--- Watch The Cook Up with Adam Liaw on weeknights on SBS Food (Ch.33) at 7.00pm. Stream all episodes anytime at. ---
Khanh Ong first appeared on our TV screens cooking intricate dishes, but these days, he'd rather keep things simple.
"I found that when I first came off MasterChef [Australia], I was trying to be very MasterChef-y, trying to make things complicated or impressive by using heaps of techniques," Ong explains.
"Now, I'm like, 'Let's put everything into a pot, let's make it affordable and let's make it easy'. When I share my recipes, I want people to make them, and if it's too expensive or too technical, people don't make them and then I've lost what I'm doing."
In Table for One, published on TikTok and Instagram, he shares the meals he cooks for himself at home.
His bang bang chicken salad with cucumber, apple and a spicy dressing has been a big hit.
"You cook the chicken breast on low heat, very gently, so you don't dry it out. A lot of people get scared about cooking chicken breast, but doing it this way is failproof," he promises.
The vibrant chef, presenter and author also makes doughnuts that only have two ingredients: Greek yoghurt and self-rising flour (plus cinnamon sugar, for rolling).
"That recipe is really popular with my followers who have kids because it's high in protein, you know exactly what's going into it and it's very simple. And the kids like to roll the doughnuts," he says.
Pantry staples
With cold weather hitting Melbourne, Ong has been making lots of stews, so he likes to keep stock on hand. He uses liquid stock, as well as concentrated stock pots and powdered stock.
"There's an application for every type of stock, but my favourite are the stock pots right now because there's so much flavour and you can control how much liquid goes into the dish," he says.
He also relies heavily on his sauce collection: "You spend a lot of money at the beginning to collect them, but once you have your soy, balsamic vinegar, Chinese cooking wine, fish sauce, oils and things like that, you can make anything delicious."
And if you look in his fridge, you'll always find herbs. To keep them fresh for up to 10 days, he washes them, wraps them in chucks or paper towels, and places them in a container.
The kitchen tools he can’t live without
Like many other chefs, Ong swears by his Microplane grater, which he describes as one of the most useful, versatile tools you can have in the kitchen.
He also loves his palette knife to flip fish and other proteins, as well as to spread sauces.
When I share my recipes, I want people to make them.
His third essential is a silicon spatula, and he says you don’t have to splurge for the fancy ones.
"I've purchased some expensive silicon spatulas and some very cheap silicon spatulas, and I sometimes find the cheap ones better.
"What I'm after in a silicon spatula is one that has a lot of movement, and sometimes, I find that the more expensive ones are too rigid. You use them for stirring and scraping the sides of pans and bowls, so you need to have a lot of movement."
