Life.Culture.Discovery.

The aromas that took a chef back to her Singapore and Malaysia childhood, from juicy mangoes to rose apples that smell like peaches

Carol Selva Rajah’s 2007 cookbook Heavenly Fragrance contains more than just recipes – it’s an olfactory guide to her childhood in Malaysia and Singapore

Her recipes, including salt and pepper squid with lemon mango sauce and sambal shrimp, accompany recollections of the ‘beautiful scents’ of her family’s garden

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There are more than just recipes in Carol Selva Rajah’s 2007 cookbook Heavenly Fragrance – it’s filled with the fragrant memories which have inspired the dishes, too. Photo: Carol Selva Rajah

Published: 10:30am, 19 Jul 2021Updated: 3:56pm, 1 Jun 2022

Is there any book that talks about fragrance evoking memories that does not mention French author Marcel Proust? Even those who haven’t read his Remembrance of Things Past know about its famous tea and madeleine scene.

The smells Carol Selva Rajah recalls from her childhood sound a lot more enticing than what she calls Proust’s “soggy madeleine”.

“My own childhood, spent in Malaysia and Singapore, abounds with fragrant memories which have inspired the recipes in this book and built up my appreciation for fragrant home-cooking,” she writes in Heavenly Fragrance (2007), which is subtitled “Cooking with aromatic Asian herbs, fruits, spices and seasonings”.

“Walking through the tropical spice gardens of Bali, Penang or Sri Lanka, your senses are overwhelmed by a combination of distinctive aromas as you stop and mentally attempt to separate them into what is culinary and what is purely floral.

The cover of Carol Selva Rajah’s cookbook. Photo: Jonathan Wong

“For me, it is like a dance through my childhood and a mental game of guessing the origins of each aroma. I have found that, in Asia, the ingredients from gardens, kitchens and floral markets overlap as they are all used in cooking, conjuring memories of a mouth-watering curry from a street stall in Chiang Mai or Singapore’s Newton Circus [ ...]

“When I was growing up in Malaysia, beautiful scents were all around us, pervading our lives. I lived with my family on a large sprawling property planted with a jumble of fruits and herbs. Mango and rambutan trees framed my window, the aromas of mango flowers brushing past the mosquito netting, spreading their light caramel-like fragrance around my room.