Former cook to late-PM Tunku now cooks for The Star

Joy Lee | The Star, ANN | Thu Apr 12 2012

Malaysia, April 12, 2012

Not many can tell you that they have cooked for Malaysia's first Prime Minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman. However, not only has Salmiah Md Isa cooked for him, she even picked up some recipes from Tunku.

Salmiah spent more than 20 years cooking for Tunku and his family, which she described as a wonderful experience.

"He was a simple man and was not fussy about what he ate," she said, adding that Tunku Abdul Rahman loved simple Malay cooking and some traditional English favourites.

"Curry was a staple. He must have curry every day, usually for lunch. So I'll cook curry every day but vary the contents. We would have fish, chicken, crab, Thai and even seafood curries," she said.

Salmiah first worked for Tunku when she was 16. She was hired in 1968 as a nanny for Tunku's children. She took over the responsibility of cooking for the family when the official cook did not want to follow Tunku back to Penang after he retired as Prime Minister in 1970.

Much of her early cooking experiences were learnt from helping out in the kitchen while taking care of Tunku's children. She was delighted when Tunku asked her to follow the family back to Penang to cook for them.

Some of Tunku's favourite dishes, she recalled, were ikan masin goreng, gulai Siam, kailan goreng belacan and, of course, curry, particularly fish curry. He craved for spicy food, she said.

She believes in using fresh ingredients in her cooking as she noted that Tunku did not like keeping food overnight.

"Tunku was a good cook himself. Sometimes he would cook his own fried noodles. He enjoyed cooking, especially Western food," Salmiah said.

Tunku, having spent some years in England, was also a fan of English food. Salmiah said he taught her how to prepare oxtail stew and roast beef and chicken, among other things.

Salmiah has fond memories of them cooking together. She had fun learning how to cook from Tunku and other chefs, whom he would invite home to teach her.

"Tunku even got some cooks from Thailand to come and teach me how to prepare gulai Siam because he loved it so much," she said.

She mainly cooked lunch and dinner for the family as well as for Tunku's guests when they visited. She noted that Tunku rarely ate out and usually insisted that his guests dined in at his home. She also prepared tea for Tunku.

In all her years of service for the family, Salmiah had never heard a single complaint from Tunku about her cooking.

"Tunku was patient, gentle, gracious and generous with his staff," she said.

She remembered an occasion when she was given a menu to prepare for a meal.

She had forgotten about the menu and prepared other dishes instead.

However, he did not scold her and merely asked for the menu to be prepared the next day.

She continued to cook for Tunku's wife, Tun Sharifah Rodziah, after Tunku passed away in 1990. She then became a cook for The Star when the media company leased Tunku's bungalow in Penang as a guest house.

Her cooking must have certainly made quite an impression because she was asked to move to Selangor when The Star rented Tunku's bungalow in Bukit Tunku.

CEOs will now be able to feast on some of Tunku's favourite dishes prepared by Salmiah herself when they meet with Power Lunch columnist Marina Suwendy.

Then, Salmiah's lemak pucuk paku, sambal belacan and chicken curry will not just be words off a page but delectable dishes to be enjoyed.