Asian Inspirations

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Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls

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To Make the Sauces
In a blender or a pestle and mortar, grind the garlic chilli sauce ingredients together to make the sauce.
Clean the blender or pestle and mortar and then repeat with the ginger sauce ingredients. Store both and set aside.

To Prepare the Chicken
Season the entire chicken with the salt. Stuff with the spring onion, garlic and ginger and lower in to a large pot.
Cover the chicken with water and heat over a medium-high heat until the water begins to boil.
Lower the heat and allow the chicken to simmer for 10-15 mins before turning off the heat, covering with a lid and letting sit in the broth for another 25 mins while preparing the rice.

To Prepare the Rice
Heat oil in a pan and add the garlic. Saute until the garlic becomes aromatic before adding in the rice and mixing to coat all of the grains.
Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the rice in to a rice cooker. Add in the stock from the chicken, salt and pandan leaves and let cook.
When the rice has cooked, use a rice spoon to fluff up and scoop out a serving. Roll the rice in to a ball and set aside while you make the rest of the rice balls.

To Serve the Chicken
Remove the chicken from the stock and cut in to serving sized pieces. Transfer on to a plate along with the rice balls and garnish with the items of your choice.
Finish with a side serving of the sauces and top the chicken pieces with a sprinkling of light soy sauce mixed with sesame oil.

Green Curry with Lamb (Gaeng Keo Wan Gae)

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To Cook
Heat ½ cup coconut milk in a wok over medium heat. Add lamb and stir-fry until cooked. Transfer lamb to a saucepan with 1½ cup of coconut milk and 1½ cup of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the meat is tender.
Heat oil in a wok over low heat. Add Valcom Green Curry Paste and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the rest of the coconut milk and keep stirring until oil appears.
Add curry mixture into the saucepan, turn up the heat to medium, and bring to the boil. Add fish sauce, sugar, eggplants and Valcom Kaffir Lime Leaves, and simmer until well cooked. Garnish with basil leaves and red chilli before removing from heat.

Japanese New Year’s Eve Noodles (Toshikoshi Soba)

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For Soup Base
Soak the kombu sheet in water overnight or for as long as possible before starting to cook to make the dashi.
In a medium saucepan, add the soaked kombu and water and slowly bring to a boil.
Remove the kombu when the dashi has almost begun to boil, reduce the dashi to a simmer and then add the bonito flakes.
Continue to cook for another 10 mins before straining out the bonito flakes.
Return the dashi to the saucepan and add the remainder of the base ingredients. Return the dashi to a simmer before removing it from the heat.

For The Toppings
In boiling water, cook the soba noodles according to the package instructions.
When the noodles have cooked, drain them and rinse them under cold water.
After this, re-hydrate the dried wakame seaweed, slice the green onions and then slice the fish cakes.

To Serve
Place a serving of the soba noodles in to a bowl before pouring over the hot soup and then topping with the fish cakes, seaweed, green onions and Japanese seven spice.

Japanese Rice Soup (Zosui Kayu)

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To Cook
In a pot, bring dashi stock, soy sauce and salt to boil. Then add in the julienned carrots, sliced shitake mushrooms and cook until vegetables are soft.
Add in the cooked rice and stir thoroughly to make sure there are no lumps of rice. Allow it to boil, and then turn heat down to medium small to simmer.
Add the beaten egg and spread it evenly on the surface of the pot and then place lid on to cook for another 30 seconds.
Remove from heat and top with chopped spring onions.

Fried Sesame Balls (Jian Dui)

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To Begin
Scoop 2 tbsp glutinous rice flour and place into a small bowl. Mix in 10ml water and knead until smooth. In a pot, boil some water and place in the small dough. Cook for 3 mins. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl of cold water. Once the small dough has cooked, remove and place into the cold water.
Now in a large bowl, pour in the remaining flour and add in sugar and baking powder. Put in the cooked small dough. Using your hand, break and knead while slowly pouring in water. Knead until a smooth dough is obtained.
Dust your workbench with some glutinous rice flour and roll dough in a long log. Cut into 20 equal sizes. Roll each piece into a ball. Gently flatten a small dough ball with your fingers or palm and scoop in 1 tsp red bean paste in the middle. Then, shape the dough into a ball again, sealing the red bean paste filling completely. Repeat with remaining small dough balls.
Prepare sesame seeds in a bowl and water in another bowl. Dip a filled ball into the water quickly and roll it with sesame seeds. Repeat with remaining filled balls.
In a deep pan or wok, heat enough oil to cover the balls over medium high temperature. Carefully lower in the sesame balls and quickly turn the heat down. Deep fry the balls slowly until slightly golden brown. Dish out fried sesame balls and place them on paper towels to drain off excess oil.
Serve once cooled.

