To Begin
Combine all spice paste ingredients to blend in an electric blender.
Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a wok over low heat, saute the spice paste until the oil separates from the paste, approximately in 5 minutes.
In a bowl, combine tamarind paste with the water, mix well and strain for the tamarind juice. Add the juice to the spice paste in the wok and bring to boil.
Add in tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add in the daun kesom, bunga kantan salt and sugar. Stir occasionally while allowing to simmer until sauce thickens. Salt and sugar may be adjusted according to taste.
Meanwhile, heat enough oil in a deep wok over high heat. Deep fry fish until well cooked through. Drain oil and place on a serving dish, set aside.
Pour sauce over deep fried fish and serve immediately with steamed rice.
Deep-Fry
Northern Thai Dip (Nam Prik Ong)
To Make the Paste
Pound the salt and soaked chillies with a mortar and pestle until smooth.
Add shallots, lemongrass and garlic, pound until smooth.
Add the rinsed beans and tomatoes, pound until most tomatoes turn into paste.
To Cook
In a frying pan, heat 1-2 tsp of oil on medium-high, sauté garlic until light golden colour. Add the paste mixture and cook for 2-3 mins.
Add in the minced pork and cook until done. Adjust the taste with the seasonings.
To Serve
Scoop a spoonful of warm dip onto a slice of cucumber, then garnish with lotus root chip and fried basil leaf.
Paper Wrap Chicken (Chee Pow Kai)
To Prep
Prepare the chicken first by rinsing in water and then cutting each thigh into 4 pieces.
Place your ginger, shallots and garlic into a food processor and mince. Mix the rest of the marinade ingredients with the minced herbs. Mix with the chicken and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour. Marinate overnight for a stronger flavour.
After marinating, add the sesame oil, vegetable oil and, tapioca flour to the chicken. Mix well and set aside as you prepare the parchment paper.
Fold each piece of parchment paper into a simple “pocket”. Fold the parchment paper lengthwise into 3 equal sections, with the left section under the right section. Then fold the bottom toward the middle of the parchment paper.
Open the top of the parchment paper and place a piece of chicken inside – take note not to add any additional marinade into the pocket. Then fold the top left and right corners towards the centre, forming a triangle.
Repeat until all the pieces of chicken are in their individual parcels.
To Cook
Deep fry each parcel of chicken in oil over medium high heat until medium brown on both sides. This should take about 30 seconds for each side. Remove the parcels from the oil and allow to cool.
Reheat the oil and deep fry the chicken again, this time only for a few seconds until they become a rich, dark brown colour. Drain off the oil from the parcels and serve.
Vegan Roast Duck
To Prep
Prepare a blender and blend seasoning ingredients until smooth.
Carefully separate and unfold the beancurd sheets to get a single flat sheet. Make sure you have a large enough workspace.
Apply 1 tbsp seasoning onto a beancurd sheet using a pastry brush, then fold in half and repeat.
Continue folding and brushing until you get a square about the size of your hand. Make sure to brush each layer as you fold.
Use toothpicks to fasten the edges to keep the squares intact.
Repeat steps with the rest of the beancurd sheets.
Then steam for 10-15 min. Remove and allow to dry.
To Cook
Heat oil and then deep-fry until golden brown.
Transfer remaining seasoning sauce into a saucepan and bring to a low boil.
Add the fried beancurd squares into the saucepan and simmer until all sauce is absorbed.
Cut into slices and serve.
Vegetable and Anchovy Fritters (Cucur Sayur Ikan Bilis)
To Cook
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
Heat oil in a pan in a medium heat, carefully putting 1 tbsp batter each time.
Fry until golden brown. Set fritters aside to drain oil.
Serve hot with chilli sauce.
Creamy Butter Chicken (Lai Yao Kei)
To Prep
Combine chicken cubes and marinade in a bowl. Marinade for a minimum of 1 hour.
To Cook
Deep-fry the chicken cubes. Dish up chicken, drain and set aside.
Heat wok and add butter. Fry chillies and curry leaves till fragrant.
Pour in evaporated milk and bring to a boil. Add in chicken stock powder, salt and sugar to taste.
Add chicken and cook until they are cooked through. Stir to coat chicken pieces evenly in the sauce. If the dish is too spicy, add a pinch of sugar.
Serve hot with rice.
Prawn Fritters (Cucur Udang)
To Prep
Combine plain and rice flour together in a large bowl.
Add prawns, onions, bean sprouts, spring onions and carrots in the bowl.
Slowly add in the water and mix well. The mixture shouldn’t be too thick or runny. Ensure that all ingredients are coated well with flour.
