Being Authentic:
A Q&A with Auria Abraham of Auria's Malaysian Kitchen

by E. Hwang

Born and raised in Seremban, Malaysia, Auria Abraham didn't plan on staying in the U.S. after college much less becoming a culinary trailblazer. But she graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in film-scoring went on to a 17-year career in advertising and music production. After having her daughter, she decided to switch careers to one that would let her have more time with her family. A suggestion from her husband resulted in her founding Auria's Malaysian Kitchen.

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You didn't originally plan on becoming a chef. When and how did you decide to switch careers?

I had my daughter in 2008. I was almost 40 when she was born, and motherhood was a complete 180º from what my life was before. When she was born, I was running my own music production company and it was a full-time endeavor. Our clients, mostly young and single, wanted all of our time. The line between client/friend was blurred. We worked with them during the day and then there were work parties that went late into the night that we HAD to attend. After I had my daughter, I began to resent giving up all those hours to clients. I wanted to go to work and come home in the evening at a reasonable time to my sweet baby. I realized that her young years were a time that I was never going to get back. After looking around for something else to do, at the prompting of my husband, I started a small supper club series in my home.

Very quickly, I realized that I had something unique to share - Malaysian food was still off-the-radar of most folks and under-represented in the ethnic food and restaurant business here in the US. I began to vend Malaysian food at street fairs and food events around the city and had a blast serving Beef Rendang and Chilli Crab sliders to New Yorkers hungry for new food adventures. No matter how much food we brought to these events, it was never enough. It was eye-opening to say the least, that it was time to take Auria's Malaysian Kitchen further.

Have there been any obstacles you've run into as an Asian woman in the culinary field? If so, how did you handle them?

It's a shame to say so, but even in 2019, most Americans accept ethnic foods presented to them by white chefs, more easily than if it comes from someone like me, i.e. a woman sharing the food culture of her native home. I could name a few big names (but I won't) with massive platforms "discovering" foods from all around the world - China, Southeast Asia, Mexico, the Middle East, etc. - and sharing them here for great profit. I would love to see them give credit to their sources. Instead, what we hear is "here's MY completely exotic and bonkers recipe for stuffed eggplant curry" or "I discovered this ingredient and now use it every day in my cooking" as if home cooks in Lebanon haven't been using it in their kitchens for centuries.

As we move into a new decade, I would like for us all to work a little harder to uncover the authentic voices of ethnic cooking. In this age of the internet, where everything is at our fingertips, there's no excuse for taking John Smith's recipe for pork and chive dumplings as the gospel of dumplings. Who's John Smith? He's every white chef "discovering," cooking with and owning ethnic culinary culture, techniques and ingredients without a moment's thought to their origins.

Many of your recipes are from or based on your mother's recipes. Have there been other inspirations for your cooking?

Yes, a lot of my recipes come directly from Mum's kitchen. I love cooking the dishes she made for us; the experience of making them takes me right back to my childhood. Another inspiration for my cooking is one of Mum's best friends, Aunty Khim. Mum and Aunty Khim had three children each and pretty much raised the six of us together. I remember the two of them spending hours and hours in each others' kitchens. They learned from each other and the time spent together in the kitchen was special and delicious! When I wanted to add Kaya (coconut jam) to our line of products, I asked Aunty Khim to share her knowledge. She showed up the next day with fresh coconut milk, eggs, sugar and her double boiler, and spent the morning teaching me how to make it!

Between Mum's Indian/Sri Lankan cooking and Aunty Khim's Penang/Chinese background, they were a brilliant blend of cultural influences and cooking traditions. Apart from that, another big inspiration for my cooking comes just from living in Brooklyn for the past 18 years and being married to an American. As a Southeast Asian chef, having to substitute for ingredients that are unavailable is a great exercise in flexibility when it comes to cooking. Now in 2019, I can find pretty much every ingredient that I need at the amazing Asian supermarkets all over Brooklyn, but it wasn't that way back in the early 2000s.

As for my husband and half-American daughter, while they love all Asian food, they sometimes crave regular American cooking. Therefore, we have Artichoke and Lime Leaf Sambal pizza for dinner or beef stew flavored with galangal and star anise. That's a close to "regular" as I can get.

What is a common misconception about Malaysian cooking?

A common misconception about Malaysian cooking is that "it's the same as Chinese food." Yes, it is and no, it isn't. I think most people think this because practically every single Malaysian restaurant here in the U.S. is owned and operated by Chinese Malaysians. When I tell folks I'm Malaysian the response sometimes is "You don't look Malaysian." I usually laugh and ask "what does Malaysian look like?"

For those of us just trying our hands at Malaysian cooking, what would be a good first dish to make?

I think a great first dish to make would be a basic spicy Nasi Goreng. It's a dish that you should make every week. Every time you make it, it will get better and better and soon you'll be able to add ingredients and flavors, and make it your very own. Here's a super simple recipe:

3 tablespoons canola oil
1 shallot - sliced
3 cloves of garlic - minced
1 cup of frozen peas and carrots (or any veggie you prefer)
2 cups of cold rice
Light soy sauce - to taste
1 tablespoon Auria's Malaysian Kitchen Hot Chilli Sambal
2 eggs
1/2 block of extra firm tofu - cut into 1" pieces
Salt - to taste
Sliced scallions, crispy shallots and cilantro for garnish

1. Heat the oil in a pan or flat-bottomed wok over high heat.

2. Add the shallots and garlic - fry until fragrant.

3. Add the frozen vegetables - cook until warmed through, about two minutes.

4. Add the cold rice, season with soy sauce and Sambal. Stir well to combine.

5. Move the rice to the outer edges of the pan/wok, and break the two eggs into the middle. Add the tofu onto the eggs, season with salt and scramble gently.

6. Once the eggs have firmed up, mix everything together.

7. Once well-combined, let everything sit in the pan/wok for two minutes or more to crisp up the bottom.

8. Serve in a bowl or on a plate. Garnish. Enjoy.

9. Make it again next week.

Is there a favorite childhood memory that you think shaped who you are today?

One of my favorite memories is something that still happens to this day. I'm in Mum's kitchen, and I ask her "how do you make ____________?" Her reply ALWAYS begins with "Oh, it's SO EASY." And then she goes on to tell me the ingredients and how to cook the dish. Mum is 85 now, and if I call her tomorrow and ask her how a dish is made, I KNOW she'll begin with those same words. Did she say it to encourage confidence in the kitchen? I think she did. The beauty in sharing our food culture is in making it simple and accessible. Cooking is for everyone, it's not limited to certain people with certain skills.

What is one piece of advice that you've found the most helpful?

Be yourself. In sharing the food culture of home, always be yourself. It's the most helpful piece of advice I've ever received, and yet somehow also the most difficult for me to follow. I think we all have preconceived notions of what a chef is, what a business owner looks like, what a founder of a company has to be. I'm learning to push back on those ideas and be authentic in every interaction, every business decision, and in every dish I make.