#ChineseFoodiesofIG: Louise Hagger

Louise Hagger, photogapher

This is part of an ongoing series of interviews I’m doing with my favourite Chinese foodies that I follow on Instagram. Come and follow the #ChineseFoodiesofIG hashtag on Instagram and leave a comment showing your support for these talented folk!

Where are you from? Where are you really from?

I’m from London. My mum is Malaysian Chinese and my dad is English.

Rice or noodles?

I love noodles but it has to be rice. Rice is more comforting for me and brings a meal together. There would be at least 2 dishes of a meat or fish, veg plus rice for dinner growing up.

What does home taste like?

Walking through the front door to the smell of fried garlic and ginger, fried shallots, the smell of nasi minyak at dinner, beef rendang with the smell of dry fried desiccated coconut. Also chicken sweetcorn soup, fried kai lan with garlic and oyster sauce, broccoli and carrots cut in my mum’s specific way, whole mackerel stuffed with garlic, ginger and spring onion in the oven, char kway teow, sweet soy oven chicken wings, satay and peanut sauce, roti paratha, bak kut teh, achar achar, roasted salted peanuts, the sambal my mum makes where the chilli in the air burns your eyes so she closes the kitchen door when she’s got the blender on. But home also tastes like McVities dark chocolate digestives that are always in the biscuit barrel, shepherd’s pie, bacon being grilled by my dad on the weekend with scrambled eggs and grilled tomatoes for breakfast with tea.

Share a food memory:

Growing up my parents would have a satay BBQ party to celebrate my birthday in early May. The weather always sent a bit of drizzle in the morning as we prayed for sun in the afternoon. A couple of days before, the fridge and veg racks would be heaving from the ingredients for all the dishes my mum would make: satay, long life noodles, fried rice, bee hoon, chicken wings, rojak, achar and gado-gado salads and a salad of (little bit random, but it worked) mango, prawns and tinned mandarin segments mixed in mayo on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce.

The night before there would be huge plastic bowls filled by her marinading the diced chicken and lamb, wearing gloves so she wouldn’t stain her nails with the turmeric. The house smelled of fragrant spices and pounded lemongrass and she would sit at the kitchen counter skewering around 500 sticks of satay. The centrepiece of the party! As I got older, I would help. Our little garden would be filled with friends and neighbours, with dad fanning the BBQ using the rattan fan brought back carefully in hand luggage from Malaysia, his eyes watery from the smoke.

We use the same fan now for the bbqs we have thrown in my own home and the day before we have my mum, Godmother, and aunties over to help skewer the satay, all wearing gloves.

The secret Chinese ingredient is:

Garlic, ginger and soy are key, but I also use oyster sauce if I’m frying veg at home.

Ultimate comfort food:

Rice. My mum’s congee, nasi minyak, Hainanese chicken rice, pulut hitam, egg fried rice with onions and sliced Chinese sausage.

Who's your Chinese food legend?

My mum because she cooks with her heart and is so generous to others. She’ll drive over to drop favourite dishes to me or her friends who are missing her cooking or not well. All Asian mums are feeders, but her food parcels are legendary. There’s always at least two things she’s made - sometimes a request of my faves, sometimes a new recipe she’s experimented with, usually a treat from the local Chinese supermarket like onde onde or the almond cookies that she’s ordered from her friend Auntie Pat @cookies_kuihs_n_such (her almond cookies melt in the mouth and her pineapple tarts are amazing!!)

Dream dinner party guests:

Right now with the ongoing lockdowns, it would be my parents and loved ones. I would love to have my family over for dinner, or better yet, be teleported to Newton Circus in Singapore to have hawker food around a big table with family and friends. Also so I gorge myself on Bee Cheng Hiang bakkwa, roti paratha, Hainanese chicken rice, kaya toast and chendol!

What does Chinese food mean to you?

Love, comfort, and a sense of home, because so much effort and care goes into cooking. It’s also a way to experience storytelling, sharing memories and connecting to my heritage.