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Kylie Kwong releases home-cooking range with Woolworths

Ruby Lohman

Asian influence: Kylie Kwong's new line-up includes Mongolian beef.
Asian influence: Kylie Kwong's new line-up includes Mongolian beef.Supplied

There was Jamie Oliver for Woolworths and Heston Blumenthal for Coles, and now Woolies has made its next move in the supermarket celeb-collab war: Cooking with Kylie.

That is Kylie Kwong, much-loved chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and key voice in the conversation about the ethics of what we eat.

The Woolworths range includes two meal kits, five ready-to-heat meals, three sauces and a Chinese master stock. Priced from $4.99 to $14.99, it's being rolled out across Victoria, NSW and Queensland. The line-up features crispy chicken with sweet and sour sauce, vegetable fried rice, stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts and Mongolian-style beef.

Woolworths says the range reflects its recent research into the top Chinese dishes people want to cook. That research found that three-quarters of shoppers would prepare Chinese food at home if it was made easier. Proving our near obsession with Chinese food, they found that nine in 10 shoppers like to eat Chinese and that seven in 10 eat Chinese-inspired meals at home at least once a month.

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Enter Cooking with Kylie. Demystifying Cantonese fare has been Kwong's game for two decades; she's written six cookbooks, including the 2006 bestseller, Simple Chinese Cooking.

"My dream has always been to take the Kwong family recipes and traditions into the homes of all Australians," she says. "Throughout my entire career I've been asked … 'how can I cook simple Chinese food in my home using ingredients bought at the local supermarket?' So this range is very much a response to the success of that Simple Chinese Cooking book."

Kwong is a passionate proponent of organic, biodynamic and artisanal produce, so the commercial collaboration won't be without its critics. It raises the question: a sellout or key step in the quest to balance convenience with sustainability?

"I have been able to directly influence the sourcing and buying decisions of all the produce, which I'm just thrilled about," says Kwong. "I'm very proud to say that all of the raw produce in this range is Australian."

The prawns in the dumplings meal kit are certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, the beef is Tasmanian grass-fed and the chicken is RSPCA-approved (though that doesn't necessarily mean free-range). The packaging is recyclable.

Kwong hints at the range's evolution, including the potential to incorporate organic produce. "But as we all know, we've got to start somewhere," she says.

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