Add the Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce and oyster sauce and mix, then add the peas and pineapple and mix well. Taste and season. She discussed her dream of going to Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in London after her GCSEs with her mothe, but her plans drastically changed following the sudden death of Celia – from deep vein thrombosis, during a flight home from Chinese New Year celebrations in Kong Hong. Under her mother’s guidance, the schoolgirl, who was preparing for a GCSE in Home Economics at the time, pulled off a super meal for her parents, as well as her three older sisters and little brother. Having grown up in a Chinese takeaway – the Man Lee in Lisburn, which is still going strong – Lee gets frustrated by the negative reputation takeout can get.

But the 38-year-old describes her win as life-changing, saying it has opened so many doors. “Pretty much when I won Best Home Cook I was, like, okay, I can cook. It’s okay to say I can cook, and I know what I’m doing in the cuisines I’m showcasing – because I’ve loved cooking from the age of 16. When my mum passed away I pretty much took on the role of mum, so I had to properly cook.” Annual travels home to family in Hong Kong, as well as experiencing the cuisine in Chinatowns around the world, from Sydney to New York, embedded her passion for Chinese food. I’m staring at Angela Hartnett and Mary Berry’s cookbook in my kitchen right now. These are people that I really respect and whose recipes I use, so it was really nice to meet them in person and learn from them. A regular on Ireland AM's Friday cooking slot, Suzie has also been busy filming for a new RTE programme and contributing to an upcoming BBC show. They absolutely love being in the kitchen with me. Our lives can be so busy, but cooking together is another way you can spend quality time with your children,” she says.For Suzie Lee, food and Chinese home cooking has always been personal - in Chinese culture, food and family are intertwined. Suzie strives to capture and recreate those cooking traditions she shared with her late mother, her inspiration. Cantonese cooking is all about playing around with simple and fresh ingredients. It's about making use of all those flavours and letting the dish do its thing. It's not as complicated as people think - everyone should give it a try," she enthuses.

Suzie first shot to fame after winning BBC national cookery competition, Best Home Cook (Image: BBC) Suzie is also keen to showcase the uniqueness of Cantonese cuisine, compared to other regions in China. She loved food and was so passionate about cooking," says Suzie about her mother, who passed away suddenly when she was just 16. She started exploring all kinds of different cuisines (many of which she would go on to showcase on Best Home Cook) but she admits she initially steered clear of Cantonese food. “I found it quite hard to go down that route,” Lee admits. “Because my mum was my idol, in a sense. She was the best [at Cantonese cooking]. And I thought I hadn’t learned enough from her, whereas all the other cuisines I could explore on the internet, buy cookbooks, magazines, whatever, and play around with – but traditional Cantonese cooking, for me, my mum held that up there – and I was like, I can’t replicate that.” They love being in the kitchen with me cooking, eating and communicating through food," adds Suzie, who continues to juggle her new-found career as a 'celebrity chef', with her own accountancy business.

Detailing a range of simple techniques, short cuts and money saving tips, Suzie takes viewers through a range of family-friendly dishes based on readily available ingredients. Since winning Best Home Cook in 2020 Suzie has presented two cooking shows on BBC NI (Image: BBC NI)