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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw - Season 9 Episode 47 - By Popular Demand
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00:21Hello, I'm Adam Lee, and welcome to The Cook Up.
00:23Because what is the point of cooking if it isn't up?
00:25And tonight we are cooking up churros, steamed cod, turmeric,
00:28krajai and fennel, and chewy chocolate brownies.
00:30Let's meet our guests.
00:32Chef and restaurateur B Satongun says that a dish without history
00:35is a dish without soul.
00:37And that's why you'll discover history-laden Thai cuisine
00:39at her acclaimed, award-winning restaurants,
00:41Paste Bangkok and Paste Australia.
00:43Hello, B.
00:44Hi, Adam. Thank you for having me here.
00:46Great to have you here.
00:47Comedian and writer Bron Lewis grew up in Canberra.
00:49She worked at Bell Conron Mall Donut King,
00:51where her manager Tracy accused her of stealing
00:53a 70-cent cinnamon donut.
00:54We'll be checking her bags when she leaves tonight.
00:56Welcome, Bron.
00:56Hey, oh, my gosh.
00:59This is slander.
01:00This is good television.
01:02Did you do it?
01:04I... It was 25 years ago, and I would like to say that,
01:08for the future of my career, I did not do it.
01:11But, yes, I did give heaps for free away, OK?
01:14It's my gift to my friends.
01:16The Robin Hood of Bell Conron Mall Donut King.
01:19Yes, well, 14, nine months, and we're excited to have our own first jobs,
01:23and someone had a bit of power, and, yes, it was me with cinnamon donuts.
01:27Here you go, Leah.
01:28No, you can't be punished for that.
01:30Well, Tracy thought otherwise, and I'll never forget you.
01:33Shout out to Tracy, but I can see both sides of this.
01:37She has a job to do also.
01:38Ah, whatever.
01:40B, 2018, you were Asia's Best Female Chef.
01:44Yep.
01:44Crowned at the World's 50 Best Awards.
01:47Yep.
01:48What was that feeling like?
01:50It's quite nervous.
01:52Yeah.
01:53And honour to get that award as well.
01:56Yeah.
01:56But after that, it's like a...
01:58It's that weight that you have to carry.
02:01You hear this a lot.
02:03You know, you've done literally the lot.
02:05You've got good food guide chef hats.
02:06You've got Michelin stars.
02:08And...
02:09And the weight of that just, like...
02:11I mean, you hear a lot about the pressure, but it's real, isn't it?
02:14It is, because people come into your restaurant
02:16and they have, like, a high expectation.
02:19It's the same with comedy.
02:21It would be, if you get an award for something,
02:23then people come and go,
02:24what'd they get the award for?
02:25I didn't like it.
02:25So, everyone has different tastes.
02:27Mm.
02:27But I am sure I would love your restaurant.
02:30I know it.
02:31Well, just like me,
02:32when I sing back-to-back songs at karaoke night,
02:35tonight's recipes are...
02:36..by popular demand.
02:40Whoa.
02:41Bea, what's the most popular dish at your restaurant?
02:46Watermelon with ground salmon salad.
02:48Oh, OK.
02:49Yeah, it's been on the menu since 2013,
02:53and people are loving it.
02:55Yeah, it's just the contrast of everything on the plate.
02:59And then, yeah.
03:00Yeah, it sounds really interesting.
03:02Ron, you sell out stadiums all over Australia now.
03:06Theatres.
03:07Theatres.
03:07Town halls.
03:09Backyards.
03:09RSLs.
03:10That kind of thing.
03:11You're like...
03:12But what is it like?
03:13You have a huge following now.
03:16You have sell-out shows.
03:17That must be...
03:18That must feel good, right?
03:19Oh, it feels wonderful.
03:20Yeah.
03:20Because before this, I was a teacher,
03:21and it truly was a real swing in the dark
03:24of leaving a profession and being like,
03:26well, maybe I'll try this.
03:28And for a lot of people, it doesn't work.
03:30It's like they say,
03:31when I quit my job as a teacher to become a comedian,
03:33they all laughed at me,
03:34but nobody's laughing now.
03:36I hope they're laughing.
03:37Please!
03:39Well, my son Christopher has asked me
03:41about a thousand times to make churros.
