To Cook
In a pot, bring the 1L of water to a rolling boil. At this point, remove the pot from the heat and in a heavy bottom saucepan, cover, and bring it to a boil.
Once boiling, remove the pot from the heat. Remove the eggs from the refrigerator and set aside while you pour in the tap water to slightly cool the boiling water.
Gently place the eggs in to the water and allow to slowly cook for approximately 13 mins while kept covered.
While the eggs cook, combine the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. When the sauce begins to boil, add in the katsuobushi and remove the saucepan from the heat.
Allow for the katsuobushi to sink in to the sauce before putting it through a strainer and setting it aside.
Cut spring onions into thin slices and set aside.
When the eggs have cooked, remove them and allow them to cool for approximately 5 mins.
To plate, crack the egg open in to a small bowl and pour the sauce over; garnish with chopped scallion and serve!
Boil
Tonkotsu Ramen
To Make the Broth
Place the chicken, pork in to a large pot and fill it with enough water to fully cover all of the meat. Cover the pot with a lid and bring it to a boil over a high heat.
When the water has reached a boil, drain the water and wash the bones to remove any impurities.
Clean the pot and return the cleaned bones back in to it along with the rest of the ingredients for the broth. Add enough water to cover the ingredients and cover with a lid.
Over high heat, bring pot to a boil and then reduce the heat so that the broth is simmering. Allow to simmer while covered for 6-12 hrs.
Towards the end of the simmering time, take the pork fat and place it on to a sieve. Lower the sieve in to the broth and allow the pork fat to cook. Allow for about 30 mins of time to cook the fat before draining and finely mincing.
To Make the Marinated Eggs
Combine water, sake, soy, mirin, and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Pierce fat end of each egg with a thumbtack to make a tiny hole (this is to prevent the eggs from cracking and eliminates air bubbles from forming at the end). Carefully lower the eggs into the water with a wire mesh spider, or slotted spoon. Reduce heat to maintain a bare simmer. Cook for exactly 6 mins. Drain hot water and carefully peel eggs under cold running water (the whites will be quite delicate).
Transfer eggs to a bowl that just barely fits them all. Pour marinade on top of the eggs until they are covered, or just floating. Place a double-layer of paper towels on top and press down until completely saturated in liquid to help in keeping the eggs submerged and marinating it evenly. Refrigerate and marinate for at least four hrs and up to 12. Discard marinade after 12 hrs. Store eggs in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in ramen soup to serve.
Assembling Your Ramen
Heat up the broth by bring it to a boil. When the broth has reached a boil, add the seasoning. begin with a small amount of seasoning and add more till you get your desired flavour.
Pour a small spoonful of the broth in to a bowl and then arrange the noodles in a bowl along with sliced chashu, marinated egg, some minced pork fat, and your desired toppings and garnish. Serve immediately!
Knife Cut Noodle Soup (Kalguksu)
To Make Stock
Place Stock ingredients and water into a pot, bring to boil. Skim off any impurities. Simmer for about 15 mins. Strain out vegetables and anchovies, discard. Set stock aside.
To Make Noodle Soup
Bring the stock to a boil again and add zucchini, carrot, soy sauce, fish sauce, salt and pepper.
Add in the noodles and vongoles (optional). Cook until the noodles are cooked and the shells of vongoles have opened. Add spring onions towards the end of cooking time.
Serve noodles in individual bowls with seasoned soy sauce.
Tips
You can use chicken stock instead of making the anchovies stock.
You can add precooked noodles to stock to have a clearer soup.
Green Curry Mussels
To Cook
Heat a medium-sized heavy-based pot and add oil, onion, garlic, ginger and green curry paste. Saute until fragrant.
Add fish sauce, coconut milk and sugar and bring to boil.
Add drained mussels and cover pot with lid. Bring pot contents to boil and remove from heat immediately.
With the lid on, shake the pot occasionally to open the mussels.
Dish out on a serving plate and garnish with chopped coriander and fried shallots. Serve the dish immediately with steamed rice.
Korean Seafood Noodle Soup (Kalgaksu)
To Cook
In a stockpot, add the dried large anchovies, garlic, onion, whole spring onions and 10-12 cups of water. Bring to boil and skim off any impurities. Simmer for about 15 mins. Strain and discard ingredients, set stock aside.
Bring the stock to a boil again and add the soy sauce, fish sauce, zucchini and carrots. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the noodles and seafood, cook until done. Add spring onions towards the end of cooking time.
Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with spring onions. Serve with seasoning sauce.
Vegetarian Pad Thai
To Cook
Place noodles in a bowl of boiling water and soak for 6-8 mins. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in wok over medium heat, add in garlic and sauté until fragrant and slightly browned.
Add in tofu and stir-fry until just cooked.
Add broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and zucchini, toss until vegetables are tender.
Add Pad Thai paste and mix well. Stir in fish sauce, tamarind puree, sugar and chilli powder.
Rinse rice noodles then add to wok and stir through. Push the mixture to one side of wok, then add beaten egg and allow it to cook slightly before tossing it through the noodles.
Throw in the bean shoots and chives, stir thoroughly for 1 min.
Dish out and garnish with peanuts, lime/lemon wedge, coriander and a dash of pepper.
