Ottolenghi pastry chef Helen Goh reveals her kitchen go-tos

• Helen Goh's baking recipes

Born in Malaysia, Helen Goh made her name as head pastry chef at Donovans restaurant in Melbourne before heading to London to join superstar chef Yotam Ottolenghi. She is his lead product developer, a co-author of books such as Sweet and a columnist for Good Weekend.

​Five things in my fridge...

French butter. Babybel cheese. I'm always grabbing a handful for car journeys and school pick-ups. The kids love peeling the red wax off and eating them with apple. Aloe vera gel for cuts and burns. Ottolenghi's chilli coriander chutney – to accompany literally everything. Tofu (pressed and silken). I eat the silken tofu with ginger syrup for breakfast and marinate the pressed tofu to have as a "steak" or sliced up in a stir-fry.

My secret to cooking the perfect steak

Time: take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking, and rest it for 20 minutes after cooking.

Go-to late-night meal

Microwaveable pappadums. They cook in 50 seconds and are as crisp as if they were fried. I eat them neat in front of the telly, late at night when I'm winding down and want a snack but don't want to be weighed down. by proper food. If I'm feeling fancy, I dip them in that Ottolenghi chutney.

Give me an egg and I'll…

Separate it: I cure the yolk in salt or soy and freeze the whites. When cured in soy, the yolk has the texture of a jammy boiled egg – I love eating this with plain rice. The yolks cured in salt are much firmer. I dry them in a low oven after they are cured, and grate over pasta, as I would with parmesan. I freeze egg whites in small containers. When I have enough, I'll defrost to make a pavlova, tuiles or friands (like our blackberry and star anise friands from Sweet).

Easiest meal to impress at a dinner party...

I freeze raw cookie dough and bake it fresh to have with coffee. My favourites are hazelnut espresso wafers (the raw dough is pressed into a loaf tin ready to be sliced and baked) and chocolate orange cookies.

I take my caffeine…

in my chocolate. My favourite is Pump Street's 66 per cent Sourdough & Seasalt chocolate. It is sold in beautiful and dangerously compact 70-gram mini-blocks. I also stock up on Haigh's chocolate peppermint frogs when I'm in Australia.

I'm embarrassed for you to see but I'll show you…

A drawer full of wasabi and soy sauce sachets from takeaway sushi meals. I always think they'll come in handy for picnics but never remember to take them!

I'm sick of seeing…

Desserts on menus as an after-thought. Just this week I took a friend to a very good Italian restaurant in Notting Hill. Everything was delicious. But the desserts were barely edible. The sponge biscuits in my tiramisu were dry. My friend suspected her chocolate fondant was warmed in the microwave.

My mild superhero power in the kitchen is…

The ability to open and close oven and pantry doors with my big toe and elbow.

My new favourite hero ingredient

Vinegar. In baking it inhibits gluten development, producing tender crumbs in cakes and flakier crusts in pastries. Vinegar also brightens flavours when used judiciously. I use white wine or apple cider vinegar – they are mild and don't interfere with the taste or colour of bakes.

In my chocolate. My favourite is Pump Street's 66 per cent Sourdough & Seasalt. They are sold in beautiful and dangerously compact 70-gram "mini-blocks". I also stock up on Haigh's dark chocolate peppermint frogs when I'm in Australia – the whole family loves them. I have to hide them, but my sons have become very good at spotting that green foil peeking out from my bookshelf!