Why ‘Malaysian cooking is essential’ for vegan recipe blogger WoonHeng Chia - Post Magazine

For years, Malaysian food blogger WoonHeng Chia has been feeding the internet her special brand of no-fuss, vibrant, plant-based Asian cookery – the originally Texas-based vlogger’s recipes would regularly receive hundreds of thousands of views, her platforms inundated with comments and eager follow-up questions.

One of her most popular video recipes – a straightforward guide to making chilli oil – is less than two minutes long yet has amassed more than 383,000 views since it was posted on YouTube a year ago.

In second place is her recipe for vegan creamy miso ramen, posted in 2020, with almost 200,000 views; and a how-to for “perfect texture vegan dumplings with great chew”.

Then, on June 12, 2022, after sharing an ode to soybeans on her Instagram account – urging followers to check out a new series of soy-based recipes she had just filmed for her blog, WoonHeng, such as pandan soy milk and tofu skin – she simply stopped posting.

Concerned fans dropped messages, checking in. “Miss you and your fun videos! They always bring a huge smile to my face, hope you are going well,” read one. “[Is] everything all right?” inquired another.

It was not until six months later that Chia re-emerged in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, posting a series of images of herself and her new surroundings.

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“A big warm hello to everyone,” she wrote in a caption accompanying images of her in various parts of the city, from historical Dujiangyan to a panda research base.

“I’m very sorry for my recent disappearance as I was taking care of my health but I am doing well now, please don’t worry.”

She also explained that her husband – who works behind the scenes as her food photographer – had been sent to the western Chinese city for a job, and that this was where she and her family would be based for the next few years.

Golden bottom veggie potstickers by Chia. Photo: WoonHeng’s Kitchen

Having undergone mainland China’s 10-day quarantine, she was free to explore and make a new life in an unfamiliar place.

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Teochew and Cantonese parents, and educated in the United States, Chia, 46, may have had a worldly upbringing, but, she says, the latest life change prompted her to take some time off to recalibrate.

“Mainly because I can’t read or write Chinese, I’ve been taking some time to adjust, from trying to translate everything to getting comfortable with doing groceries and stuff like that,” she says.

So far, fans have been enjoying new recipes from the prolific blogger, such as stir-fried peanut sprouts – an unusual ingredient resembling jumbo-sized bean sprouts – that she discovered in Chengdu restaurants.

The hunger for Chia’s recipes is indicative of a sea change. Plant-based cookery is becoming more acceptable, mainstream even, compared with how misunderstood she felt when she first became vegan, at the age of 15.

She had been blown away by a vegan sweet-and-sour “pork” that was served at a temple, and from then on became interested in creating utterly delicious meat-free meals.

But her parents were, as Chia puts it, “quite traditional” and did not warm to her changing her lifestyle in such a way.

“Now, when I think back, I know it’s because they were worried about me growing up without enough protein,” she says. “I was only a teenager at that time.”

She recalls picking around meat and eating only the vegetables at family meals, to avoid having to explain her choice. “That way, we are still enjoying the food together,” she says wryly.

Now, decades later, it is heartening for her to see plant-based cookery being appreciated and celebrated.

Being Malaysian, Chia has also tried to share more veganised and vegetarianised versions of that country’s traditional dishes.

“Malaysian cooking is essential,” she says, adding that many of her readers are grateful that she has been publishing more Malaysian recipes. “And, of course, they are also surprised that this cuisine can be [plant-based].

“When I share a recipe and people remake it, they had not thought that you could get the same taste or flavour or texture [as the meat-based version of the dish].

“My goal is to help them realise that actually you can enjoy the things you like without the meat.”

Nasi lemak bungkus by Chia. Photo: WoonHeng’s Kitchen

For her vegan mee siam – a dish that often has belacan ( fermented shrimp paste) – Chia uses a home-made sambal with a fermented bean sauce, and brings in the sour profile with tamarind juice.

She also has a vegan nasi lemak bungkus (coconut rice wrapped in banana leaf, served with a side of fried peanuts, cucumber, egg and sambal) where the necessary umami that normally comes from shrimp in the sambal is substituted with kombu and tomato.

And now that Chia is back on the radar, she has shared that she will be publishing a cookbook soon.

Vegan mee siam by Chia. Photo: WoonHeng’s Kitchen

It is the right time to work on it, too, now that her daughter is finally off to college. And it is that daughter who Chia has to thank for being the catalyst for the blog many years ago.

Back then, at 10 years old, Chia’s daughter asked if she could record some of her mother’s recipes as a summer project. “She handed me a book, and asked me to write down my recipes so she could bring it to college with her [when she goes],” Chia recalls.

She did not start the analogue way, though, opting to take photos of her dishes and posting the recipes as captions on Instagram.

“That ultimately led to the creation of the blog [in 2017],” she says. I share that my mother did the same thing when she sent me off to college, writing down some essential recipes in a notebook.

“That’s how mothers show love, by having recipes that they like and passing them down to their children,” she says, smiling.

“I’m glad I did it on social media – now more people can enjoy the same food that we love.

“I’m super excited about the cookbook because there are sections with recipes that I grew up with, everyday home cooking, Malaysian and Asian recipes,” she says.

“It’s definitely a recipe collection from when I first learned to cook up until now. I hope this book serves as a good resource for anyone who would like to learn more about Malaysian or Asian cooking in a meatless way.”

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