Indonesian Chicken Congee with Soto Sauce

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To Cook
In a pot, put in rice, chicken stock, salt, bay leaves and pandan leaves. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat to medium and tilt the lid. Allow to simmer while stirring occasionally for 30 mins. If congee becomes too thick at any point, add in ½ cup water and stir to dilute.
Meanwhile, place candlenuts, coriander seeds, white peppercorns and cumin into a grinder and grind until fine. Remove and set aside. Then, place shallots and garlic cloves into a blender and blend until almost paste like.
Add oil into wok and bring to medium heat. Add in onion paste and slowly fry until fragrant and translucent. Put in grounded spices and continue to fry until well combined. Add lemongrass, galangal and bay leaves. Crumple or tear the kaffir lime leaves to release its aroma and add into the wok. Bring fire to a low and stir fry the ingredients for 2 mins. Put in turmeric powder and salt. Pour in chicken stock and allow to simmer, stirring gently. Once the sauce starts to simmer, pour in coconut cream. Allow to simmer for 5-10 mins. Remove and discard lemongrass, galangal, bay leaves and kaffir lime leaves. Set aside.
Once the porridge is ready, remove and discard bay leaves and pandan leaves. The porridge should have a thick consistency. Ladle porridge into individual serving bowls. Pour in soto sauce as the base or serve at the side. Top with shredded chicken, crispy fried shallots, roasted peanuts, cakwe and spring onions. Drizzle some soy sauce if desired.

Japanese Curry Buns (Kare Pan)

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To Prep
Prepare your choice of Japanese curry the day before. Ensure the meat, vegetables or potatoes used in the curry are cut into small pieces. Refrigerate overnight to create a solid and pasty texture.
Take the Japanese curry out from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Also bring unsalted butter to room temperature.
Place bread flour, cake flour, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until combined. Add instant dry yeast and pour in warm milk. Combine until a rough dough forms then, shape the dough into a ball. Add butter on top and knead the dough until there is no big pieces of butter left. Place the dough on a lightly floured worktop and continue to knead until it’s smooth. Form into a ball and put it into a bowl. Cling wrap and leave to proof until doubled in size. To test the dough if it’s ready, dust your finger with flour and poke the centre of the dough. The dough is ready if the hole does not close up.
Lightly dust your worktop with flour and place the dough on top. Gently press the dough down and fold it into thirds, width wise. Then, fold the dough again into thirds, length wise. Flip the dough so that the seam is facing down. Twist the dough to form a smooth ball.
Weigh the dough on a kitchen scale and divide the weight by 8. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and weigh each piece. Cut off extra dough it if weighs more than the calculated figure and add more dough if it weighs less. Roll each dough into a rough ball and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with cling wrap and allow to sit for 15 mins at room temperature.
Put seam side of the dough facing upwards. Flatten the dough with your palm and fold it in thirds, width wise. Then, fold in thirds length wise. Flip the dough around so that the seam side is facing down. Flatten again and turn the dough upside down so the seam side is up. Using a rolling pin, roll into a 9cm circle and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Repeat with all dough balls. Cover them with cling wrap and allow to sit for 10 mins.
Press the edges of the dough with your fingers to thin the dough out. The centre should be thicker than the edges. Each dough should be roughly 10cm in diameter. With the seam side facing upwards, scoop about 1½ tbsp curry paste in the middle of the dough. Fold the dough into half, ensuring no curry paste touches the edges. Pinch the edges tightly to seal properly. Fold the pinched edges and press again to secure. Place the wrapped dough seam side down on the baking tray lined with parchment paper and cover with a damp tea towel. Repeat with remaining dough and curry paste.
Pour panko into a shallow tray and prepare a beaten egg. Brush egg over the dough, coat with panko and place it back to the lined baking tray. Repeat with remaining formed dough. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise until 1½ times in size.

