Poh Ling Yeow was born in Malaysia in 1973,  and spent the first nine years of her life in Kuala Lumpur. Her family then migrated to South Australia where she now lives and works. After completing a Bachelor of Design specialising in illustration at the University of South Australia, Poh freelanced as a graphic designer and illustrator and then began painting full-time in 2002. She now has over 20 highly successful exhibitions under her belt including nine solos, and a client list that boasts major corporate collectors.

Just as Poh's art explores notions of belonging and origin, so do her intentions with food. As a fifth-generation Chinese Malaysian, Poh's interest in cooking began as an attempt at reconciling this heritage with her Western identity.

In the last two years, Poh found her interest in food intensifying to a point where she could no longer deny she wanted to pursue it as a career. So when a friend suggested she enter MasterChef, she saw a rare window of opportunity. Always thinking outside the square with her artistic sensibilities and paying homage to the traditional cooking she grew up with, Poh secured herself a position in the finale, placing as runner-up.

It was during the final weeks of MasterChef on air that she was approached with an offer to present her own show, now known as POH’S KITCHEN.

L&S: You've been busy filming for another season of POH’S KITCHEN. What are some highlights we can look forward to?
PLY: In the new episodes coming up, I visit Malaysia. Filming in Malaysia was an idea I had presented to my executive producer and she loved it. I absolutely loved it but it was a marathon of eating. I stuffed myself silly on things I hadn’t eaten for ages and tried all the things I couldn’t remember or never tasted. My favourite thing was cooking at Chef Ishmail's kampung. It was amazing learning how to identify fruit trees, edible plants and roots, and cook curries with coconuts that had freshly fallen from trees.

I’ve actually had a Filipino chef on the show as well because I always am really curious about Filipino food. You learn about so many of the other cultures, like you can buy the food in the street, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Filipino restaurant in my life in Australia. So the chef came on, he’s a good friend of mine, Dennis. He cooked an adobo and sinigang on the show.

L&S: What got you interested in food in the first place? What inspired you to start cooking?
PLY: I loved to watch cooking and I was surrounded by it in Malaysia where I grew up. It’s a food obsessed nation and all the women on both sides of my family love to cook and eat. As a kid, I was never really allowed to cook. My mum is a perfectionist so making a mess was out of the question. But after we migrated to Australia and when I was older, she taught me to bake. Baking remains my first love of cooking. My great aunty who has lived with my family since my older brother was born is my other major cooking influence. My mum would be still at work when I got home from school, and even when I was tiny, my aunt would allow me to help her do little menial tasks like plucking herbs or rolling little glutinous rice flour balls for special occasions.

L&S: What is the funniest incident to happen to you while filming?
PLY: It was the funniest and also the most horrifying thing to happen to me but I did a day of work experience at a dairy on King Island, which is a small island that sits between Victoria and Tasmania. Anyway, the cows were docked to be milked with their bottoms hovering over the dairy farmer's head while the farmers were busy getting the milk extracting suction cups onto the cows' teats.

I guess I should have had an idea when the 7-year-old son of the dairy farmer asked if I was going to wear a cap. When I jokingly asked “Why? Is it a likely event that I’ll get a cow pat on my head?”, he replied “Probably” in earnest. Well, while I didn’t quite cop a cowpat directly on the head – thank goodness – there was definitely litres of the stuff getting sprayed around and ricocheting off the walls. It was a messy, messy affair and I finished up with more brown dots on my face and in my ear than I ever anticipated in a lifetime. But, it was a great experience in the end!

L&S: What is the most memorable dining experience you’ve had?
PLY: Not the most pleasant but definitely memorable! Having a 6-year-old king oyster, shucked and eaten on a picnic table and chairs placed in the water of Coffin Bay, with antique oyster forks. I had all 100g of it in one fell swoop! “Chew and swallow! Chew and swallow!” was what my guide, Lester Marshall, instructed me. That’s roughly the weight of meat on an average chicken drumstick! Funnily enough, I’m sort of off oysters for the time being but I guess it’s good to give everything a go.

L&S: Do you have any plans to head over to Sabah anytime soon? We’ve got quite a few unique local dishes here.
PLY: Unfortunately no for the moment. I would love to though because I know Sabah has some really unique fare. I want to try jaruk, Kadazan Dusun hinava tongii and all your impressive array of wild durian, in particular the one with the red flesh – it looks so spectacular and exotic! I’ll have to make plans for next year!

W: pohskitchen

POH’S KITCHEN premieres every Monday on TLC (Astro channel 707) at 7:00 pm Malaysia time. Encores the following Mondays at 1:00 pm. New episodes from the series begin on September 5th.
The Malaysia episodes for POH'S KITCHEN will premiere on Sunday, August 28 from 8:00 - 9:00 p.m.