03:48Okay.
03:48Churros.
03:49Bron, I actually didn't know the story of your cinnamon donut alleged heist
03:54when I decided to make churros,
03:56but I love churros because I love cinnamon donuts.
03:59I think they're the perfect donut.
04:01Yeah.
04:01And sometimes they're free.
04:04You know the right people.
04:07So we were on, these weren't free,
04:10but we were on holiday in Port Douglas
04:12and we went to a Spanish restaurant there
04:14when my son, who is now 12,
04:18was probably nine or so.
04:21And he tried churros for the first time
04:23and it was like the scales falling from the eyes.
04:25He was like, oh my God, where have these been all my life?
04:27And I'm like, well, yeah.
04:29So he asked me all the time now to make churros.
04:31So here we are.
04:32Great.
04:32On television making churros.
04:35B, what was your first job?
04:38Um, secretary.
04:39Oh.
04:40Oh, okay.
04:40Yeah.
04:41And when I first start, like, um,
04:43and then I want to become a chef,
04:45no one believed that I can do it.
04:47Really?
04:47Yeah, because, um, you know, the secretary,
04:50um, it's like people not believe that I can cook, so.
04:53Oh, okay.
04:54Yeah.
04:54It was too much of a big jump from secretary dish to the kitchen.
04:57Mm.
04:57Right.
04:58Well, you had such an interesting career
04:59because your mother ran like a street food stall in Thailand,
05:03so you were working out, working, sort of helping out your mum.
05:07Yeah.
05:07And then you were a secretary,
05:08and then you said, oh, I'm just going to become the world's best chef,
05:10you know?
05:11Yeah.
05:12Like, just like that.
05:13No problem.
05:15So what I'm doing with my churro dough here is I've got,
05:20I've boiled water, I put with some butter in it,
05:24put in some vanilla, a little bit of sugar,
05:26and then I just, I'm folding in first flour,
05:29and now a couple of eggs.
05:31And that's going to go into a piping bag,
05:33and I'm going to start to pipe my churros.
05:38So, that's my dough.
05:40Now, you don't want this to go cold,
05:42because it's got a lot of butter in it,
05:44it's got a lot of...
05:47..but also you don't want it to be too hot,
05:49because then you'll cook the eggs.
05:50So what I'm going to do is just keep it kind of warm.
05:53And it sounds picky when you say,
05:56don't let it get too hot, don't let it get too cold,
05:57but it's actually very forgiving.
05:59So usually what people do is they'll put it into a piping bag
06:02and then, you know, put it on a windowsill
06:05or on top of an oven or something,
06:07so it just doesn't go cold and seize up.
06:11B, is it important for a restaurant to be popular?
06:16Because sometimes I think this is an interesting thing,
06:19because I guess, for example, for someone like Bron,
06:21there's no limit other than the population of the earth
06:25to how many people can be fans of a comedian.
06:28But for a restaurant, there's a very clear limit.
06:30How many seats does your restaurant have?
06:31Um, 60.
06:33So if you can get 60 people on the seats every night,
06:36does a restaurant need to be more popular than that?
06:38If customer want to come, they will come the next day
06:42or the next week or something.
06:44Yeah.
06:45Being booked out once isn't going to deter them from coming back.
06:48Yeah.
06:48Yeah.
06:50Ooh.
06:50So I'm not going to make these too large.
06:55But another thing about making sure it doesn't get too cold
06:59is that it's easy to pipe when it's warm.
07:01There's something vaguely mesmerising about doing this,
07:04like watching it extrude out of the piping bag
07:06and then giving a little slice.
07:09One thing I will recommend, though,
07:11is actually just letting it pipe into the oil first
07:16so it doesn't stick,
07:18and then cutting it.
07:22Cinnamon sugar.
07:25You'd be familiar with this, Ron.
07:27Am I?
07:27Yes, I am.
07:28Donut heist days.
07:31I truly think that cinnamon doughnuts are the gold standard for doughnuts.
07:36A hot cinnamon doughnut.
07:37Yeah.
07:38What would, in Thai cuisine, be the equivalent of, like, a cinnamon doughnut?
07:43Hmm.
07:44It's maybe the egg drop.
07:46Oh, yes.
07:48Yeah.
07:48They're wonderful.
