In 2019, the writer and chef Lara Lee found herself in an eating snark. She had just given birth to Jonah, her first son. Jonah was born, but she could barely see the motivation to eat a decent meal every night. In the book “A Splash of Soy: Everyday Food from Asia” (June 13 at Bloomsbury), Lee recounts how she could reorient herself. “It was about reviving my cooking mojo when I was in early motherhood,” Lee told me about the cookbook. “But this is the way I love to cook now.”

The book comes three years after the first book by the Sydney-born Lee that was a huge success, “Coconut & Sambal,” a tribute to her Chinese Indo-Sassian heritage. In this second effort, the author expands her horizons to the cooking styles from East and Southeast Asia. She goes beyond the cornerstone ingredients of the beaten path of slicking linguine, for instance, and the dazzling shimmer of Korean gochujang.

In the Sydney kitchen that she’s been trying to get used to since returning to the city and leaving London in 2021. She discussed her development as a cook and the standbys in her kitchen she relies on the most, particularly in times of danger.

The thing that people will notice in my kitchen is that it’s enormous. It also has plenty of storage space. In London, we lived in a flat with two beds, and our cooking pans would be placed under the beds, in tiny drawers, or in random spots. This is no longer the case, and everything is within the kitchen. Everything is super organized. Everything has a place to call home.

I became interested in cooking because of my Indonesian grandmother, our host in Sydney. She was a fantastic cook, so the flavors from that portion of my family’s history were imprinted in my mind. But I was not old enough to be able to cook like her. She didn’t even teach me how to cook. When I first moved to London, there wasn’t any Indonesian food scene. I wanted to know how to cook Indonesian food. It became an obsession.

My cooking teacher used to be: London-based Indonesian cooking instructor and food writer Sri Owen. If I cut something the wrong way, she would not be happy, Lara. It was awe-inspiring being under her constant eyes. Every week, I would visit, and we’d cook. We continued to communicate via WhatsApp; however, when I moved out of London, it was tough to leave her.

A cookbook I refer to is Sri Owen’s “Indonesian Food and Cookery,” one of her very first books. “Sri Owen’s Indonesian Food” is my bible. “The Rice Book,” too. I also love Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Every Grain of Rice.” The chef Jeremy Pang has this incredible YouTube channel and a cooking school called School of Wok, where I taught. His recipes never disappoint. I adore Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook “Sweet,” with Helen Goh is my go-to for baking.

The kitchen appliances I cannot live without measuring spoons. Kitchen scales. A mini food processor. If you’re looking to make an excellent spice paste? In your mini-processor, blast, and boom. A kitchen thermometer, since I’ve set the fire in my kitchen…twice. In my 20s, I was deep-frying crackers of prawns. I remember the oil pot was ablaze. It was the dumbest thing you could do was to take the bank towards the sink, and I turned on the tap. It could have molded the whole building to death. Another time, I wrote “Coconut & Sambal.” I’m still trying to figure out the food I was cooking. At that point, the alarm for fire is activated. I glance: The oil is burning in the pot. I had a fire blanket on the occasion. Therefore, I threw it in the flame, grabbed the dog, and dialed the emergency services. Fortunately, the fire blanket destroyed the love.

The pantry in my home is filled with kecap manis, dark soy, light, and regular Kikkoman soy. Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow Chili Oil. Sriracha. Kewpie mayo. Oyster sauce. Rice wine vinegar. Chinkiang black rice vinegar. Coconut oil, sunflower oil, obviously extra-virgin olive oil. Sea salt that is flaky and nutty. Red-skin peanuts to make peanut sauce. Sesame seeds are white and black, but I prefer black. Five-spice, turmeric, ground cumin, coriander, white pepper, black pepper. Did I say fish sauce? Oh, and plenty of coconut milk.

My fridge is always full of gochujang, tamarind, tom yum paste, and green curry paste; Mae Ploy and Maesri are also great. Sambal hijau, Sambal belacan – I have more than 15 sambals in my refrigerator.

The components I’m the most happy about are high-quality aromatic pastes that you can purchase from the grocery store. Lemongrass paste, garlic paste, ginger paste. It’s a breeze to work with from any base. Japanese curry cubes are also available. Also, tom yum paste, for a tom yum Bloody Mary, tom yum roast chicken, tom yum sweet potato wedges.

One of the most overlooked ingredients is microwave rice. I own the rice cooker, but the microwave is in every kitchen. For quick Instant Pot butter chicken, why not use your rice cooker similarly? It’s an additional appliance! Microwave rice will be good.

Cheesy Kimchi Linguine With Gochujang Butter

For busy weeknights, This recipe can be made in only 15 minutes. It blends the fiery color and heat of gochujang and kimchi, the two mainstays in Korean cooking, and the rich umami taste of seaweed and Parmesan. Fried eggs complete the meal; you’ll want to break up the runny yolk and incorporate it into the pasta.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces of dried pasta or spaghetti
• 3/4 cup kimchi that has been roughly chopped
• Two tablespoons of unsalted butter Cubed
• Two spoons of gochujang paste plus two teaspoons of gochujang paste
• Two teaspoons of soy sauce
• Two cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
• Two scallions cut into thin matchsticks
• 1 cup flavorless olive oil like canola
• Two eggs
• Acceptable sea salt to taste
• Two tablespoons of crispy seaweed that have been crumbled (such as sheets of nori or seaweed pieces)
• Lime wedges for serving
• Two tablespoons of grated Parmesan

Directions

1. A large saucepan of water at a simmer. Cook pasta according to the package instructions.
2. While the pasta is cooking, put together kimchi, butter soy sauce, gochujang garlic, and half of the scallion in a large cold nonstick frying pan. (Don’t be concerned about mixing at this point.)
3. Rinse pasta and reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Put frying pans with the ingredients at high temperatures. Transfer pasta directly to your frying pan, and then add two tablespoons of pasta water. Cook, mixing everything until warm and thoroughly coated, approximately 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to bowls in individual portions.
4. Cook the eggs. Wash the pan, and set it at a moderate-high temperature. Add oil. When the oil shatters, it is time to crack eggs into the pan. Cook until the whites are cooked and the edges have become crispy about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until the whites are cooked but the yolk remains running (or cooked according to your preference). Sprinkle with the addition of a small amount of salt.
5. Serve pasta bowls in individual dishes with crispy seaweed, the remaining scallions, and fried eggs. Pour a lime wedge onto each serving. Sprinkle using crushed Parmesan as you serve. Serve it with additional lime wedges.