Cooking Tips

We love the pleasure of dining out. After all, meals are all about the experience, and Malaysians do love their food. But what makes a dinner extra special isn’t just the atmosphere, but the people with whom you share it. And for uninterrupted conversation and feeling utterly at ease with the ones we love, well, sometimes there’s no better place than home. Having a well-equipped kitchen combines the pleasure of companionship with the love imbued into home-cooked meals. Eating out will always be a treat, but for everyday meals, tools like the kitchen machine present options so you can have your cake (or ondeh ondeh) and eat it at home with your family. When it comes to choosing a suitable kitchen machine for your home, we’re truly spoilt for choice. The Kenwood range offers powerful blenders, food processors, and all-in-one stand mixers that can whisk, knead, mince and even roll pasta dough. This means your dishes can range from local favourites like Ayam Masak Merah

The food processor is the undisputed heavyweight champion in the kitchen. It’s got speed, power, and the astonishing ability to reduce food preparation time. But not all food processors are created equal, nor should they be. It is also one of the top contenders for the title “All-Round Champion of Kitchen Tools”. When matchmaking your needs to the choice of many food processors available in Singapore, it comes down to what you value most. Would you prioritise size? Multifunctionality? Bowl capacity? Does it come with flexible accessories — jugs, blades, whisks and more? We can be spoilt for choice when it comes to kitchen machines in Singapore. Still, the rule of thumb is to choose a processor that you can optimise for multiple purposes. Beyond that, it also means selecting a machine that creates opportunities for you to do more. Check out this article where we did a machine comparison on the Food Processor vs Blender.

Minimise clutter by choosing an all-in-one machine

Minimalist cooks may consider a smaller processor to avoid taking up storage space. Among the range of Kenwood food processors, we wager the Kenwood

Have you always dreamt of being a wow-worthy cook? Maybe, with all the time we’ve got staying at home, it’s time to learn how to cook with flair. And perhaps the exciting world of food accounts on TikTok can help! Looking to whip up a spicy Mexican dish or a creamy Italian pasta recipe? TikTok has got your back. Prefer local flavours? No worries, there are Yong Tau Fu and Fried Mee Siam accounts for you too! Most of the recipes aren't tedious to make, and may not require complex kitchen machines at all. So, are you ready to put your chef hat on? The TikTok fanatics here at Love Wholesome have curated a list of the best food TikTokers out there.

The account that understands cooking doesn’t have to be long-winded: @khairulaming

Just learning to cook? Start here. It’s very unlikely that any of the recipes on the TikTok account @khairulaming will make you stumble, even if you’re a beginner. Known for his famous introductory line of "Hey, what's up guys...?", Khairulaming's feed is perfect for those who are new to the culinary world. He started out on Facebook and Instagram and have recently joined the Tiktok fraternity in 2020. Don’t be surprised to see a TikTok of chilli c

The mere mention of Southeast Asian cuisines brings to mind a melting pot of cultures and flavours. Home to some of the world’s greatest cuisines, the region is also where you can find Michelin-star epicurean delights in the humble surroundings of a Singapore hawker centre or the backstreets of Kuala Lumpur. In the cities of Ho Chi Minh or Yangon, you could sit at a rickety roadside stall to slurp down a simple yet richly fragrant bowl of steaming pho or Mohinga for an unforgettable gastronomic experience, where every ingredient tells a story through its delicious flavours. If you’re in Malaysia’s northwest state of Kelantan, you’ll get treated to a feast that blends the best of both Thailand and Malaysian cuisines in an aromatic serving of ulam rice called Nasi Kerabu. The recipe is a close relative to the popular Southern Thailan

After the back-to-back festive feasting during Christmas and Chinese New Year, chances are your body is yearning for a clean diet. Here’s where a plant-based diet can help! High in fibre and rich in vitamins and minerals, the meat-free ingredients help you maintain a good energy level throughout the day, improve digestion, and boost overall health. Concerned that eating clean means eating bland or boring? Have no fear! Here’s a “free trial” to help you sample a meal’s worth of tasty plant-based dishes and find out whether it’s for you!

Start Off With The Avocado Banana Smoothie

We’re starting off creamy, sweet, and healthy! Smoothies are a delicious way to easily get all the goodness on the go with little to no preparation. All you need is a strong trusty blender, and once you pop everything in, you’re ready to go! Get this, it only needs 5 ingredients and 5 minutes - perfect for you to start the day quickly. Ingredients:

• 1 large frozen banana
• 1/2 medium ripe avocado
• 1 scoop plain or vanilla protein powder
• 1 large handful of greens of choice
• 1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk (or any dairy-free milk)

Method:

We live in a world of instant gratification, where 24/7 connectivity breeds the need for instant results at your fingertips. The rapid exchange of information has shaped our daily lives, right down to what and how we cook – gone are the days where aspiring cooks read bible-sized cookbooks from cover to cover. Instead, they look to the internet for bite-sized kitchen tips. Not surprisingly, social media foodies, particularly those on Tiktok and Instagram, have found ways to garner fame and followings through so-called kitchen hacks, which are meant to make food prep easy for people who have never cooked anything from scratch in their lives. But do these kitchen hacks even work? Or have they been staged to work just that one time, for the sake of social media validation? Love Wholesome tries out 8 viral kitchen hacks to separate the duds from the hits.

