Li Daniels grew up in the Malaysian city of Malacca, eating food influenced by Malay, Chinese, Indian and other food cultures. When she moved to Liverpool in the UK to study economics, she found things tough. Everything seemed so different, but the hardest thing to get used to was the food. 'I missed Malaysian food so much,’ says Li. And she had no idea how to cook. Malaysians usually learn from their mothers, but Li’s mother had always banned her from the kitchen. So, Li taught herself. She made mistakes at first, but soon grew to love cooking.
Li arrived in the UK ten years ago. She is now married to Chris Daniels, a businessman, and they have a three-year old son. They live in Liverpool, though their intention is to move to London in the next few months.’It’d be more convenient for me,’ says Li.
Besides cooking family meals, Li enjoys organising dinner parties for friends. About a year ago, someone suggested Li should try The Big Taste, a cookery competition on television. 'It was Gina, a colleague from the bank l'd recently joined,’ says Li.'l’d moved there from an insurance company! Li had never dreamed of entering a cookery competition, let alone Winning one and becoming a full-time chef. ’It’s incredible how my life’s changed because of what Gina said, says Li.’l’m even opening my own cafe later this year!
Li entered The Big Taste with 50 other hopefuls. She survived ten weeks of challenges, from creating a tasty packed lunch to preparing a five-course meal for a special celebration, before reaching the final. ’Cooking for a top hotel was my personal highlight,’ says Li.
It was an emotional experience for Li. 'I was really excited at first, but when the final became a possibility, l got very nervous.’ In the last round, however, she was calm and cooked a wonderful seafood dish to win the contest. ’It was extraordinary,’ said one of the judges.
Li won over viewers from the very first episode. They loved her warm character, and while many probably knew little about Malaysian cooking, they adored her creative approach. Her success brought her lots of attention from industry experts. Soon after her win, a publisher invited her to write a cookery book, and simply titled Cooking with Li, it has just been published.
Li was also asked to supply some well-known restaurants with recipes and she says that will happen by the end of the year.
Li bases her recipes on traditional south-east Asian dishes, but she experiments with them. Her sister and a few friends help her with ideas, and her husband tastes every recipe she comes up with. ’His opinion’s important to me,’ she says.
Before she started work on the cookery book, Li had concerns about whether she was a good enough writer.Those doubts soon disappeared, but there was one unfortunate consequence of working on lots of new dishes: she put on over five kilos in weight. ’It’s one of the dangers of the job,’ she says.
Li is now busier than ever. Besides looking after her family and promoting her book, she gives demonstrations at food festivais and in restaurants. She is also preparing to launch a cookery school next year, and she is in discussions with a television company and hopes to start fiming a documentary series about spices in the coming few months.
’The Big Taste changed my life says Li.’l do so many different things now. I couldn't survive without my diary. I depend on it more than my cooker or my kitchen knives!’
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