LUCKYRICE Talk + Taste Cooking Demos

This article is written by guest contributor, Deeksha Hebbar.

I walked into the LUCKYRICE Talk + Taste event without knowing exactly what to expect. All I knew was that I’d get the opportunity to taste the delectable creations of 5 renowned Asian chefs. What I got was a lot more than just that.

The LUCKYRICE Festival is a eleven-day long food festival here in New York City running from April 30th to May 10th raising awareness and enjoyment of Asian cuisine while also raising funds for City Harvest, an organization that helps alleviate hunger in the city.

Taste and Talk featured a line up of great chefs from across Asia, from Malaysia and Singapore to Korea for a five-hour long event on Sunday, May 2nd. Unsurprisingly, the demo room in the International Culinary Center was packed to gills with over 100 people from the very beginning of the event at noon.

The event opened with Zak Pelaccio, owner and chef of Fatty Crab and Fatty ‘Cue teaching the audience how to make his famous Short Rib Rendang. He was extremely knowledgeable about South East Asian cooking, having spent a year training in Malaysia and Thailand. I particularly enjoyed his practice of sending around several ingredients – ginger, chili powder – to show the audience the importance of high quality, traditional components in his cooking. The resulting rendang was so delicious that I was forced to break my typical ban on eating red meat – its enticing fragrance was too much to resist. The meat was tender and flavorful, filled with a lovely taste of coconut and ginger. Needless to say, I was glad I broke my self-imposed ban.

Next up was Eddie Huang, proprietor of BaoHaus, who was nothing short of a character. He gave up his work as a lawyer to become a cook (his word, not mine) much to his mother’s chagrin. Happily for everyone, his mother is now quite content with her son’s decision to follow his passion for food. Eddie cooked a delicious Beef Noodle Soup and Tarofongo – quite yummy, albeit a bit cold. I know shamefully little about Taiwanese cuisine and found his demonstration quite enlightening. According to Eddie, ingredients such as bamboo, dried shrimp, nine pagoda basil and pork fat are particularly Taiwanese in nature. You learn something new everyday, it seems.

I also learned that there are many lawyers who secretly love cooking. Willin Low, an acclaimed Singaporean chef of Wild Rocket, had been an attorney for eight years working for Singapore Airlines before realizing that it was time to pursue another passion – cooking! He was very friendly and articulate, and a pleasure to watch and learn from. His dish of Laksa Prawns was simple and delicious, the principal ingredient being Laksa, or Vietnamese mint. His homeland of Singapore is a particularly interesting culinary paradise given its amalgamation of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Western cooking. Clearly I need to add yet another Asian country to my traveling list.

Having toured through Malaysia, Taiwan, and Singapore, it was now time for a pitstop in Korea. Jennifer Maeng, a former beauty pageant winner and restaurant owner, taught the audience how to make some delicious Kimchi and related foods. The beauty of kimchi is its simple nutritive deliciousness. Jennifer combined simple ingredients of napa cabbage, apples, leeks and spices to make a fresh and succulent snack. Yum. Given my love for pickles, it was no surprise that I enjoyed her kimchi, whose history goes back to the days of when Koreans had to pickle vegetables in order to save them for the winter. Jennifer also used this kimchi to make some great pancakes, which we paired with a Korean rice liquor called Makgeolli in a traditional Korean farmer’s snack. Perhaps Korea was my home in a previous life.

By this point, you might imagine that we were stuffed beyond imagination and couldn’t possibly eat any more. Well, I was certainly full but had to save room for the final chef – Ching-He Huang, an accomplished British cook and soon-to-be Cooking Channel star. It is no surprise that Ching has a cooking show – she is unbelievably knowledgeable about food, adorable, and generally magnetic. You couldn’t help but love her! She prepared quite a spread – Bamboo Wrapped Chicken Glutinous Rice, Coriander Prawns and Longjing Tea, and Steamed Wine Sea Bass. Among the three I enjoyed the Sea Bass the most, because of the subtle flavors and the fresh crunch of the accompanying vegetables. Overall, it was quite the delicious Chinese meal.

As you can imagine, after the five hours were up I waddled my way out of the International Culinary Center into the hustle and bustle of SoHo on a hot spring day. I had not only spent the afternoon eating my way through East Asia, but I also learned more about how to put together some delicious food. It had been an amazing Sunday.

Photos by Sherry Li for Appetite for Good.

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