“When you have something good and add something else good, you have something great,” says Junda Khoo. The celebrated Australian-Malaysian chef and restaurateur uses this culinary equation to reimagine classic dishes for modern tastes. His talent for innovation, deeply rooted in tradition, is fuelled by a passion for bringing people together.
Recalling his grandmother’s “pulling power” in gathering the extended family around the table with comforting meals, Khoo sees cooking for loved ones as an act of service. “I like to provide a service. I always say that my restaurants are family spaces; I cook food that brings people to the table. I picked up quite a few things from my grandmother.”
Khoo’s grandmother’s influence shines through in the homestyle cooking and focus on fresh ingredients at his four buzzing Ho Jiak restaurants in Sydney, and will no doubt be prominent at his ventures under development in Melbourne and at the new Sydney Fish Market.
The standards don’t drop at home, either. “The kids always ask for my cooking,” Khoo says. “They say: ‘It’s not fair, everyone gets to eat Dad’s cooking.’ So, I cook breakfast every morning and keep cooking at home simple and fresh.” Luckily, Khoo’s local IGA is just a one-minute walk from his home. It’s a daily stop for fresh and seasonal produce; less prep time means more family time.
“When you are doing simple home cooking, less is always more,” Khoo says. “You want the best ingredients, so you don’t have to do much to them.”
For a long weekend Easter menu, Khoo has applied his maths magic of good plus good equals great to create crowd-pleasing, simple and affordable dishes. For the beer-battered sweet and sour fish, Khoo brilliantly combined two family favourites: fish and chips and sweet and sour pork. “It’s synergy, combining classics to make modern comfort food,” he says.
Wild-caught whiting is essential in this recipe, and Khoo’s gamechanging tip to head to the frozen section makes it easy to access. “Frozen fish is even fresher than what you can buy at the fish market because it’s frozen on the boat,” he says. “Also, supply steps have been cut out, and the economy of scale makes it more affordable.”
For dessert, the not-so-humble chocolate chip cookie gets its due with the addition of new-season Australian-grown oranges. “It’s a refreshing and decadent cookie that combines zesty citrus and rich chocolate,” he says. “I would bake the cookies a few days in advance, store in a cookie jar, and turn them into dessert. Serve them with vanilla ice-cream and fresh strawberries or slices of orange. If you want to go for the Easter touch, sprinkle a little cinnamon and icing sugar on top.”
Khoo sums it up: “The most important thing is the pulling power of food. And good, tasty, fresh food has that pulling power. Whenever you have this, it will bring everyone to the table.”
Beer-battered sweet and sour fish
Prep 20 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
For the fish
6 whiting fillets, cut into 5cm lengths
1 cup self-raising flour
½ cup cornflour
180ml cold beer, or cold sparkling water (this will give a lighter result)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 pinch ground white pepper
3 tbsp plain flour
1L vegetable oil
For the sweet and sour sauce
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, cut into 1.5cm cubes
½ yellow capsicum, julienned to 3cm length
½ red capsicum, julienned to 3cm length
150g pineapple, cut into 1.5cm cubes
5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
200ml fish stock
200ml tomato sauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
3 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
3 spring onions, cut to 3cm length
Method
Pat the fish. Mix the self-raising flour, cornflour, salt, sugar, and pepper in a large bowl. Slowly add the beer, whisking until smooth. Rest for 10 minutes.
Heat the oil to 180C. Dust the fish with plain flour, dip in the batter and fry three or four fillets for four to five minutes until golden. Drain on a rack or paper towel. Sprinkle with a little salt and transfer to a serving plate.
For the sauce, heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan to smoking point and fry the onion, capsicum, and pineapple for two to three minutes until slightly charred. Remove these ingredients and set aside. Add another tablespoon of oil to the same pan and sauté the ginger until fragrant. Add the fish stock and bring to a boil. Continue to boil for two minutes.
Stir in ketchup, vinegar, sugar and oyster sauce. Simmer for two minutes. Return the charred ingredients to the sauce and simmer for another two minutes to slightly reduce and thicken the sauce. Stir in the spring onions. Pour the simmering sauce over the fish and serve.
Orange choc chip cookies
Prep 30 min – the day before
Cook 30 min
Makes 75 cookies
Ingredients
For the butter mixture
250g softened salted butter
100g brown sugar
60g raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
For the flour mixture
375g plain flour
60g cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
6 tbsp vegetable oil
Add-ins
Zest of 2 oranges
400g chocolate chips
1 punnet of strawberries
Method
In a bowl or electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, raw sugar, vanilla essence and egg until evenly combined. In another bowl, mix the flour, cornflour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Gradually add the flour mixture and oil to the butter mixture, stirring with a spatula or spoon until combined. Fold in the orange zest and chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line baking trays with baking paper. Scoop tablespoon-sized (4cm) dough balls onto trays, leaving space for spreading.
Bake them for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. You may need to bake them in batches depending on your oven and tray space – if so, keep the dough refrigerated between batches.
Once baked, let the cookies cool for five minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.
Serve with fresh strawberries, or slices of orange and ice-cream.
Shop for fresh, seasonal ingredients at your local IGA.
IGA is the Australian launch partner for the Guardian’s cooking and recipe app, Feast. Download Feast on the App store for Apple iOS or Google Play for Android to follow each of these recipes step by step.
