Author profile: Jasvinder Karam, author of Champur

Jasvinder Karam, formerly a corporate lawyer in Kuala Lumpur, was asked by her grown-up son if she could share the recipes for the family dishes that she had been making and refining for decades. She decided that rather than just quickly transcribing the recipes, which brought together Chinese, Malay and Indian flavors (the hallmarks of Malaysian cuisine), if she was going to embark on this project, she would produce a fully-fledged cookbook of the meals that graced the family’s dining table from claypot chicken rice and masala fish patties to Canton prawn noodles and lamb dalcha. Read more in ckbk co-founder Nadia Arumugam’s profile of the author.

Author ProfileSusan LowOctober 5, 2026Jasvinder Karam, Malaysia, Champur, Nadia Arumugam

The food of Southeast Asia

ckbk co-founder Nadia Arumugam launches the first in our two-part series on the cuisines of Southeast Asia. Malaysia-born Nadia, who has lived in three countries and traveled widely in many more, couldn’t be a better guide to the region. She evokes the fragrant memories of her mother’s cooking and recalls the aromas, sounds and signature dishes of Malaysia’s capital, before taking us off to Singapore and Indonesia, then to South Africa’s Cape Malay cuisine.

Regional cookingMoniqueAugust 17, 2020Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Asia, Southeeast Asia

Behind the Cookbook: My Rendang Isn't Crispy

When Zaleha was selected as a contestant on MasterChef UK in 2018 she was prepared for cooking that famously “doesn’t get any tougher than this,” but she wasn’t prepared for what came next. In her guest blog, Zaleha, author of My Rendang Isn’t Crispy and Other Favourite Malaysian Dishes, available now on ckbk, talks about #RendangGate and the story behind her book’s intriguing title.

ckbk Blog