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CNA
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNA
On The Red Dot: Finding Lost Recipes
In every home, there are dishes tied not just to flavour, but to memory — lovingly made by someone who may no longer be around. But when that person is gone, can their signature dish ever be brought back? In this series, we follow Masterchef alumnus Jonathan Ng as he helps four individuals on deeply personal quests to rediscover dishes that meant the world to them. For actress Hong Ling, it's the emotional taste of her late mother's Thai-style laksa — a dish that no one else in the family knows how to make. For Belinda, it's a race against time. Her mother Katherine, who once made a unique Nyonya chang (dumpling) every festive season, is slowly losing her memory to dementia. Can the flavours — and the stories that come with them — be recovered before they fade completely? For Kim, who lost her husband Joseph unexpectedly, it's isn't just about the dish. It's about honouring the man who made Hakka Yong Tau Foo not just a meal, but a way of bringing people together — and understanding how he added his own twist to the dish he loved. And for Claresta, it's chasing a taste she can't quite describe — the elusive magic behind her late husband Chef Stefan Liau's Cashew and Banana creation. Even with the original recipe in hand, something is missing. Can Jonathan decode the secret behind the flavour — and the man?
CNA
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNA
Actress Hong Ling learns how to recreate late mum's Thai laksa: 'It's a memory of her'
In February this year, Mediacorp actress Hong Ling announced that her Thai mother,Kaewsoda Kesorn, died at the age of 52. The 30-year-old actress' mum, who was from Nong Khai in northeast Thailand, was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer in May 2024. It's been four months since her passing, and Hong is hoping to recreate her mother's lost Thai Laksa in memory of her. So in a recent episode of CNA's On The Red Dot: Finding Lost Recipes, she received help from MasterChef Singapore alumnus Jonathan Ng to bring her mother's speciality back to life. "I really miss her a lot. My mum actually cooked a lot for the family, and one of my favourite dishes is this Thai laksa. Even in her last days, she cooked this dish for me as well, so it's a memory of her," recalled the actress. This is why Hong would visit any Thai restaurant she sees these days, hoping to find the dish similar to what her mum made. Unfortunately, none of their Thai laksas tasted quite the same. The actress also didn't learn to cook the dish as her mother always prepared it for them. "I took it for granted," she said, adding that her mum didn't leave behind any recipes as she wasn't the type who would "cook by reading the recipe". "My future children won't get the chance to meet her. So I'd like to preserve this recipe for my future children," she added. The actress has been married to Mediacorp actor Nick Teo since December 2023. She unfortunately suffered a miscarriage 11 weeks into her pregnancy in February this year. After having a taste test at a restaurant and speaking to a chef from Chiang Mai, Ng and Hong finally learnt that the Thai laksa she had been eating is actually a dish called Kanom Jeen Nam Ya, a spicy fish curry served over rice noodles. The two visited Hong's maiden home, where her mother's kitchen was still left intact. Looking at photos of her mother, the actress confessed that she "feels very different" in her old house. "When I used to come back home, it was very noisy. My mum would be in the kitchen cooking for us and we would talk. Normally I'd smell Thai food around the house because it's very strong. But now, it just feels like [an empty] house," she elaborated. Despite her illness, Hong's mother continued to cook for the family every single day until she could no longer do so in January this year. One of the last few dishes she made was the Kanom Jeen Nam Ya. The duo also took this time to speak to Hong's father, Hong Yishu, to get more clues about her dish. Recalling their love story, he revealed that he had met his late wife in the Sai Yok camp when he went to Bangkok, Thailand, for reservist training for three weeks in 1990. Madam Kaewsoda was working as a dishwasher in a tze char stall in the military camp at that time, and he fell in love at first sight. "Just to take a photo with her, I had to wait at the back for her to throw out the rubbish so that I could see her. They were quite strict about not meeting boys in private," he reminisced. After getting to know Madam Kaewsoda, who was still living in a village at that time, the elder Hong then asked her dad for permission to bring her to Singapore, where they eventually got married. He also shared that his wife was a great cook and was able to recreate any dish as long as she had tasted it. Going back to the Thai laksa, he said that his wife had cooked that dish for a really long time and had made a few tweaks to the recipe ever since. After more intel from Hong's father and a relative, as well as a few attempts at making the dish, chef Ng was finally able to recreate a dish highly similar to what Hong's mother made. After trying it, Hong's father was overcome with emotion, and gushed that "the smell is the same" and that it tastes similar to what his late wife used to make. She agreed as well. The elder Hong then confessed: "I miss her very much" before smiling and nodding at Ng in appreciation. Meanwhile, the actress acknowledged that the noodles "wouldn't be 100 per cent the same, for sure" but being able to create something similar was "good enough". "I'm very happy and touched about it. Thank you so much," she said. At the end, Ng also gifted the father-and-daughter duo with a recipe for the Kanom Jeen Nam Ya they had that day, so that they could recreate it in the future.
