You can imagine the chaos - pots went missing, wrong and mixed up ingredients, pots of curries went a-missing, recipe sheets not tallying with presentations, etc. That’s what happened when seventy top Asian chefs, advisors and culinary commentators descended on the Culinary Institute of America’s (CIA) campus in Napa Valley, California, for their World Of Flavours conference on Asia earlier this month.(November 07)

But like all good managers and chefs in a predicament inside the kitchen, a symphony somehow brews. They settled for other pots, improvised on ingredients and modified the recipes based on what’s available in the host’s country. This time around, the conference comprised native master chefs and hawkers from Korea, Japan, Vietnam, China, India, Thailand and a ten-person team from Singapore. Even the effervescent food TV show host and writer Martin Yan was there hamming it up for the 700 industry guests. The chefs and experts had to conduct several talks, master-classes, hold hot kitchen show and tell sessions, present classroom kitchen lectures and organise full blown stage kitchen lecture hall presentations on people, dishes, heritage and techniques; in-between cooking for the showcase luncheons and dinners. The core Singapore team comprised of Sam Leong of the Tung Lok Group, Ng Kwok Yin from Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant, Louis Tay from the Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel, Roti Prata man Zulkifli from Tekka Market and a team from the Grand Hyatt’s Straits Kitchen comprising Andi Ng, Brian Cleere and Auntie Belle with presenters Christopher Tan, Violet Oon and myself. At the word go, everyone was minding their own behinds gathering equipments, ingredients, briefing assistants from CIA, finding space to work, testing the fires, meeting up, creating powerpoints with photos and testing recipes for the shows.

Sam Leong from Tung Lok Group & Andi Ng from Grand Hyatt's Straits Kitchen

Then, heaven forbid, the curry powder was nowhere to be found for Zul’s roti prata sessions.

You can picture the panic and near helplessness (as ingredients are ordered to exact portions for each contingent’s needs, no pinching from the Indian team was tolerated), until the sweet yet fiery ol’ Auntie Belle (Mdm Christibelle Savage) came to the rescue. She gathered shallots, ginger, cloves, lemon grass, galangal, pepper, turmeric, cardamom, garlic, chillies and whatever relevant items she could find at our station, blended them, stir-fried them, tossed the chicken pieces in and blessed it with coconut milk and a hint of tamarind and tomatoes, and created one of the best curry lemak ayam I’ve ever had with roti prata, all done quietly without fear and compromise. The stinging aroma from her rempah and from Chef Ng’s fiery (I hadn’t before known ground peanut paste was a key ingredient here) chilli crab sauce was distracting the Japanese and the Chinese team nearby. They peeled away from their daikon fettucine and pork pancakes and gravitated towards the smell with the Japanese digital cameras in tow and their friendly incoherent English that said, “Can I take pictures and try some please?”. It was acceded to and they happily went on back to create their savoury sushi rice (like our lor mai fan) coated with rice crispies toasted to perfection, and their Mao’s braised pork.

Aunty Belle & Mr. Martin Yan at
Culinary Institute of America's campus in Napa Valley

Then, Auntie Belle went on to create the Roti Jalla (lacy pancakes) with Devil’s Curry for my presentation and there was a mild commotion. Chefs from India (who have never heard of this Portuguese Peranakan curry), Thailand and Vietnam were all over her pot and pan. The roti jalla batter streaming off her multi tipped strainer onto the flat pan was a pretty sight and the vinegar and chilli laced Devil’s Curry was possessing them. They needed to know what something smelling so piquant, hot and spicy was like, with a pretty, lacy and soft pancake. Asst Professor Kobkaew Naipinij, a royal Thai food trainer at the Suan Dusit Culinary institute in Bangkok, was so impressed, she asked for the recipe and a whole bowl of it.

It even prompted key conference presenter Ms Mai Pham to comment about how she had always thought good chefs cannot be found in hotels, until she met Auntie Belle.

Roti Jalla with Devil's Curry

Her roti jalla recipe (which goes well with chicken curry):

5 beaten eggs
430gms- evaporated milk
water - 3.4 litres
34gms - salt
2.3kg - wheat flour
turmeric for colour.

Method: mix the eggs, water and milk well. Next slowly add the wheat flour, whisking it in to prevent bubbling and curdling. It should be lightly thick like a mushroom soup. Add salt and turmeric powder for taste and colour. Let it settle for ten minutes and strain it over a flat pan on medium fire. When cooked and soft, roll it up or fold them into triangles and serve with curry.