07:49Like, um, that egg that drop into the syrup and then, um, it's quite yummy.
07:54They're really quite wonderful.
07:56And this is possibly one of the things that I think we have a real misconception about
08:02Thai food in Australia is it's, oh, it's just all street food and things.
08:05But the things that you do at paste, they're very much like royal Thai cuisine
08:10that then gets adapted.
08:11Like, once it was just eaten by the royal family,
08:13but now it can be eaten by, you know, anyone who goes to B's restaurant.
08:18Yes.
08:19Now, Bron, can you guess what I've done here?
08:22You put a tin in some water, Adam.
08:24I did.
08:25But I boiled that water for two hours with the tin inside it.
08:28Oh.
08:29Okay.
08:29Is that to make it caramelized?
08:31Yeah.
08:32Yeah, making sort of a, a very light dulce gelicia.
08:35You can do this at any number of kind of points.
08:38Like, it will get gradually darker and firmer as it goes on.
08:41I want this one to be quite soft, so I've only done this for about two hours.
08:43One thing that can happen though, it doesn't really, it doesn't explode,
08:46but it can build up a little excess pressure in there.
08:49So I just cover it with a towel when I open it.
08:53Just to stop any kind of spitting back at you.
08:57And there.
08:58Oh, look at that.
08:59It's very simple.
08:59You get a very simple kind of caramel.
09:02Delicious.
09:03I love caramel.
09:04My churros, I think, are very nearly done.
09:08They look quite light, but that's good.
09:10Like, you don't want to overcook them.
09:12And they will look a lot darker once they've come out of the cinnamon sugar.
09:17So I'm just going to firstly just drain off a little bit of that oil first before I dump them
09:23into the cinnamon sugar.
09:35Just coat those around there.
09:38I have to say my cinnamon sugar is very cinnamony because I find a lot of cinnamon sugars just have
09:43too much sugar and not enough cinnamon.
09:45And I love the cinnamon taste in these.
09:48They look good.
09:49They look yummy.
09:50My dulce de leche, I'm not going to even bother doing anything other than just take some nice scoops of
09:55that.
09:56And then I'll just start to put my very well-appointed churros out here.
10:08Possibly went slightly overboard on the cinnamon sugar, but, you know, I really do like it.
10:14By popular demand, churros.
10:20I much prefer churros with caramel to chocolate, but that's just me.
10:23I understand that people like it with chocolate, but...
10:26I've never seen it done with caramel.
10:28And I have to say, it is better.
10:30It's much better.
10:31So yummy.
10:33With that cinnamon.
10:35So good.
10:36I am glad you like them.
10:38When we return, Bron and Bea will start cooking.
10:52Welcome back to The Cook Up.
10:53Tonight we are making recipes by popular demand, and I've asked popular comedian Bron Lewis and popular chef Bea Setongen
10:58to join me.
10:59Bea, what are you making?
11:01Steam cut with turmeric, akashai and fennel.
11:04Amazing.
11:05And Bron?
11:06I am making a gooey chocolate brownie.
11:08Yum.
11:16All right, Bron, gooey chocolate brownie.
11:18Yes.
11:19And here we have just heated up some water, and on top I've got a heat-proof bowl.
11:27Mm-hmm.
11:27We've got chocolate and butter, and we're just melting it.
11:29You're doing it in a bain-marie, a water bath.
11:32Oh, is that what it's called?
11:33That's what it's called, yeah.
11:34A bain-marie.
11:35Hey, I grew up with bain-maries.
11:37Hey, as a former teacher, here's a question that I genuinely do not know the answer to.
11:42Yes?
11:43You've got a school full of kids who have to bring a packed lunch to school.
11:47Yes.
11:47Do teachers bring packed lunches to school?
11:49Yes, they do.
11:50Okay.
11:51Of course they do, yeah.
11:52I didn't know there was like a special teacher's menu at a cafeteria or something, you know.
11:55Well, that's the thing.
11:55I'm not sure what it's like in every state, but in Victoria, where I live, a lot of schools
12:00don't have canteens.
12:01There's no tuck shops.
12:02Sure.
12:02So unless you're going to schlep over to the cafe every day.
12:05Yeah.
12:05And teachers aren't known for making heaps of coin.
