MY BLUE TEA CHEF PROFILE
Nora Haron
Once you see and taste Chef Nora´s culinary creations, you will be tempted to take her home with you. Eating has never been this exciting! You get to taste food from home that has an exciting international twist plus a good dose of family love injected into it.
Based in San Franciso, Nora is someone who has managed to not only retain authenticity in her cooking but has also completely redefined the idea of global cuisine, mixing flavours that enhance each other. There is absolutely no clash of cultures in her dishes.
It is impossible to put Chef Nora in a box and label her cooking as one or the other. She is in a league of her own.
NORA HARON
Daring to be Authentic and Beyond
Chef Nora Haron's background is Singaporean, of Indonesian-Indian descent. With a grandfather from Kerala, South India and a grandmother from Java, Indonesia, Chef Nora grew up living and breathing all the rich, exotic, wonderful spices. In fact, her grandfather had his very own special curry spice mix. None of the ready-made mixes bought from a supermarket. Chef Nora´s childhood memories were delicious ones where she would go with her mother sourcing for all the individual spices needed to make grandfather's special curry.
Blending it all Together
Having had a solid foundation with her mother and grandmothers as her culinary gurus, Chef Nora went on to attend the San Francisco Baking Institute. Now she leads the culinary team at Red Bay Coffee in Oakland and is also the Director of Culinary for San Francisco's 4P's Restaurant Group. Interestingly enough, her real inspiration for diverse cooking came from her mother while helping her prep meals in Singapore. Chef Nora has managed to blend the authentic with the diverse in her cooking and as far as she is concerned, whatever labels people place on her cooking, ¨the flavours are still home¨.
Chef Nora is well-known in San Francisco, and her genuine love for cooking and how she enjoys feeding her guests is evident. Beautifully blended species and carefully chosen ingredients all respectfully and skillfully cooked together - these keep guests coming back for more. This is cooking for the sake of enjoying a culinary experience, and it is growing die-hard fans who love authentic Asian cuisine as well as those who are open to tasting exciting new flavours.
Don't Forget the Dessert
As a trained pastry chef, baking is something that brings her joy. Her desserts carry her signature authentic and diverse flavour where you just want slice after slice of cake without needing to impose a label on it. Is it Singaporean, Indonesian, Indian, Californian, American? It is simply put, Chef Nora-n. It is food made and filled with love, which is how Chef Nora wants it to be, and how she wants her guests to feel after a dining experience with her - full to the brim and drunk on culinary love.
Kueh Lopes. A childhood favorite with a twist: Glutinous Rice, Coconut, Blue Pea Flower and Coconut Sugar Syrup
Did you Know?
A little side tidbit for those who do not know - Chef Nora used to work for Martin Yan in the cooking series, TASTE OF MALAYSIA. Chef Nora was behind the scenes prepping ingredients and the finished dishes for Chef Martin Yan to his live audience.”
Coconut Milk Bread with Pandan made with Pandan Powder
Powder it Up!
My Blue Tea was introduced to Chef Nora via Malaysia MasterChef Judge, Chef Jo on Instagram. We are so delighted with how social networks can bring people together from so far away! When we connected, Chef Nora ordered some superfood powders from us. This was during the COVID-19 lockdown and it took more than a month to arrive from Australia all the way to California. It was a nerve-wrecking time - we were both anxious the powders would not arrive in time for her to make her amazing Cinta Nasi Lemak with Blue Rice to serve her friends. All good things certainly do come to those who wait and Chef Nora got right down to experimenting with our powders and created these gorgeous beauties here. We can´t wait to see what new creations Chef Nora would come up with next!
Chef Nora's Cinta Nasi Lemak with naturally tinted Blue Rice is now one of her popular offerings!
Want more?
Looking to make your own culinary creations? Then check out the My Blue Tea Blog and TV Channel for gorgeous recipes created by chefs from the world over!