1. Squeezing the juice from a lemon without a knife

In this hack, a skewer is used to poke a hole through the lemon to squeeze the juice out. It is meant to keep your lemon fresh if you are after just a little juice, as sliced lemons dry out in the fridge. Simply roll the lemon with your hand on the kitchen top, poke a hole in it with a skewer, toothpick, or a screwdriver, and gather whatever wrist strength you have to squeeze the juice out. Did it work? In short, this trick works, but

Cooking or baking can be an extremely procedural past-time, especially for those who are new to it. It isn’t as straightforward as other hobbies, and many people have abandoned their newfound passion because of how frustrating it can be. But if you are serious about perfecting that roast beef you have been working on, or you just want to bake your own chocolate cookies for a change, here are some tips that you should consider if you want more consistent results and less fuss.

1. Cooking thermometers

Ovens come in many builds and sizes, and they may have different temperature ranges. Fan-forced ovens heat up very quickly and oftentimes, no preheating is required. If your cakes crack or burn easily, it is likely due to an overheated oven. On the other hand, if it sinks in the middle, it could be due to too-low temperatures. Likewise, optimal temperatures are most ideal for roasting meat. You don’t want to serve an undercooked chicken to your guests. If you are deep-frying breaded meats, you may need a thermometer to check for oil temperatures to avoid burning and overcooking. Invest in thermometers for your oven, meat and stovetop cooking to take the guesswork out and make your cooking and baking journeys a lot easier.

2. Measuring spoons and cups

When you are deep in the throes of making your favourite dish, you don’t want to be converting measurements from metric to imperial, or vice versa. It breaks your concentration and spoils the pleasures of cooking. This applies to cup measurements, too, which can v

Nut milk has long been a popular alternative to dairy milk for vegans and those suffering from lactose intolerance or dairy-related allergies. More recently, the list of dairy-free choices has expanded to include grain-based milk beverages, including one known as horchata. Horchata originates from a Mediterranean tradition of grinding grains to create drinks (the name comes from the Latin word hordeata, which in turn originates from hordeum or barley). These drinks have been an important alternative form of protein for people consuming plant-based diets or living in places where dairy sources were unavailable. There are many, many types of horchata around the world. Drinkers in the Mediterranean as well as Latin America, where the drink is also popular, have their preferred recipes and flavour combinations. The sky really is the limit when picking your horchata ingredients. You can make a horchata drink from rice, sesame seeds, barley or even pumpkin and melon seeds. A popular version in the Mediterranean and parts of Africa is making horchata out of grains and tubers such as tiger nuts and rice.

Not that kind of nut

Don’t be fooled by the name: tiger nuts are not actually nuts. Although they come from the tuber family, they earned this misleading name because they have stripes like tigers and taste like almonds or pecans. Producers harvest the marble-sized tiger nuts from the yellow nutsedge plant. Researchers have found that in West African countries such as Nigeria and Mali, tiger nuts are a popular and cheap source of protein. I

What is milk anyway, and why is it white?

Milk is fundamental to mammals. In fact, it’s one of our defining characteristics; “mammal” comes from the same root as “mammary,” i.e. the gland that produces milk. It is composed of water, butterfat globules (the white, “milky” part) plus carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, especially calcium, B vitamins. With carbs, protein, fat and micronutrients, it’s the perfect cocktail for a young mammal to grow and survive, and an excellent pan-nutritional food for adult humans.

Whole or skimmed?

Low fat or skimmed milk (in which the fat content has been separated and “skimmed” from the solution) has been marketed as a sort of diet milk, with fewer calories and fats. However, whole milk is not exactly swimming in fat to begin with. It usually has 3.5 to 4 percent fat content. (Even the fattiest milks, from, for example, Jersey cattle, only have around 5 percent fat content.) But fat (like protein and carbohydrates) is a necessary macronutrient, and it helps the body absorb fat-soluble vitamin A and D, which means skimmed milk may actually provide fewer of those vitamins though the content is technically the same. Furthermore, new research suggests fat has wrongly taken the blame for obesity and heart disease. Sugar is a much bigger culprit, and it is often added to low fat milk to make it taste better, which might be one reason why children who grow up drinking skimmed milk actually seem to be more obese, some studies suggest.

Is it OK to drink skimmed milk if I am lactose intolerant?

Unfortunately, no. Lactose, or milk sugar, is broken down by lact

The fermentation craze is here to stay. Demand for kombucha, sourdough bread, and kimchi is still strong, with many people becoming fans of probiotics for their purported benefits. Consumers even report better gut health, improved moods and smoother digestion. Naturally, here at Kenwood’s LoveWholesome, we’re here to discuss the home-made counterparts of these fermented treats. If you are looking to begin your journey through the world of fermentation, know this: not all fermented foods are created equal. Popular ones like kombucha are easy and quick enough to turn around, and you could easily reap your rewards by drinking a glass of booch every day. But others like beer or sourdough bread are arguably better left to the experts. Here is a list of famous fermented foods and their difficulty ratings from 1 to 5. The more difficult it is, the more you should consider buying it from the supermarkets or choosing a fermented food that is easier to prepare.

Kombucha, milk kefir and water kefir

Kombucha, or fermented teas, are probably the easiest of fermented foods to make. All you need is a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), some black, white or green tea bags, white sugar, water, and a large jar. Combine the tea, sugar, and water in a large jar, and slip the SCOBY in. Bottle it in a flip-top bottle with your favourite fruit and herbs for added flavour and fizz. With a bottle of kombucha costing anywhere from $5 to $8, you could save a lot of money making your own. Not to mention, you'll have the flexibility to create your own funky fresh flavours! Like kombucha, milk kefir and water kefir are also extremely easy to make. Instead of the jelly-like SCOBY used for kombucha, milk kefir uses kefir grains, while water kefir uses kefir crystals. All you need to do is add the grains or crystals to milk or water, and wait a few days for them to ferment. You could make fizzy fruity beverages with water kefir if you are concerned about the caffeine con