Shu Han Lee is a food writer, recipe developer and the founder of Rempapa Spice Co, the company on a mission to make ‘rempah’ (or spice pastes in Malay) the next pesto in the UK.
Shu grew up in Singapore and moved to London in 2009, with a small rice cooker in her luggage. Missing the flavours of home, she started cooking and hosting Singaporean supper clubs from her home and pop-up events. In 2018, Shu started selling her small-batch curry pastes and sambal from a farmer's market stall and it has since grown to become a multiple Great Taste Award-winning range, found on the shelves of Selfridges, Whole Foods, Ocado and independents across the UK. Shu also works as a freelance recipe developer, collaborating with brands such as Wagamama, Tilda, Kikkoman, Jamie Oliver and Old Chang Kee. Her collab dish with Wagamama, Shu’s Shiok Chicken, outsold their chicken katsu curry on launch week and ended up staying on the menu across all UK and US restaurants for 6 years.
She has written two cookbooks: Chicken & Rice, Fresh & Easy Southeast Asian Recipes (2016, Fig Tree, Penguin Books) and Agak Agak, Everyday Recipes from Singapore (2024, Quadrille, Penguin Random House), which was a finalist for Fortnum & Mason’s Cookbook of the Year.
You can follow Shu’s work on Instagram @iamshuhanlee and @rempapaspiceco.