Chef Ili Sulaiman speaks on her love for cooking
“From a young age, my family has always congregated in the kitchen and I would be so curious to what’s going on. I felt most comfortable hanging around my family in the kitchen. The one thing that made me happiest was cooking; cooking for people and my family, talking to my grandmother and attempting to dig out the family’s recipes.”
That’s when Ili Sulaiman realised that food was actually something she should have dived in earlier. The ultimate push was when one of her very close friends was diagnosed with stage four lymphoma and the only way she could deal with her friend’s condition was to cook for him.
“He told me that I ought to be doing this full time and that he has never seen me happier and how good my food was. That’s when I quit my job and began Dish by Ili,” she recollects.
Diari Mangkuk Tingkat,
Dish by Ili and Food Hero
“Initially, Dish by Ili was to celebrate Malaysian food – made using real ingredients, packed into tiffin carriers and delivered to people’s homes. My whole ethos was to preserve my family’s recipes, provide people with home cooked meals because I felt it was better than eating out. Plus the added fact of delivering it in an economical and friendly manner.”
From there, she stumbled upon the opportunity with her first TV show, Diari Mangkuk Tingkat. It had catapulted her to an international level. After that, she entered Asian Food Channel (AFC) and Food Network’s Food Hero competition in 2015, where she emerged as the winner.
A universal language
that brings cultures together
“I’m from a mixed background – my mother is half English, half Chinese, my father is half Sri Lankan, half Malay – therefore I never felt like I belonged anywhere. The way I connected with people is through food. Even at a young age, I would go to my Chinese, Indian and Malay friends’ house and try out different foods.”
“The fondest memories of me growing up was the connection I had with people when a plate of good food was between us. I understand the power of food and how it brings people together no matter what your background is.”
The oil essential to us
Being part of the Malaysian food scene means to cook with Malaysian ingredients. Out of all the ingredients used, palm oil has been noted to have healthy benefits, especially in heart health. This is what Chef Ili has to say
about it:
“Malaysia is a nation that produces palm oil and it’s been in our diets for a very long time. I think that to completely disregard it would contradict what we are as a nation. I knew of a recipe when I was studying in the UK where red palm oil is used as marinate for chicken sous vide to give it a nice pink colour. I was very curious to why Malaysians didn’t cook that way because it was not deep frying but you would still get the palm oil flavour. However, I believe that anything should be consumed in moderation.”
Ili’s ingredients
to a healthy heart
“We are a nation that grew up consuming rice so why are we trying to eradicate it? And as for healthy eating, we are looking to western vegetables, despite the fact that we have so much healthy vegetables here such as ulam, okra, eggplant.”
“Go back to the basics, I say. Start cooking dishes you love – one that’s easy to cook because I believe once you have perfected your favourite dish, it’s easier to expand on other recipes,” she advises. — The Health Plus
Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Pan Seared Prawns.
Chef Ili’s Recipe
- Prawn marinate
- 10 medium prawns, peeled and de-veined
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
- 1cm of ginger
- 1 coriander root
- 1 bird’s eye chilli
- 1 tablespoon of cooking oil of your choice
- Filling
- 12 large rice paper rolls
- 1/2 cucumber, de-seeded and thinly sliced
- 1/2 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
- A handful of Fresh mint
- A handful coriander
- A handful of fresh basil
- 6 spring onions
- 1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
- 2 cups of soften vermicelli noodles
- Peanut sauce
- 2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
- 4 tablespoons of hot water
- 1 tablespoons of chopped shallot
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- • Pound garlic, ginger, coriander and the chilli until smooth before adding fish sauce and oil. Marinate the prawns.
- Heat up the pan and cook the prawns evenly until cooked through and golden then set aside to cool before slicing it down the middle lengthwise
- In a bowl, add in the peanut butter, hot water, chopped shallot, salt and pepper and mix well
- Run some water on the rice paper rolls, place 3 slices of prawns on it before adding a little bit of all the filling ingredients
- Serve the Vietnamese Rolls alongside the Peanut Sauce
