Preparing for demonstration

Chef Hasni "Jeff" Ghazali, one of the more popular Malaysian chefs in America, runs the 150-seat Bentara near Yale, New Haven. From whipping up a sweetly spicy Roti Canal to a pineapple-laced vegetable pickle to savory chicken dishes, he has been popularizing one of the most exotic foods found in America for over a decade.

Chef Hasni came to America to study computer programming and worked as one for over five years. But Malay food had been on his mind for many, many years. As a boy he would wake up at three in the morning, and deliver the delicacies my mother had prepared at home to coffee shops and hawkers. Later he helped his mother at the restaurant she eventually opened. In the United states he tired of being a computer programmer and the thought of running a restaurant challenged him. Chef Hasni started Bentara over 10 years ago with an American business partner.

The Malaysian kitchen is unique and has absorbed and transformed food traditions from China, India and Thailand.

Demonstration Topic: Traditional Malay dishes

Date: Wednesday, October 27

Time: From 3:30-5:30PM