Season with a pinch of salt, sugar and pepper.
To Cook
Heat up oil in wok. Slowly put in some of the fritter batter into the hot oil and deep fry for a few minutes until crunchy. The size of each fritter is up to you, smaller ones give more crunch, while larger ones have a soft, fluffy texture on the inside.
Drain and remove excess oil. Allow to cool for a bit and serve warm.
Soft Shell Crab Hand Roll
To Prep
Add the sushi vinegar to the cooked sushi rice and gentle fold in to the rice until well incorporated.
Combine 125 g of tempura flour and ice water together in a mixing bowl and lightly stir them together. Don’t over mix as pockets of flour will make the batter airy. Pour the remaining 50 g of flour in to a separate bowl.
To Cook
Heat the oil to about 180°C, then dredge the crab halves one by one in the tempura flour, then into the batter and fry till golden brown. Let cool on paper towels to drain the excess oil.
To Make the Roll
Halve the seaweed sheets. Place sushi rice and then the lettuce, cucumber and half a crab onto one side of nori.
Fold the nearest corner of the nori over the filling and start to shape.
The hand roll should be shaped cone shaped to stop any rice from falling out.
Kabocha Tempura
To Prep
Discard seeds and pith of the Kabocha, leaving the skin on. Slice into 10 thin pieces, about 6mm in thickness. Set aside.
Sift plain flour and add potato starch in a small mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, add ice-cold water and egg, whisk vigorously. Slowly pour egg mixture into the flour, mix the batter for about a minute with chopsticks in a ‘figure 8’ motion. Don’t overmix the batter, leave a few lumps in the mixture.
To Cook
In a deep pan, heat oil over high heat to 180 degrees Celsius.
Dip kabocha slices into the tempura batter one at a time, letting it cook for approximately 2 mins or until batter is light golden brown and kabocha is tender. Avoid deep frying more than 3-4 pieces of kabocha in the pot at any time.
Serve immediately with tempura dipping sauce.
Deep Fried Chicken with Spices (Ayam Goreng Berempah)
To Cook
Blend the lemongrass, galangal & ginger.
Mix all the ingredients well (except the oil) and marinate chicken for at least 20 mins or better overnight.
Heat oil in a wok and deep fry the chicken for about 15-20 mins on medium heat until golden brown and fully cooked (as chicken drumsticks may take longer to cook, please ensure you check inside to see if it’s well done).
Drain the fried chicken on paper towel to remove excess oil.
Remove the fried spiced crumbs from the oil and set aside to drain off excess oil.
Serve hot and garnish with the fried curry leaves and crispy fried crumbs for extra flavour.
Guinness Stout Pork Ribs
To Prep
Cut 600g of pork ribs into individual ribs.
Marinate the cut ribs with 100ml of Guinness stout, 2 tbsp oyster sauce,1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, ½ tsp white pepper, and ½ tsp salt. Mix well and let it marinate for 1 hour.
After 1 hour of marinating, add 2 tbsp tapioca starch and make sure all ribs are well coated with it.
To Cook
In a wok, heat enough oil to deep fry the ribs until golden brown. Drain and set aside.
In a separate wok or pan, add all of the sauce ingredients and bring to boil until it thickens slightly, then add in the fried pork ribs. Toss and coat pork ribs with sauce.
Spicy Korean Fried Chicken (Yangnyeom Chicken)
To Cook
In a large bowl, place the chicken, rice wine, minced ginger, salt, black pepper and combine them well.
In a separate bowl, put in 1 cup of starch. Then evenly coat the chicken, piece by piece with the starch and set side.
Add a generous amount of oil in a deep saucepan or fryer, and boil it until the oil temperature reaches 180°C. Add the battered chicken carefully and fry them until they cook, approximately 5-7 mins. Do not overcrowd the pan.
Take out the cooked chicken and place them on a paper towel. Once the deep frying of all chicken is completed, using a skimmer, quickly scoop out any floating remains from the oil. Wait till the oil temperature reaches 175 °C again, then once again deep fry the chicken in small batches for approximately 2-3 mins. Fry until the batter is golden and crisp. Set aside.
In a separate saucepan, add in the Korean fried chicken sauce ingredients. Boil the sauce over low medium heat and stir well. Remove the pan from heat once the sauce starts boiling.
Place the double fried chicken into a large mixing bowl, and then pour the fried chicken sauce over the chicken. Mix them lightly, but thoroughly. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and finely chopped spring onions. Serve it hot immediately.
Alternatively, fried chicken and the sauce can be served separately where the sauce is eaten as a dipping sauce.