EMMANUEL Stroobant's knife dances ballet-like on the cutting board and he's not even looking. Instead, his mouth is going a mile a minute, telling a charming story on why he always - without fail - peels his vegetables. He also always takes out the seeds of capsicum. 'They make me burp,' he says with a sheepish smile.

Easy to cook, good to eat: That's chef Stroobant's key advice for those whipping up dishes at home. His tasty creations include chilli crab without the shell and a mouth-watering braised pork dish.

These idiosyncrasies are part of what makes him an award-winning chef as well as the star of his own show, Chef in Black, that was opted by the Asian Food Channel and will make its regional debut on June 21.

During an intimate lunch in his home, Stroobant proves he is just as adept at cooking at home as he is in a bustling restaurant kitchen. The food he serves is delicious - tomato and goat's cheese salad, chilli crab without the shell, and a mouth-watering braised pork dish.

'It's all down to good planning,' he says, saying that the restaurant business makes you realise how important planning ahead is. 'Preparation is key. The best outcome would probably come from a dish that was prepared a day early.'

The most important advice Stroobant has for home chefs is: 'KISS - Keep It Simple, Silly'.' Whether it be the instruments one uses - 'you only need one very good knife' - or with raw ingredients - 'make sure they are the best you can find' - Stroobant endorses this sure-fire mantra.

'A common mistake with home cooking is that people make things too complicated,' he says. Problems while cooking can be significantly reduced if 'you prepare well, have good ingredients with a well planned and simple menu'.

The salad he prepared was a successful manifestation of his advice. While it was prepared in under 10 minutes, it was delectable, owing its distinctive flavours to the high quality of the organic Japanese tomatoes, the goat's cheese imported from France, and the Terre Bormano olive oil.

According to Stroobant, another vital aspect is presentation. For him, it is 'essential': 'It's like a pretty woman you see on the street. Even if she turns out to have bad breath or whatever, you still want to approach her in the first place.'

While the average home cook cannot expect to recreate the intricate flourishes of a professional, Stroobant shows that making a dish attractive can be simple and easy. 'The current trend is to use bright colours,' he says. 'Do you prefer Rubens or Picasso? I prefer Picasso - a small paintbrush,a $2 sachet of squid ink and I am writing anything I want on the plate. You can use pistachio paste for green, beetroot puree for red, carrot mousse for orange, golden powder from little India, reduced balsamic vinegar - forget parsley and slices of cucumber.'

To transform the salad into a treat for both sight and taste, he demonstrated his paintwork and the results were striking; with free-form slashes of bright green, maroon and black surrounding it, a simple salad became the centre of what resembled modern art.

Still despite his skill and spontaneity, Stroobant says that one of the most important things that makes a good cook cannot really be taught: 'Passion is vital,' he says. 'There must be love when you cook.'