CNA
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
On The Red Dot: Finding Lost Recipes - Hong Ling's Mum's Thai Laksa
Actress Hong Ling lost her mother just months ago — along with the unique Thai Laksa her mum used to make. Can chef Jonathan recreate a dish made only from memory? And will it taste like home again?
AsiaOne
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
'After wrapping the drama, I went into shutdown mode': Hong Ling recalls tough times during filming of The Spirit Hunter, Entertainment News
For local actress Hong Ling, the filming period for her new fantasy drama The Spirit Hunter was fraught with personal trials. In an interview with AsiaOne on June 18, the 30-year-old told us: "It was New Year's Day when my mum was admitted into the A&E, so I stopped filming for about two days. She was in a very critical condition. In the last two weeks of filming, I told the crew that I'd be on standby mode, that I might have to leave right away." She filmed the drama between October 2024 and mid-January 2025. "For a whole two weeks after wrapping the drama, I went into shutdown mode because there were so many things going on. I was on the bed the whole time and I would just lie down and sleep. I didn't want to get up or go out, I just wanted to rest." Her mother died at the age of 52 on Feb 23, and in the same month, Hong Ling, who's married to local actor Nick Teo, suffered a miscarriage. [[nid:717950]] Now, four months after the ordeal, "all the emotions just come back" when she's alone. To help herself find strength, she said: "A few weeks ago, I tried to start exercising. My friends and work also keep me busy. When I'm busy, everything just seems to be better." In The Spirit Hunter, Hong Ling plays protagonist Tian Nana, a 20-year-old girl burdened to carry a toy sword infused with the spirit of Jian Ling (Richie Koh), which curses her to see supernatural entities that she must defeat. 'I had tears in my eyes' On the more physical side of things, Hong Ling revealed she has a fear of heights that she has yet to overcome even post-filming. In addition to fight scenes, Hong Ling had to do wire stunts, a special technique where performers are suspended and moved using wires to create the illusion of 'flying', jumping, or other gravity-defying actions. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hong Ling (@honglingg_) For two weeks straight, she was on the wire every day under the watchful eye of a Hong Kong stunt team. She recounted: "I was very afraid and I was shivering. I even had tears in my eyes. "I was alone up there. Even though the crew tried to support me and say, 'There's nothing to be afraid of, you know you're very safe', I'm like, 'I know, but I'm two storeys high up in the air'." There was also no preparation for the wire stunts due to the drama's tight filming schedule, so the cast and crew would "just go for it". Hong Ling said: "I was very afraid that I would injure myself, because they mentioned I needed to stay still when they pull [on the wires], otherwise my waist and other parts of my body would get injured." Injuries did occur after an intense fight scene with co-star Tyler Ten, where she suffered a muscle tear in her dominant arm. Cradling her arm back and forth, she explained to us: "I was filming with Tyler and you know how he's very tall and muscular, right? For one scene, we had to interlock arms and he would flip me 360 degrees onto the floor. "We had a full day of filming and with all the fighting scenes, my arms were already very tired. When it was time to lock our arms, I didn't have the strength to lock mine. So when he flipped me, my arm didn't dislocate thankfully, but there was a muscle tear and I had to see a doctor. TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) was my best friend." In the aftermath, even having sought medical attention for the injury, Hong Ling still felt the strain in her arm "every day" with all the fight scenes planned beforehand. Share strong sense of justice To Hong Ling, she feels that portraying her role in the drama was not a huge struggle. She elaborated: "Actually, I think Nana's character is very easy to play. It's very straightforward, compared to Ferlyn (Wong) and Tyler's roles. She's just