Learn to cook with Juls Lee

Juls Lee (centre) and her students
© Juls Lee

Juls Lee is a cooking teacher whom I have known for many years. She is a gold medalist in Traditional Nyonya Cuisine category at Battle of the Chefs 2016, defeating many celebrity, hotel and restaurant chefs. Battle of the chefs is the biennial culinary Olympics endorsed by World Chefs. She is a personal cooking coach who used to work in a Fortune 500 company but decided to quit her corporate job to pursue her passions - teaching and cooking. A Cooking Coach is a Personal Trainer for the kitchen to teach you how to cook or bake in the privacy of your home kitchen, on your schedule, at your own speed and your pace.

Juls teaches all kinds of cooking and baking, be it Nyonya, Chinese, Western or baking. Her course does not only tell you to follow recipes like other cooking classes, she also teaches you knife skills, food safety, fundamentals of cooking and baking before the class starts and how to cook and bake without recipes. She not only teaches in Penang but also whenever she travels abroad.

Penang-born Juls came from a family steeped in the rice history of nyonya cooking. Her grandmother, aunts and mother are all excellent cooks. She herself is an adventurous cook who loves to try out new ingredients and come up with new recipes of her own. She is an all-rounder chef, not only cooks but bakes, be it sourdough or gluten-free bread and pastries for people who are gluten-intolerant.

Juls makes ice cream, cheese, pickling and the like. She has great interest is in charcuterie where she makes her own bacon, sausages, ham, "lup yuk", "lap cheong", etc., and is very patient when it comes to that, taking days, weeks or even months to get the best flavours out of the meat. The kitchen is her playground where she gets to try out different ingredients to create new dishes. She is an ectomorph, being able to eat a lot and yet doesn't seem to put on any weight.

Want to learn to cook with Juls Lee?

You can reach Juls at her Facebook page, Juls' Kitchen On Fire

Juls' Kiam Chye Recipe

Juls is pleased to share with us her recipe for making kiam chye, or salted mustard green. This recipe enables you to make Salted Mustard Greens (a.k.a. "kiam chye" or "hum choy") at home using no chemicals. It is great for stir-frying, braising with duck or steaming with fish.

Ingredients

- 2 heads mustard greens (1.5kg)
- 80g sea salt

Brine

- 3 litre water
- 3-5 heaping tbsp salt
- 3 ginger slices
- 3 turmeric slices
- 2 tbsp rice flour

Method

1. Wash 2 heads of mustard greens (a.k.a kua chye, 1.5kg) thoroughly, cut into halves or quarters, then apply sea salt (80g) generously on the leaves and wait for at least 2 hours till the veg wilts, pour away any liquid.
2. Heat up 3L water with 3 to 5 heaping tablespoons salt (depends on personal preference), add 3 ginger slices, 3 turmeric slices, 2T rice flour and cool it down to room temperature.
3. Arrange the wilted mustard greens in a container.
4. Pour the cool-down brine into a container, immerse the wilted mustard green into the brine.
5. Tighten the lid, leave it in a cool dark place, wait for 5 days and store away using an airtight container in a fridge. Enjoy at a later date.

The steps in pictures

Salt the leaves generously and wait for the leaves to wilt, at least 2 hours. Cut into halves or quarters to fit into a large container.
© Juls Lee

Arrange the wilted mustard greens in a container. Still look green ...
© Juls Lee

Cook brine and cool it down.
© Juls Lee

Pour the brine and soak the mustard greens in it. Put some weight if needed to make sure the greens are fully immersed.
© Juls Lee

The salted mustard greens look like this after the colour changes.
© Juls Lee

After 5 days, the homemade salted mustard greens are ready to be used. You can store them away in an airtight container in the fridge.
© Juls Lee

Nyonya dishes by Juls Lee

Juls Lee has perfected a wide range of Nyonya dishes, a selection of which is shown here.

Perut Ikan (Nyonya Fish Belly Curry) by Juls Lee
© Juls Lee

Nyonya Too3 Kha1-Cu1 Snui1 (Pork Trotters Braised in White Vinegar), is less common than Too3 Kha3 Chor3 (Pork Trotters Braised in Black Vinegar), but tastes a lot better, says Juls Lee
© Juls Lee