gave this up for a career in food. Mandy watched her mother cook all the family dishes they'd eaten for years and meticulously wrote down every step. She combined this knowledge of the fundamentals of Malaysian cuisine – its mind-boggling array of snacks, sharing dishes, slow-cooked curries and stews, strong spices and deep flavors, famous spicy laksa noodle soup and the nation's beloved sambal chilli sauce – with her memories of boisterous, hot hawker centers in Kuala Lumpur. Now, she owns and runs cult restaurant Sambal Shiok Laksa Bar in London and is regularly featured in the national press.

Mandy's life goal is to showcase the exciting variety of Malaysian food. She hopes that this book will inspire many to cook Malaysian dishes, to seek out and eat Malaysian food wherever the reader is in the world and, finally, to travel to Malaysia to fully understand and experience the richness of its cuisine and culture. For fellow Malaysians, she hopes that you will find great comfort in these pages, as she did recreating nostalgic tastes whilst writing this book during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

The food of Malaysia - with its combination of Indian spices and Chinese techniques - deserves to be better known. Mandy Yin shows just how exciting it can be, from spicy bowls of laksa soup to the peanut-rich comforts of satay. Yin grew up in Kuala Lumpur and runs a restaurant in Highbury called Sambal Shiok. This, her first book, is a charming mixture of recipes (try the gado gado salad) and memories of Malaysian street food. 18 Best Food Books 2021, Bee Wilson, The Times