The recipes in this book come from one family that has been thrown together from Occident and Orient, from cold climate to tropical environment: China, Malaysia, Iraq and Germany. Some dishes have been handed down from our mums and dads, some have been created in Malaysia, some in Iraq, some in Germany. More than one are combinations of both cuisines and some have been acquired during extensive travels in Asia. We cook this polyglot fare at home as our family dinners, they are our everyday favourites.
The ingredients include cold weather vegetables like cabbage, mushrooms and potatoes as well as produce grown in the tropical climate such as fern tips, mangoes or okra.
With these diverse origins, there still is one common link: The use of aromatic seasonings and fragrant herbs and spices. Most of the dishes we cook use chillies or ginger to give them some hot ‘kick’. Onion and garlic are used liberally. Now this is fairly common for many Asian dishes, but we apply it to almost all cuisines. No steamed broccoli and white sauce in this kitchen! A typical German ingredient such as the humble but slightly bland potato gets really delicious when accompanied by lots of onion and fried as a crisp pancake-like ‘Reibekuchen’, which is traditionally served with Apfelkompott (apple sauce) but just as delectable with Indian Acar!