12:08Uh-huh.
12:08So they just bring their own.
12:10Yeah.
12:11Amazing.
12:11So this is like butter and chocolate.
12:14Butter and chocolate, yeah.
12:14So it's forming the base of what is going to be a deliciously gooey brown?
12:18Oh, yeah.
12:18Yeah.
12:19Love it.
12:21B.
12:22Oh, we're starting, we're making coconut cream?
12:25Yep.
12:25The fresh coconut milk.
12:27Wow.
12:28Fantastic.
12:28So this is a coconut.
12:31Yep.
12:31And you're taking this part of it here.
12:33Yep.
12:33That's correct.
12:34And blending it.
12:34What's the difference between coconut cream and coconut milk?
12:37Coconut cream is the one that floats on top.
12:41Yep.
12:41It's more thickened.
12:43And mostly it's used in, sometimes put on top of a dessert or sometimes you fry off the
12:52curry paste with that one.
12:53And then after that you add the coconut milk in at the end.
12:57And it's just hot water that you put in there?
12:59Yep.
13:00Hot water and just blend that.
13:04And now Thai chefs really do swear by this process.
13:08Like getting it out of a can, getting the UHT coconut milk, is not going to be good enough.
13:15With this dish, especially it's kolon in Thai food,
13:20so you need to use the fresh coconut milk to make it
13:26because it's the star of the show.
13:30It's true.
13:31I have Malaysian heritage,
13:34and so for a lot of Malaysian sweets particularly,
13:39having that really fresh coconut cream is so important.
13:43Yep.
13:43And then after that, you need to massage that to get more of that one out, like that.
13:53Wow.
13:55So once you massage that, that will be more thickened.
13:58Is lond like a home-style dish in Thailand, or is it...?
14:03In Thai cuisine, we have like a chilli dip.
14:07Lond is part of that category,
14:10and then it's part of the meal that we have in every meal.
14:17OK.
14:18So we have like a nam prik.
14:19That's what we call as a chilli dip.
14:22And then lond can be like that too.
14:26So, you know, we are pretty familiar with the menu of a Thai restaurant in Australia.
14:31What is the, you know, what are some of the common home-cooked dishes that you would see on a
14:38Thai table?
14:39Or, like, mum comes home from work on Wednesday and makes dinner.
14:44What's that kind of dish?
14:45Pat ka pao.
14:46Gra pao.
14:47Yeah, OK.
14:48Mm-hmm.
14:49That's what, that's like the most popular Thai dish in Australia, the pat ka pao.
14:52Pat ka pao.
14:53Not often made with the holy basil, but still.
14:57I mean, we eat it at home all the time.
15:00It tastes good.
15:01Like, it's good combination.
15:03It's perfect combination with the fried egg on top.
15:06And it's like, if you don't know what to eat, you go to pat ka pao.
15:11Pat ka pao.
15:11OK, that's the, I should say, pat ka pao is like what we would know as chilli and basil, you
15:18know, with pork or beef or chicken or whatever.
15:20That's amazing how easy that is.
15:23Can you put the fish in for me, please?
15:25OK, sure.
15:26Do we want it on the plate or?
15:28Just on the plate is fine.
15:30Too easy.
15:31See you in a few minutes.
15:34Yes.
15:35What's happened?
15:36What has happened here?
15:38All right, so my.
15:38I'm in a positive way.
15:40My butter and my chocolate has melted.
15:42Yep.
15:42Here we've got some eggs and I've put in some brown sugar and I'm going to add some vanilla paste
15:50to this.
15:51Lovely.
15:51And then once this is all together, I'm going to add this into my melted chocolate.
16:00You know what has always struck me as, no pun intended, as funny about comedians?
16:08Oh, yes.
16:09The question is, how hard you guys have to work?
16:13How often would you be doing a gig?
16:16I would be, I think, I reckon I'd be out five nights a week, I think.
16:22And some of them are, you know, some of them are big show or a really well paid gig.
16:27And then some of them is just you go out and you have to practice your jokes.
16:30But, yeah, it is a lot of work and this is a lot of people that do comedy, but the
16:34difference
16:34between people who really make it and don't, and this is my humble opinion, is the people
16:39who are willing to do all the hard gigs.
16:40Yeah.