To Cook
Heat enough oil for deep frying in a pot. Carefully place the curry buns, seam side down, for 5 secs before turning them around. Continuously flip them around to deep fry until they are golden brown. Drain and continue to fry remaining curry buns.
Serve hot or warm.

Tom Yum Noodle Soup

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To Begin
Put in coriander roots, shallots and whole black peppercorns into pork stock and bring to a boil. Then, allow to simmer for 30 mins.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of water (around 2l) to boil. While waiting, heat a pan or saucepot with oil over medium high flame. Fry the wonton wrappers until lightly browned and crisp. Set aside.
Cook pork balls in boiling water for 3-4 mins until cooked. Drain and set aside. Repeat with fish balls and minced pork. In the same boiling water, cook your noodles. Drain and portion out into individual serving bowls. Top the noodles with equal servings of pork balls, fish balls and minced pork.
To prepare the tom yum soup by individual serving, place all condiments into a bowl. Stir to mix well. Ladle 1 cup of hot soup base and mix until well combined. Pour into one individual noodle bowl. Garnish with some coriander, spring onions, fried crushed garlic and wonton wrappers. Serve.
Repeat Step 4 with remaining individual noodle bowls.

Vietnamese Curry Chicken

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To Prep
Season chicken with salt. Cover loosely with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

To Cook
Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pot over medium heat. Fry chicken pieces until browned on all sides. Set aside.
Heat 60ml oil over medium heat. Sauté onions until softened and caramelised, about 20 mins. Add shrimp paste and garlic and sauté for 1 min until fragrant. Add in coriander, turmeric, cayenne and black pepper. Stir fry for 1 min.
Pour in wine and tomatoes and cook for 5 mins until the liquid has evaporated. Put in chillies, curry leaves, bay leaves, crushed lemongrass and galangal. Pour in chicken stock and bring to a boil. Then, simmer uncovered for 1½ hrs, until the liquid is reduced by half.
Once ready, pour the liquid through a fine sieve placed over a bowl. Press the sieved mixture with a spatula to squeeze in remaining liquid.
Pour the strained liquid back into the pot and bring to a boil. Carefully place in browned chicken, carrots and potatoes. Simmer uncovered for 25 mins until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots and potatoes are tender.
Serve hot with steamed rice or cooked rice vermicelli.

Thai Rice Soup (Khao Tom)

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To Begin
Cook rice a day before and leave to refrigerate overnight.
In a large bowl, mix pork, garlic, coriander, salt, black pepper and fish sauce until well combined. Slowly stir in beaten egg and mix the meat mixture again until thoroughly combined. Roll pork mixture into balls.
Prepare a pot of boiling water and cook pork balls batch by batch. Cook for another 2 mins once the pork balls float to the surface to ensure they are cooked through.
In a large pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Add in galangal and lemongrass and simmer for 15 mins. Then carefully ladle in cooked rice and simmer for 5 mins. Season with soy sauce, fish sauce and white pepper. Add more according to your liking.
Remove and discard galangal and lemongrass. Ladle rice soup into 4 serving bowls until half full. Crack in an egg into each bowl. Then ladle more hot rice soup into each bowl. If you like the eggs to be cooked before cracking them in, place eggs into a small pot of water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and allow to sit for 15 mins before cracking them into the rice soup.
Garnish with ginger, spring onions and coriander leaves. Serve hot with some soy sauce if desired.

Red Rubies in Coconut Milk (Tab Tim Grob)

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To Begin
Add 2 tbsp water into red food colouring and mix well. In a bowl, add red food colouring mixture with water chestnuts, mixing well to ensure each cube of water chestnuts are coated with colouring. Allow to sit for a while until they are evenly coloured.
Stir in half the tapioca flour and combine well until each piece of water chestnut is well coated. Scoop them out and lightly spray with water before coating them with the other half of tapioca flour. Place coated water chestnuts into a colander and lightly shake off excess flour.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Carefully ladle in coated water chestnuts and cook for 1 min. Remove them once they float to the surface and transfer them to a bowl of cold, iced water.
In a small saucepan, pour in water, sugar and coconut milk and heat through over medium flame until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow the syrup to cool down.
To serve, pour some syrup into a serving cup or bowl. Add crushed ice and cooked water chestnuts.