Rem-what?

In Southeast Asia, curries and a whole host of dishes begin with a fresh spice paste – which we call rempah in Malay. A long list of aromatic herbs and spices go into rempah, along with a fair bit of elbow grease.

Because rempah is such a pain to prepare, and because it’s near impossible to find readymade pastes outside of the ubiquitous Thai/ Indian in London, I would often make large batches of rempah. As a homesick Singapoeran, they were a godsend on weeknights. Or even on special occasions or supper clubs when I needed to impress.

One day, over a pot of curry, I met Olly, a chef turned food buyer turned spice partner-in-crime. Since then, Rempapa’s grown from my little London kitchen, to markets and delis up and down the country. But we still make our rempah in small batches, with no added preservatives, because we want them to be as good as you would make them yourself. Our spice pastes are carefully developed from time-tested family recipes and friendly for vegans. So we hope everyone can and will enjoy them. Happy cooking x

Shu Han Lee, cookery writer and author of Chicken and Rice, Southeast Asian recipes from a London Kitchen.