Subtitled “Comfort food from my Malaysian-Scottish kitchen”, Sama Sama is a book of such charm, it just burrowed its way into my heart. I’m talking about real charm – that rare mix of charisma, warmth and idiosyncratic authenticity – not its tinkly counterfeit. There is nothing about this lovely book’s appeal that’s twee or superficial. Julie Lin’s Malaysian-Scottish kitchen, as represented by the recipes here, is a resolutely vibrant and welcoming space, and the food that emanates from it, while predominantly Malaysian-inflected, is actually wide-ranging and unconfined in its influences and origins. Above all, Sama Sama comes across as an honest chronicle of the way Lin cooks and eats, and that’s just so refreshing. (It also happens to be something all my favourite cookbook authors markedly convey in their books.) Plus, given how she cooks and eats, it also makes this book quite irresistible!
The recipe I’ve chosen to share with you today is not hugely representative of the food in the book, as it’s undeniably more luxe ingredient-wise than the rest of the recipes, but I’m afraid I just couldn’t stop myself. And I love that it’s a special splurge recipe that serves one – no less than I love the page facing it in the book, which has nothing on it except, in handwritten capital letters, I’M JUST MAKING A WEE TREAT FOR MYSELF. In this regard, the Steak au Sichuan Poivre I’ve picked for you represents the book as a whole admirably.
Sama Sama by Julie Lin (Ebury Press, £28).
Photography by Liz Seabrook.