a very girl-next-door. It's the fight scenes that were the most difficult part." Ferlyn plays Hua Chen Feng, a mysterious swordswoman whose actions teeter between good and evil. She said that while she and her character share a strong sense of justice, she lacks the degree of frankness Nana has. However, she shared with us something she did "impulsively" during an event in 2022. "There were two fans, A and B. B wanted to take pictures with me. I don't know what exactly happened, maybe B cut the queue or something, but A started to scold B and bodyshamed him saying things like, 'You fat pig! Why do you keep wanting to take more pictures?' "I didn't know what was right or wrong anymore, because at the time I thought A shouldn't have done that and I confronted him. I told him, 'You are wrong. You cannot bodyshame people. You have no right to scold him.' And I just continued walking. "Then, an admin of my fanclub approached me and said that next time, I shouldn't just confront A since it's probably not good for me or my image. But to me, I felt that B was wronged and A was at fault, regardless of whether I made the right choice to call A out on his actions." Hong Ling will be present in this year's Star Awards, having received five nominations: Best Actress, Most Emotional Performance, The Show Stealer and BYD Favourite Female Character for her role as Guan Lin in Unforgivable, as well as Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes. The Spirit Hunter will be available on demand for free on Mewatch from June 30. It will also premiere on Channel 8 on July 3, airing weekdays at 9pm. [[nid:719280]] No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.
AsiaOne
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
'My heart feels an unbearable ache': Hong Ling reveals miscarriage earlier this year, Entertainment News
Hong Ling reveals she and her husband, local actor Nick Teo had suffered a miscarriage in February. In an Instagram Reel on Sunday (May 11), the 30-year-old local actress wrote: "As Mother's Day approaches, my heart feels an unbearable ache. "Never in my darkest dreams did I imagine experiencing such immense pain, losing both my beloved mum and my precious baby earlier this year." She added that it was a difficult time, and she would often "end up crying [herself] to sleep". In the Reel, which was believed to be intended as a pregnancy reveal, Hong Ling was seen showing a pregnancy kit to Nick. As he came to the realisation, he hugged her and shed tears of happiness. According to a Lianhe Zaobao report published on Monday (May 12), she shared how when she was 11 weeks into her pregnancy in February when she noticed she was bleeding. Upon seeing a doctor, she was told that the foetus had no heartbeat. "It wasn't because of something I did wrong. Although I am still sad, but I believe my body and emotions will be able to slowly heal," she said. Hong Ling, who married Nick in December 2023, shared that they struggled for a period of time before deciding to announce the miscarriage. During that time, people around them, who were unaware of their situation, had been asking when they are having kids. "They didn't know we were actually enduring the pain of our loss silently. While we were going through all of this, no one knew that we had managed to conceive." She added that while some people may consider miscarriages shameful to acknowledge, she thought otherwise. Hong Ling said: "We wish to speak out to remember our baby and hope that those who have had the same experience know they are not alone." She also shared that she is currently recuperating and nursing herself back to health using Chinese medicine before returning to work. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hong Ling (@honglingg_) In February, Hong Ling had lost her mother, Kaewsoda Kesorn, to stomach cancer. She paid tribute to the 52-year-old in an Instagram post at the time, sharing that her mother always put her family before herself — even during her final days while undergoing chemotherapy, she would still whip up home-cooked dishes for the family. Hong Ling ended her post then with: "She is no longer in pain. My dad and I were by her side when she left... We will see her again. Soon." [[nid:717895]]
