If you are a foodie , no doubt you ’ ve heard of Yotam Ottolenghi and his various restaurants , cookbooks , and celebrity . He is a talented chef and has done much to make vegetables sexy . He is also surrounded by a vastly talented cast of chefs who create , test , and retest the recipes in the vast Ottolenghi cannon . One such chef is Helen Goh , with her creative mind , skilled fingers , and precision , she has brought gorgeous Saffron Pistachio Anise buns to hungry Londoners and has even taken the Bakewell Tart to the next level .
I ’ m not going to pretend that I ’ m not biased on the subject of Ms . Goh . Her Instagram feed often feels tailor-made for my taste buds . And when I discovered that she was coming out with a book , I may or may not have been found doing the Running Man à la MC Hammer in my kitchen to celebrate .
I should also mention that there is more to Ms . Goh than simply being an innovative baker . She is a woman of many layers and high standards . Let ’ s find out a little more about this chef on the rise , shall we ?
Where are you from ?
I was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents , and migrated to Australia with my family as a young girl . I moved to London 10 years ago after meeting my husband David , an Aussie , who has lived in the UK for nearly 30 years .
From Persian Love Cakes to Gevulde Speculaas , you seem to have a very global interest in food . Has living abroad and traveling influenced your culinary style or have you always been curious about the foods of other cultures ?
I was exposed to a great cultural diversity growing up in Malaysia , where the three major ethnic groups — Malay , Chinese and Indians — each with their own distinct cuisine and customs , lived side by side . And then when we moved to Australia , so far away from Europe , I learnt about European cultures and cuisines from books , and I think this has been my biggest culinary influence . One of the great things about living in London now is having friends from all over the world and inveigling myself into their homes to see how they cook and eat . And of course , the Middle Eastern influence comes from working so closely with
Yotam and Sami .
At a time when The Guardian ’ s , Jay Rayner , proclaims restaurant desserts to be in a “ death spiral ” you are producing some of the loveliest sweets I ’ ve seen in a long time . What is it about your ( and the Ottolenghi ) approach to dessert and sweets in general that sets it apart ?
The Ottolenghi way has always been characterized by generosity and abundance , and this is as true for the salads as it is for the cakes and sweets . We don ’ t hold back in terms of flavour and procuring the right ingredients needed to get something just right . There is an unapologetic and unrestrained sense of enjoyment from creating the food , which we hope translates to pure enjoyment on the part of the eater . Another factor I think , is the synergy between Yotam and I . I have a tendency towards trying to nail the classic and the simple , and Yotam loves big flavours and feels less constrained by tradition , so we invariably nudge each other until we reach that “ sweet spot ” where we are both happy . This means that the product has usually been well honed and tested , and also given the requisite Ottolenghi twist .
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