16:41And there are a lot of hard gigs you have to do before you get the good ones.
16:45A little bit of salt in here.
16:47And then this is my favourite bit, is the walnuts.
16:51The inclusions.
16:53Oh, goodness.
16:53The walnuts.
16:53And then are you putting chocolate pieces in there as well?
16:55Yeah.
16:55So you put these in at the end, they won't, I just, I have a real sweet tooth.
16:59I love it.
17:00I have to have dessert after every single meal.
17:03And if I put this in here, they won't melt completely.
17:06What they'll do is just when we chop it up at the end, they'll be the lovely gooey bits
17:11at the end.
17:12So we've folded that all together.
17:14What is the number one thing that you love about comedy, being a comedian?
17:21I mean, look, there's a funny answer, which is like to get out of the house.
17:25But the real answer is it's just to make that many people laugh.
17:30If, or just solving a riddle, I think that's probably even more accurate, is you don't,
17:36when I say you have to practice a joke in front of a crowd, it can be so funny to
17:40you.
17:40You can say a joke in the car to yourself and think, God, that is hilarious.
17:44And then you go to a club and you try it on stage and no one laughs.
17:47And you think, oh, okay, so there's, I got that wrong.
17:50But it's when you get it right, when you have worked out what makes people laugh,
17:55and you know each and every time this is going to work.
17:59Oh, the power, it's intoxicating.
18:01You know how weird it is?
18:02Because that's actually what I like about cooking.
18:04I see every recipe, every dinner as like a puzzle to solve.
18:07Yes.
18:07And then when you solve that puzzle, there's kind of a rush about it.
18:10Yeah, you've nailed it, exactly.
18:13Wow, something to think about.
18:15B, okay, wow.
18:16So this is the coconut milk that has been blended with some galangal, lemongrass, garlic,
18:23garlic, chili, and kachai.
18:27Kachai, okay, amazing.
18:28So what do we do with this?
18:30So after this one, we put turmeric powder in.
18:34Okay, it's thickened up so much.
18:36Yeah, because this one is the coconut cream.
18:38Right.
18:38So, and now you can put in honey.
18:44So is this, what are we ending up with here?
18:47Is it like a sauce or a dip or?
18:49It's like a sauce.
18:50It's the sauce that to go with the fish.
18:52Okay.
18:53And it's sweet, salty, sour.
18:59And this is what in Thai cuisine we call long.
19:02Mm-hmm.
19:04Amazing.
19:05So that was tamarind?
19:06That's the tamarind.
19:07This is the raw sugar.
19:09Wow.
19:11And then the fish sauce.
19:13Amazing.
19:14And the other things over there, are they garnishes?
19:16Yep, that's garnishes.
19:18But this one, we'll add that one after we finish the seasoning.
19:22And some salt, just a pinch of salt.
19:27I'm not willing to touch this because you are absolutely the boss.
19:31And then now we add that one in, the red onion, the lemon clasp.
19:39This is not something you see in most Thai restaurants in Australia, though, is it?
19:42No, this is actually my recipe.
19:44I'm so proud of this dish.
19:46Yeah.
19:47Wow.
19:47Only the best Thai restaurant.
19:49Like paste.
19:51And then this kashai, add that in.
19:54Yep.
19:55And that's it.
19:56Amazing.
19:57I cannot wait to see what this ends up looking like.
20:00After the break, I'll demand to taste Bron and B's food, politely, of course, and I'll
20:04share my iced strawberry matcha latte recipe.
20:17Welcome back to The Cook Up and a night of recipes requested by popular demand.
20:22B'sa Dongun and Bron Lewis are finishing up.
20:24B, are you nearly done?
20:26Yep.
20:27I'm just slicing this one and then I'm done.
20:29Nice.
20:30And Bron.
20:30Yes.
20:31The brownie is...
20:32Yes.
20:33That is looking gooey and delicious.
20:34It is super gooey, this one, which is exactly what I wanted.
20:39I nailed it.
20:41If I do say so myself, that is the best brownie I've ever made.
20:44I think you've done a bang-up job.
20:47A little bit of rock salt.
20:47I love it.
20:50All right, B, look at this.
20:52This is...
20:53It looks incredible.
20:54So after this, I'm just going to squeeze some lime in to refreshing.
