Cookery workshop at Ning Malaysian restaurant in York

ONE mouthful of the chicken rendang has me sending up a prayer to the food gods. The taste is divine: succulent chicken surrounded by a thick sauce packed with pungent flavours of coconut, lime and chilli.

The phrase “food doesn’t get better than this” is widely overused, but in this case it’s true.

I’m at Ning, York’s first Malaysian restaurant, on Tower Street, where executive chef Norman Musa is hosting a cookery day.

First, we are introduced to some of the indigenous ingredients we will be using. Sturdy pandan leaves impart a sweet aroma and are used for flavour as we might use vanilla.

Galangal is from the ginger family and not dissimilar in taste. Lime leaves are dark green and leave a lovely citrus tang. This is enhanced by the use of lemongrass, whose hardy stalk is blended and used widely in Malaysian cuisine.

Fans of Thai food might recognise many of the above. However, the Malaysian kitchen stretches further afield too, borrowing ingredients and flavours from India and China for its store cupboard.

Portuguese colonists added a final key ingredient to the Malaysian culinary palette: chilli from South America as well as pickles and sour flavours such as tamarind that give Malaysian food its distinctive taste.

Norman is arguably Europe’s leading Malaysian chef. Born in Penang, the food capital of Malaysia, he has his own TV series in his homeland and appears on the local MasterChef.

He opened his first Ning restaurant in Manchester in 2006 and his second earlier this year at the former Jade Garden Chinese opposite Clifford’s Tower.

Norman has also worked as a race chef on the Formula One circuit, cooking for drivers and guests of Lotus.

“It was an experience,” says Norman, who added the days were crazily long and the kitchens oppressively hot. “We cooked for lots of VIPs like Prince Andrew, the Sugababes and Take That. It was a great way for me to promote Malaysian food.”

His cookbook of authentic recipes, Malaysian Food, is in its third reprint and he is about to bring out his own chocolate range featuring unusual combinations such as milk chocolate with pandan or nutmeg and dark chocolate with star anise or cinnamon.

His cookery courses, well established in Manchester, are just taking off in York.

We make six dishes in the four-hour session, which includes breaking for lunch. We get through so much in a short time because the team at Ning have done most of the hard work for us – prepping the ingredients, so we just have to throw them together in a hot pan.

“My system of cooking curry is easy,” says Norman, with a smile that rarely disappears during the cookery day. “You cook your ginger, onions and garlic, then add your spice, sugar, salt and tamarind, and cook until you get the oil to separate and you can’t go wrong.”

First up, we fry up some murtabak, best described as an omelette pancake. We spoon diced onions, cubed pre-cooked potato, chunks of boiled chicken, along with chilli, curry spices and seasoning into a bowl and add a raw egg to bind it all together.

We turn the mixture on to a hot pan and watch it begin to set; it looks like a Spanish omelette.

Next, we put two squares of spring-roll pastry on a board and lay the “omelette” in the middle. We wrap it neatly then brown it off in the medium-hot pan so the pastry gets a golden, crispy seal. After cutting it neatly into four triangles we dip it into sweet chilli sauce. It tastes great and is so easy to eat (a bit like a samosa or pasty). This is Malaysian street food, but would be perfect for a picnic or pack-up.

We also deep-fry king prawns with beansprouts and chives and have fun making roti jala, a traditional net pancake where the batter is poured into the hot pan using a special container with five funnels.

Two curries are on the menu for the day – and both are quick and easy to make.

The prawn gulai is the lighter of the two, flavoured with cinnamon bark and pandan leaf, but with enough curry powder to make you sit up and pay attention.

But the star of the show – and the menu – is the chicken rendang. The secret in the sweet and spicy yet nutty sauce is the addition of “kerisik”, a roasted coconut that tastes like melted Hobnob biscuits. However the curry base, packed with onion, ginger, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, chilli paste and tamarind juice, also helps create the flavour. A sprinkling of shredded kaffir lime leaves at the end completes this perfect dish which we enjoyed served with rice.

But don’t just take my word for it.

With plenty left over, Norman sends us home with enough “take away” for a family supper.

Later that evening, I reheat everything in the oven. My husband and daughter are instant converts.

Eva, aged ten, says the gulai has the “tastiest prawns I’ve ever eaten”, while husband Nick declares the chicken rendang “one of the best things I’ve ever tasted”.

Family favourites indeed.

Fact file

• Ning, 12-13 Tower Street, York. Telephone: 01904 636 481

• For cookery school inquiries, telephone 0845 519 2878. The next class will be on Sunday, October 28 from 10.30am to 2.30pm. Norman also runs private 1-2-1 classes and corporate cookery events such as client hospitality and team-building; past clients include Deloitte, RBS, AstraZeneca, and Accenture.

• Ning will be taking part in the York Festival of Food & Drink in September, with a street food stall in St Sampson’s Square.

• For more information, visit: ningcatering.com .

Recipe

Norman Musa’s Chicken Rendang

There are many versions of rendang in Malaysia but I make mine a lot simpler – especially with my ‘secret’ method of doing kerisik (roasted coconut) which gives rendang its unique taste sensation!

One serving

6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons blended lemongrass
1 tablespoon blended galangal
½ tablespoon blended onion
½ tablespoon blended garlic
½ tablespoon blended ginger
1 tablespoon dried chilli paste
3 tablespoons tamarind juice
1 tablespoon white sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1/6th creamed coconut block
1 tablespoon kerisik (roasted coconut, see note below)
2 kaffir lime leaves (finely chopped)
Up to ½ litre of water
1 chicken breast (cut into bite-size pieces)

Method

Heat oil in a saucepan. Add the blended lemongrass and galangal. Cook for five minutes until the aroma rises.

Next add the blended onion, garlic and ginger and cook for a further five minutes until it turns brown. Add the blended chilli paste, tamarind juice, white sugar and salt and cook until the oil separates from the rest of the sauce.

Next add the chicken and cook until cooked through (add water, bit by bit if consistency is too dry).

Add coconut block then cook further until this dissolves.

Finally add the lime leaves and kerisik* (roasted coconut) and cook for a further five minutes until the kerisik has blended in well. Ready to serve with rice.

• Note: To make the kerisik; take a 200g block of coconut (widely available in supermarkets) and microwave for three minutes. Stir immediately and microwave for a further one minute until the colour is darker. Set aside. (This makes around eight tablespoons).