Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

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Nyonya Sweet Broth (Pengat)

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To Prep
Cut all the sweet potatoes and yam into small diamond shapes. Peel the bananas and cut diagonally into 3cm thick slices.

To Cook
Steam the purple sweet potato for 10 mins and set aside. Steam the yellow and orange sweet potatoes and taro for 15 mins and set aside.
In a pot, boil the water then add on the coconut cream, steamed sweet potatoes, yam, sugar and pandan leaves. Bring contents in the pot to boil for abother 5 mins. Add in the banana slices right before turning off the heat.
Pengat can be served either hot or cold (chilled or with ice cubes).

Balinese Black Rice Pudding (Bubur Injin)

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To Prep
Rinse both types of glutinous rice until the water runs clear.
Soak them overnight.
Mix pinch of salt and coconut cream. Set aside.

To Cook
Heat up a saucepan over medium heat. Add glutinous rice, water and pandan leaves or extract, cooking until boiling.
Lower the heat to low-medium and cook uncovered for 40 minutes. Stir occasionally until the glutinous rice becomes porridge-like.
Remove the pandan leaves. Add palm sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Combine the coconut cream and salt in a bowl and mix well.
To serve, drizzle salted coconut cream over the pudding.

Panaeng Curry with Beef (Panaeng Nua)

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To Cook
Heat oil in a wok over low heat. Stir-fry Valcom Panaeng Curry Paste until fragrant. Slowly add ½ cup coconut milk and continue stirring until oil appears.
Turn up the heat and add the meat, sugar and ½ cup of coconut milk and ½ cup of water. Mix well. Bring to the boil and simmer until the meat is tender. Add the remaining coconut milk and return to the boil. Add Valcom Kaffir Lime Leaves and basil leaves.
Remove from heat and garnish with red chilli.

Sichuan Red Oil Wontons

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To Prep
In a bowl, combine all the ingredients of the filling together. Set aside.
Mix all the Sauce ingredients together. Set aside.
To wrap the wontons, place about a teaspoon of the filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Dab your index finger into the small bowl of water, and then trace the outer edges of the wonton wrapper. This will help seal the wontons.
Fold the wonton up to form a triangle shape. Pinch the wonton wrapper to seal tight and make sure there is no leakage. Using the thumb and index finger of both hands, pinch and fold both corners of the wonton downwards. Then, lift the right corner over the left corner, pinch to seal tight. You might dab a little water on both corners to help seal the wontons. Transfer the wontons to a floured surface or a plate lined with parchment paper. This will ensure that the wontons don’t stick to the surface.

To Cook
Bring the water to boil. Gently drop all the wontons into the water and gently stir the wontons with a ladle to prevent sticking. Boil the wontons for about 1-2 mins until they float to the top. Transfer the wontons out immediately with a strainer or slotted spoon. Shake off the excess water and transfer the wontons to bowl.
Add the desired amount of the Sauce to the wontons and gently toss them to coat evenly. Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with some sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Sichuan Boiled Fish (Shui Zhu Yu)

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To Prep
Combine fish, potato starch, 1 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 tbsp water in a bowl. Mix well to combine and marinate for 20 mins.

To Cook
Heat 300ml vegetable oil in a wok over high heat until smoking. Add doubanjiang, black beans, spring onion, half the dried chilli and two-thirds of the Sichuan peppercorns, reduce heat to medium and cook until oil turns red, then add garlic, ginger and Shaoxing wine and stir-fry until fragrant. Add stock, 13-fragrance spice powder, season to taste with white pepper and caster sugar and simmer, stirring occasionally, until well-flavoured. Add fish mixture, reduce heat to low and simmer until fish is just cooked. Add soybean sprouts, cook until just wilted and transfer to a serving bowl.
Wipe out wok and return to medium-high heat. When smoking, add chilli oil and remaining vegetable oil and heat to 160ºC. Add remaining dried chillies and remaining Sichuan peppercorns and stir-fry until fragrant, then pour over fish and serve hot.

Korean Noodle Soup (Guksu)

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To Cook
Put the water, radish, onions, green onion roots, anchovies, and kelp in a large pot, cover, and cook over medium-high heat for 30 mins.
Turn down the heat to low and boil another 20 mins.
Turn off the heat and strain. You will get about 8 cups of soup. Stir in the salt and pepper.
Beat 2 eggs in a bowl, once mixed well, pour in a hot non-stick pan, cook one side for 1 min and flip over continue to cook for another minute, once done, remove from pan, let it cool down, and cut the egg in thin strips.
In another pot, bring water to boil, add the noodles cover and cook over medium heat for 5 mins or follow the instructions on noodle pack.
Test the noodle and make sure it is not hard.
Strain and rinse the noodles under cold water a couple of times. Divide the noodles into 2 portions and put each portion into a serving bowl.
Pour in the anchovy soup, top the noodles with zucchini, carrots, egg, seaweed and spring onions.