Thai Braised Pork Noodle Soup
To Cook
In a stockpot, add water and pork, bring to a boil. Add all the Soup ingredients and simmer for 1 hr.
Add meatballs and seasoning to the stockpot and let it simmer for another hr. Do taste test and add more seasoning if needed.
In a separate pot, blanch vegetables until tender, set aside.
Divide noodles into 4-5 separate bowls and top with vegetables.
Ladle soup and meat over noodles and garnish with coriander. Serve hot.
Thai Glass Noodle Soup with Tofu (Kang Jued Woon Sen)
To Prep
Mix the minced meat, soy sauce and ground white pepper until well combined. Form into approximately 12 small meatballs.
To Cook
Heat oil in a frying pan on high heat, then add in garlic and fry for 30 secs.
Pour in the soup stock and bring to a boil.
Add meatballs, onion, Chinese cabbage and carrot, simmer until tender.
Add in the noodles and stir thoroughly.
Add the fish sauce, sugar and white pepper.
Carefully add Japanese tofu and stir gently to avoid breaking the tofu. Remove from heat.
Transfer to serving bowls and garnish with coriander. Serve.
Thai Chicken Green Curry (Gaeng Kiew Wan Gai)
To Cook
Clean the chicken and pat dry with paper towel. Slice vertically into thin slices. Add 1 cup light coconut milk into a pot and bring to boil. Add chicken and reduce the heat to simmer the chicken until meat is tender. Dish out the chicken and set aside.
Add the vegetable oil into a pan and heat over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the curry paste and stir-fry until fragrant. Slowly add 1⁄2 cup of thick coconut milk and stir-fry until fragrant. Add chicken to the pan and stir-fry to evenly coat chicken in the curry paste. Remove pan from heat.
Transfer curry and chicken into a large pot and heat over medium heat. Add in 3 1⁄2 cups light coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves. Bring to boil then add fish sauce and sugar.
Add pea eggplant and make sure they are submerged in the curry. Continue cooking until eggplant is cooked through, then add the remaining 1⁄2 cup thick coconut milk. Bring to boil and add Thai basil leaves and red spur chillies.
Taste the curry and adjust the spiciness to your liking. If the curry is too spicy, add some coconut milk to bring down the heat level. Turn off the heat and remove from the stove. Dish out the curry into a bowl and garnish with Thai basil leaves. Enjoy with steamed rice or rice noodles.
Tips: When cooking the chicken, make sure the thin coconut milk is boiling before adding the chicken meat. This will tenderise the meat and remove any foul smell. The thin coconut milk that was used to boil the chicken should be discarded as it will contain a foul smell.
Steamed Pumpkin Cakes (Khanom Fak Thong)
To Cook
In a steamer, steam the diced pumpkin for about 20 mins or until cooked through and soft. Let it cool for a few minutes and then mash it until it a nice, soft puree.
When the pumpkin has cooled, add in the sugar, rice flour and potato flour and mix thoroughly.
While mixing, slowly pour in the coconut milk and then add the salt and about half of the shredded coconut and mix well.
Pour the batter into moulds or small bowls suitable for steaming. Fill them up until they are about ¾ full and sprinkle the remaining shredded coconut on top of each mould.
Steam for about 10-15 mins until they thicken and have a custard-like texture.
When the cakes have finished steaming, remove them from the steamer and serve!
Thai Crispy Fish with Mango Salad (Yum Pla Duk Fu)
To Cook
Cut the fish into chunks, season with soy sauce or salt, then steam for 5 mins until the meat is fully cooked. Set the fish aside to cool.
In the meantime, prepare the mango salad. In a mortar, pound 2-3 bird’s eye chillies until there are no big chunks, then add palm sugar and mash to a paste. Add fish sauce and lime juice and mix until sugar is completely dissolved. Transfer paste to a bowl and add the shallots, dried shrimp, and julienned mango. Set aside to sit while you fry the fish.
Once the fish is cool, transfer it to a bowl lined with muslin cloth. Wrap the cloth around the fish, twist, and squeeze as hard as you can to remove as much liquid as possible.
Then, transfer the fish to a mortar and pestle and pound it until it’s fluffy with no chunks left.
In a wok or a large pot, heat about 3 cm of oil over high heat. Now to put the fu (fluffiness) in the fish, the oil has to be heated to about 200℃.
Once the oil is hot enough, sprinkle half of the fish into the oil. Be careful as the oil will bubble aggressively. While the fish cooks, try to tuck the edges of the fish and push the fish down to submerge in oil to fry and brown evenly. Once fish is golden brown, remove from oil with a slotted skimmer and set it on paper towels to drain.
Place the fish on a serving plate and sprinkle with roasted peanuts. Garnish mango salad with chopped coriander (optional) and serve beside the fish. Serve the yum pla duk foo as a snack or as a main dish with steamed rice.
Korean Spicy, Sweet and Vinegary Noodles (Bibim Guksu)
To Prep
Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
To Cook
Boil noodles for 2-3 mins and rinse under cold running water to cool. Drain well.
To Serve
In a bowl, place noodles and vegetables and add sauce on top. Serve mixed or un-mix.