Liya Chu (center) joins President Tsai Ing-wen (right) in cooking her honey-glazed eel with rice vermicelli recipe. (Instagram, Liya Chu photo) Liya Chu (center) joins President Tsai Ing-wen (right) in cooking her honey-glazed eel with rice vermicelli recipe. (Instagram, Liya Chu photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — For her birthday, MasterChef Junior winner Liya Chu (朱如茵) appeared on videos with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to teach them how to cook.

In a Democratic Progressive Party’s “Noodle Time” series video, instead of bringing her own ingredients like many of the party’s candidates, Tsai brought Chu as her own chef. Together, they made Chu’s famous honey-glazed eel with rice vermicelli, which drew praise from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, “You can definitely cook Taiwanese, and it's delicious."

In terms of the dish’s difficulty, Chu gave it a five out of ten. “Anyone can make it; it involves only mixing noodles and baking eel.”

As Chu began to cook, her sous-chef, Tsai, immediately came to her rescue when she got stuck on what the clear liquid she was pouring onto the eel was called in Chinese. Though she decided it was vinegar, after Tsai volunteered to give it a whiff, it was confirmed to be rice wine.

“A dish that uses rice wine already counts as Taiwanese,” Tsai said.

Tsai helps identify an ingredient when Chu struggles to remember its name in Chinese. (Youtube, Democratic Progressive Party screenshot)

Chu said while competing in MasterChef Junior, even though she would feel disheartened when Ramsay spat out food he did not like, “I think when he does that, it is to teach us; he gets mad because he wants to help you, because he knows we can do better.”

She confessed that though she persevered under the stress of competing on a national television show at the age of 10, compared to that experience, she was “a little nervous” in Tsai’s company. Tsai comforted her by saying, “The president is not more intimidating than (Gordon Ramsay)."

Chu, who once said she believed she would win MasterChef Junior because “Girls rule the world,” told Tsai she observed on the show that when boys cooked, they tended to fight because they believed themselves to be better than one another, while girls did much better because they were always communicating. She said Tsai is a great inspiration to her because she accomplished so much as a woman, breaking the stereotype that certain things can only be done by men.

“You already did so much,” she added.

Tsai commended Chu for her determination and accomplishments as the video highlighted her spirit of teamwork, communication and coordination skills, as well as resistance to stress.

Tsai observes Chu's knife work. (Youtube, Democratic Progressive Party screenshot)

Chu and Tsai also exchanged their cooking experiences. When Chu asked if Tsai liked to cook, Tsai said she makes her own breakfast every day and finds cooking to be good for de-stressing.

Tsai, impressed by Chu’s sophisticated knife work, asked her in turn who she learned to cook from. Chu answered, “From my dad and mom. I also go to restaurants, where the chefs tell me how they do it.”

As a special present for Tsai, Chu prepared the passion fruit panna cotta that she made during the finale of MasterChef Junior. As Tsai tried out the rice vermicelli, eel, and panna cotta, she repeated several times, “It’s delicious.”

The two also exchanged birthday gifts. Tsai presented Chu with a customized apron bearing her name, while Chu gave Tsai a painting she made of Tsai’s cats.

Chu gives Tsai a painting featuring Tsai's cats as a birthday present. (Instagram, Liya Chu photo)

Meanwhile, in a video made as part of Chen Shih-chung’s mayoral campaign, Chu taught him to make walnut pineapple shrimp fried rice and honey-glazed chicken with rice vermicelli. Though an enthusiastic student, Chen, who was apparently a less experienced cook than Tsai, encountered a few hiccups while cooking.

Assigned by Chu to put a honey glaze on a baked chicken, Chen scalded himself when he unconsciously grabbed the hot baking tray with his fingers. With a laugh, he said, “The first lesson from our master chef: keep your hands from carelessly touching things.”

Later, he said as Chu handed him a wok on the stovetop with fried rice inside, Chen said, “Basically, after our master chef gets it steadily going and I take over, there won’t be a problem.” However, as he attempted to stir the rice inside the wok, he had to withdraw his hand from the heat.

“It just takes some practice,” Chu told him.

Chu extends a helping hand to Chen while cooking. (Youtube, Chen Shih-chung screenshot)

The final challenge Chen faced occurred while he scooped fried rice into a hollowed-out pineapple as one of the final steps in preparing the dish. The pineapple, which he held by the crown, folded under the weight of the rice.

Despite the minor mishaps, though, Chu and Chen still produced two well-presented dishes. Regarding the importance of the dishes’ presentation, Chen said, “The key to whether it is well-presented is if, after arranging the food, you suddenly really want to taste it, that is good presentation. Right now, I really want to taste (the dishes).”

At the end of the program, Chu took the chance to thank viewers for supporting her. “Many people in Taiwan have supported me, followed me, and watched me. I really want to thank everyone,” she said, also thanking Chen for joining her in cooking.

Chu and Chen enjoy the meal they cooked together. (Youtube, Chen Shih-chung screenshot)

(Youtube, Democratic Progressive Party video)

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