Thai Laksa with Prawns (Laksa Goong)

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To Cook
Prepare the noodle as per packet instruction. Drain and divide between 2 serving bowls.
Heat oil then add Valcom Laksa Paste and stir-fry over low heat until fragrant. Add the prawns and stir well until cooked.
Add light coconut milk and bring to the boil. Spoon soup over noodles in bowls, then garnish with beansprouts and coriander.
Hint: chicken fillet can be used in place of prawns.

Miso Ramen

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To Make Dashi
Wipe konbu with a damp cloth. Cut konbu into strips. Add to the water, and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add 1 cup of cold water to stop boiling.
Add the bonito flakes. Return to the boil, simmer on low heat for around 10 min. Strain through a fine sieve, and return to the stove.

To Cook
Take about half a cup of your hot dashi, and combine with miso in a small bowl, until smooth and runny. Add this to the remaining dashi, stirring until combined. Keep hot. Add soy sauce to taste, if desired.
Prepare Hakubaku Ramen noodles as per the packet instructions.
Arrange servings of Hakubaku Ramen noodles, chicken slices, egg, carrot, cucumber, bok choy, shallots and chilli in two bowls. Pour half the hot dashi miso into each bowl. Make sure dashi is hot so that it will blanch the bok choy.

Hot and Sour Glass Noodle Soup

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To Prep
Soak the soybeans overnight. Drain and pat dry with a cloth or kitchen paper.
Pour oil and soybeans into a frying pan. Fry on medium-low heat until the beans are nicely browned. Drain the excess oil through a sieve. Set aside.

To Cook
Soak the noodles in warm water for about half an hour until pliable. Bring a pot of water to a boil and put the drained noodles in.
Boil until they are cooked, rinse under tap water for a few seconds then drain.
Meanwhile, in two serving bowls, mix black rice vinegar, light soy sauce, Chinese chili oil, freshly ground Sichuan pepper, garlic, and salt for the soup.
Bring the chicken stock to a boil and then pour half of it into each bowl.
Place well-drained noodles into the bowls. Top with fried soybeans and preserved Sichuan pickle. Garnish with coriander and garlic sprouts.

Korean Ox Bone Soup

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To Prep
Soak the ox bones and the beef in cold water for 20 mins to remove any blood.
Rince the bones in cold water a couple of times to remove any bone chips and then drain the water.

To Cook
Boil 14 cups water in a large pot.
Put the bones and beef into the pot of boiling water and boil for about 10 mins.
Rince and drain the meat in cold water to remove the excess fat.
Clean the pot thoroughly and put the bones and the beef back into the pot.
Add about 12 cups of water, onion, peeled radish to the pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
When it starts boiling about 20-30 mins later, lower the heat to simmer for 3 hours.
Turn off the heat and take the beef and radish out of the pot. Leave the bones behind.
Pour the brownish broth out of the pot and into a large bowl.
Fill the pot with water again and boil over medium-high heat for about 20 mins. When it starts boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 2½ to 3 hours.
Pour the broth into the collecting bowl. It will be a lot whiter than the first time we poured it.
Fill your pot with water again and boil over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes. When it starts boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 2½ to 3 hours. This time, the broth will be really white, but thin.
Cool down the collecting bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.
Keep it in the refrigerator for several hours until all the fat floats.

Boiled White Radish Soup with Pork Ribs

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To Cook
Blanch the pork in boiling water for 5 minutes and remove from the water. Clean off any impurities and set aside.
Put in all the ingredients into a pot and add 2L of water. Make sure the water covers all the ingredients by 2-3cms, otherwise add more water to the pot.Bring the water to a boil on medium high heat, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about 2.5 hours or until the pork is tender.
Season with salt and serve.

Ching Bo Leung Herbal Soup

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To Cook
In a large stock pot, heat 4 cups of water and bring to boil. Add in pork ribs and boil for 5-10 mins to remove impurities.
Remove pork ribs and discard water.
Bring 8 cups of water to boil in the stock pot over high heat. Add in the blanched pork ribs and the ingredients from the packet of Ching Bo Leung Herbal Soup.
Bring to a boil and immediately lower the heat to simmer for 3 hrs.
Skim off any fat from the surface of the soup.
Add salt to taste and serve hot. Soy sauce may be served as a dipping sauce for the pork ribs.