Cook perfect rice every time

Ping Coombes chats tabout the importance of the global staple

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It's been a decade since MasterChef 2014 winner Ping Coombes published her debut cookbook - and now she's back with her long-awaited second.

As the first Malaysian-born winner of the prestigious cooking BBC One show title, her plan was to introduce Malaysian food to home cooks, a cuisine which, at the time, was much lesser known.

She had only entered the competition because she was made redundant and "had nothing else to do". These days, the mum-of-two runs Ping's Masak Club cookery school and Ping's Makan Club, a supper club, and collaborates with chefs in restaurants around the country, but aside from improved recipe writing skills, she says she's the same cook we watched on TV some 12 years ago.

"I always cook the same way as I did 10 years before, I only have one very simple rule - I only cook what I love to eat," says the 44-year-old.