21:01Add fennel for the smell.
21:04Lime leaf on top.
21:06Beautiful.
21:09And then give that crunch from the fry shallot.
21:14Just like that.
21:16And that's it done.
21:18My goodness.
21:19Easy.
21:20You say easy.
21:22Steamed cod, turmeric, crachai and fennel and chewy chocolate brownies.
21:34Be, I've not been this excited for a dish in a very long time.
21:37It just looks amazing.
21:42That is delicious.
21:43Thank you so much.
21:44Oh, so many flavours all at once.
21:46And then get the herbs in there.
21:48Oh, yeah.
21:49And then it will have that different texture.
21:51It is delicious, Be.
21:52The balance between all the different textures is just so quintessentially tight.
21:58You know, you have the slight sweetness of the slight sweetened coconut milk,
22:02but it's balanced with the acidity of the tamarind and the fish sauce.
22:08It gives that savouriness.
22:09But then that bitterness of the crachai is really lovely.
22:13Like, really delicious in that.
22:14That's fantastic.
22:16I love the fennel.
22:17That is such a nice touch.
22:19Yeah.
22:19That's going really well with the fish.
22:23Mm.
22:24All right, Bron.
22:25The gooiest brownie in the West.
22:27That is a gooey.
22:28Look at the texture of that.
22:29That's phenomenal.
22:30Now, you might think that's a small piece, but there is a lot going into this.
22:34It's very rich.
22:36That's delicious.
22:37Mm.
22:39I think you've created the perfect brownie texture.
22:42Mm.
22:42With the nuts.
22:43I love nuts and brownies.
22:44The texture of the nuts is great.
22:44It almost makes it feel gooeyer because you've got the crunch of the nut in there.
22:48I love it because it's so moist in there and it's really nice.
22:52If we're talking popularity, there is not much that is more popular at the moment than matcha.
23:00So, I have Japanese friends who are discovering matcha, or I should say possibly rediscovering matcha for the first time
23:09again just because it is globally popular.
23:11There's like a global matcha shortage because everybody is eating so much matcha now.
23:15So, I thought I would show you how to make a matcha latte, but a more dessert-y version with
23:22strawberry syrup.
23:23So, it starts with matcha the powdered green tea, I'm just going to put it through a little sieve, take
23:29out some of the lumps.
23:30Not hugely necessary, but always good to try.
23:35And then, into that, I'm going to add just a small amount of water and whisk that all together.
23:48So, it's a little bit like, I don't know, lathering shaving foam a little bit more than whisky meek.
23:53It looks like the same thing.
23:55I was like, I've seen this before.
23:56I've seen my dad do this.
23:58I didn't think he was making matcha, though.
24:01But the thing is, quite similar to your dish bee, there's the different textures that you have are also supported
24:10by different flavours.
24:11So, I have a very sweet kind of strawberry syrup that I've made there.
24:17I'm going to put my icing on top of that because I want to layer this up so it looks
24:23nice and pretty.
24:23That's kind of why it's so popular, matcha.
24:26I think it tastes great, but it's also how it looks.
24:30So, into that, I'm going to add my milk, which should sit nicely on top of that.
24:37Oh, that is pretty.
24:41And then, of course, the star of the show.
24:49I'm just going to spoon that on top so that we get the nice layers before it all gets stirred
24:55up.
25:03That's beautiful.
25:05$15 in a cafe.
25:06Yeah.
25:10There we go.
25:11You can see why it's popular, right?
25:12You see that, you know, it beats the fruit cups that I was drinking in the 90s.
25:16It was literally just straight cordial.
25:20Delicious.
25:21Bron, Bea, thank you so much for joining me.
25:23This has been, by popular demand, a fantastic episode.
25:27Thank you for having us.
25:28Thank you so much.
25:29I'm not going to demand that you make tonight's recipes, but I am going to suggest that you'll be very
25:33popular if you do.
25:34If you want more of The Cook Up and more delicious food ideas, head to SBS On Demand.
25:37I'm Adam Liao.
25:38Thanks for watching The Cook Up.
25:39Beware.
25:41Let's do it.
25:41Bye.
25:43Bye.
25:46Bye.
25:48Bye.
25:49Bye.
25:51Bye.
25:52Bye.
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