Nearly three years ago, I went on a culinary pilgrimage to see Grace Young demo one of her recipes in Brooklyn. We met up at Aux Epices, an amazing Malaysian-French bistro run by Chef Mei Chau. Among the highlights was this delectable salmon perched on a plinth of rice surrounded by a rich deep yellow sauce. Now, Mei Chau has graciously shared the recipe for this signature dish in a fantastic Zoom cooking lession, co-hosted by Grace Young and the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA).
Eating Malaysian is like having all of your favorite Asian cuisines rolled up into one. Whether it is Indian curries, Chinese vegetables or noodles, or hot Indonesian sambals that you desire, you can have all that and more with additional influences from the Middle East and several European countries including Portugal (source of the egg custard tarts enjoyed in Hong Kong).
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| Malaysian-Style Turmeric Salmon at Aux Epices restaurant in the NY Chinatown |
A few years ago, I discovered Malaysian food at a tiny slip of a restaurant, full of happy sounds as diners enjoyed each other’s company in the presence of rich, complex and tantalizing flavors. Aux Epices, the name of the restaurant, literally means "of the spices." Chef Mei Chau is Chinese-Malaysian in heritage, and she originally moved to America to pursue art training. Together with her photographer husband Marc Kaczmarek, she created a warm and inviting Malaysian-French bistro, where she works a rich palette of color, smells and taste inspired by the fresh ingredients from Chinatown markets outside her door.
My husband, a friend and I were on a pilgrimage to learn more about Chinese cooking. As part of the Facebook group Wok Wednesdays, we were learning how to cook using the most versatile, yet humbly inexpensive, cookware invented over the past 2000 years. Guided by the stir-fry guru and wok evangelist, Grace Young, we were learning how to make countless, delicious, better-than-restaurant-quality dishes at home. To justify the long drive to New York City, we would attend a special exhibit at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) entitled Sour, Sweet, Bitter, Spicy: Stories of Chinese Food and Identity in America in addition to the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) exhibits in Brooklyn on Chinese restaurants and the Wok in America. MOFAD was sponsoring a stir-fry demo for Chinese Trinidadian Shrimp with Rum, and we could not pass up the chance to meet Grace in person!
Chef Mei had contributed several Malaysian seafood dishes to Grace's most recent book, Stir-frying to the Sky's Edge. So we decided to meet up with Wok Wednesday friends for lunch at Aux Epices. Where else can you get delicious Asian food plus French tarts for dessert?
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| Other dishes we enjoyed at Aux Epices. Chinese Broccoli stir-fried with fresh garlic and soy sauce drizzle; Rendang Lamb with roasted coconut, blue ginger, curry spices; Kuala Lumpur-style Seafood Laksa with shrimp, mussels, salmon, calamari, tofu, eggplant, bean sprouts and Udon noodles in a yellow coconut curry broth; French Pear Tart. Not shown: Green Mango Jicama salad, Malacca Laksa in red curry sauce, French apple tart. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... |
Eating Malaysian is like having all of your favorite Asian cuisines rolled up into one. Whether it is Indian curries, Chinese vegetables or noodles, or hot Indonesian sambals that you desire, you can have all that and more with additional influences from the Middle East and several European countries including Portugal (source of the egg custard tarts enjoyed in Hong Kong).
Like all businesses in Manhattan's Chinatown, Aux Epices has been struggling since January 2020 due to coronavirus fears. MOCA, which has itself not yet recovered from a devastating fire affecting archived materials that collectively tell the story of more than 150 years of Chinese immigration in the US, is hosting a variety of digital exhibits and Zoom based activities. As part of the new MOCA Cooks series, Chef Mei graciously shared her signature Turmeric Salmon recipe. This engaging session touched upon Malaysian methods for preserving foods, a cook-along with lots of practical tips, Mei's work feeding elderly residents and essential workers, and Grace's mini-documentary interviews that comprise the Coronavirus Chinatown Stories project.
The flavors, colors and textures in this dish are truly amazing. After a rocky audiovisual start, Chef Mei shared her tips for making this dish so clearly that my husband (who bakes, but does not normally cook), was able to create a truly wonderful birthday dinner for me!
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| Malaysian-Style Turmeric Salmon with Crispy Skin. |
