Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Deep-Fry

Thai Pandan Wrapped Chicken (Gai Hor Bai Toey)

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To Prep
Mix all Marinade ingredients in a bowl. Then add chicken and mix to coat evenly. Leave to marinate for at least 15 mins.

To Wrap the Chicken
Start folding with the non-shiny side up. Fold one end of the leaf back to form a small cone cup,
Using a chopstick, put about 1-2 pcs of chicken into the cone cup,
Bring the longer part of the leaf down to the front and back so that it wraps the chicken securely in the cone cup,
Take the same part of the leaf and slowly insert into the wrap from the bottom and out through the top,
Gently pull the leaf through and cut the excess part, leaving about 2 inches length. To make it more secure, insert the skewer through the centre. Repeat the process until all the chicken has been used.
In a wok, heat oil and deep-fry chicken until thoroughly cooked.
In a small pot, mix all ingredients and bring to boil. Continue cooking until sauce is reduced to a thick gravy.
Serve pandan wrapped chicken with the gravy on the side.

Fried Chicken with Lemongrass (Gai Tod Takrai)

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To Cook
Bring a pot of water to boil and in the chicken pieces to cook for about 15-20 mins. Drain and set aside to cool.
Using a stone mortar and pestle, pound the lemongrass pieces until stringy.
In a wok or pan, add oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add in lemongrass to fry until crispy, strain and set aside.
Next, turn up the heat and carefully add chicken to the wok. Continue frying until chicken turns golden brown. Remove fried chicken from wok and drain excess oil on paper towel.
Place fried chicken and lemongrass into a clean pot. Cover with the pot lid and shake hard to mix well. Transfer gai tod takrai into a serving plate and serve as a snack with an ice cold beer!

Thai Crispy Fish with Mango Salad (Yum Pla Duk Fu)

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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.

Deep Fried Soft Tofu in Soy (Agedashi Tofu)

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To Cook
Cut the well-drained tofu into 4 large pieces and dip into the cornflour. Deep-fry the tofu for 6 – 8 mins until golden.
Make the dipping sauce by combining the ingredients together in a small pan and bring to simmer.
Place tofu in a bowl, pour the warm dipping sauce over the tofu, top with spring onion and bonito flakes.

Fish Fillet Rice Vermicelli

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To Prep
Marinate the fish meat with white pepper, sesame oil, tapioca flour and salt for about 1 hour.

To Cook
In a heated pot with adequate cooking oil, deep fry fish fillets until golden brown. Drain and set aside.
In another stock pot, add 1-2 tbsp of oil, sesame oil and ginger slices, then sauté until fragrant. Add the anchovies, the white parts of spring onion, and for about 5 minutes until fragrant. Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Then let it simmer for half an hour.
Strain the soup into another pot to remove anchovies, ginger and spring onions. Bring soup to boil again then add tomatoes and salted vegetable. Continue boiling for another 10 mins.
Place a serve of noodles and choy sum into a bowl, ladle soup and top with fish. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Note: If you’d wish to keep the fried fish fillets crispy for longer, serve them on a separate plate.

Indonesian Fried Banana (Pisang Goreng)

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To Prep
Place the flour in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the water, coconut cream and salt. Using a wooden spoon or a whisk, gradually incorporate the flour into the liquid and whisk to make a lump-free smooth, thick batter. Add more flour or water as needed.

To Cook
Heat the oil in a wok or large saucepan until moderately hot. Dip and coat banana pieces thoroughly in batter. Gently lower the coated pieces into the oil, a few at a time, and deep-fry over medium heat for 5-10 mins. Turn occasionally, and fry until golden brown and crispy. Remove from saucepan and drain on paper towels. Transfer to a serving platter and serve with vanilla ice cream if desired.

Korean Fried Chicken Wings

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To Prep
Cut off the tip of each wing and chop the wing in half.
Mix salt, ginger and ground black pepper in a big bowl and put the chicken in and mix equally by hand.
Put potato starch in another bowl and dip each wing to coat it, one by one. Squeeze each wing to press the coating to it tightly.
Put 5 cups of cooking oil in a frying pan or pot and heat it up for 7-8 mins over high heat.

To Cook
Check the oil by dipping the tip of the wing in the oil, if the oil bubbles, can start frying. Slide the wings in the hot oil one by one and fry for about 13 mins, turn the wings over a few times with a long tong.
Depends on your size of pan or pot, may need to do it in a few batches. You will need more cooking oil if you use a large pot.
Remove wings from the oil and let them sit on a strainer. Turn off the heat; let the wings sit for a few minutes.
Reheat the oil and fry the wings again for another 15 mins until they turned golden brown. Remove them from oil and place them on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Sweet and Crispy Korean Fried Chicken (Dakgangjeong)

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To Prep Sauce
Heat a large non-stick wok with cooking oil over medium high heat. Add minced garlic for about 30 secs.
Add soy sauce, rice syrup, vinegar, and mustard sauce (optional). Stir with a wooden spoon and let it bubble for a few minutes.
Add the brown sugar and continue stirring. Remove from the heat. Set aside.

To Prep Chicken
Cut off the tip of each wing and chop the wing in half.
Mix salt, ginger and ground black pepper in a big bowl and put the chicken in and mix equally by hand.
Put corn starch in another bowl and dip each wing to coat it, one by one. Squeeze each wing to press the coating to it tightly.
Put 5 cups of cooking oil in a frying pan or pot and heat it up for 7-8 mins over high heat.

To Cook
Check the oil by dipping the tip of the wing in the oil, if the oil bubbles, can start frying. Slide the wings in the hot oil one by one and fry for about 13 mins, turn the wings over a few times with a long tong.
Depends on your size of pan or pot, may need to do it in a few batches. You will need more cooking oil if you use a large pot.
Remove wings from the oil and let them sit on a strainer. Turn off the heat; let the wings sit for a few minutes.
Reheat the oil and fry the wings again for another 15 mins until they turned golden brown. Remove them from oil and place them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

To Serve
Once the chicken is done, reheat the coating sauce until it bubbles.
Add the chicken one by one and coat the chicken with a thong.
Remove from the heat and transfer the coated chicken to a plate. Garnish with some sesame seeds and chopped spring onions, and serve immediately.

Salt and Pepper Squid

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To Prep
Use a sharp knife to cut through one side of each squid hood length ways. Open out flat with inside surface facing up and score surface diagonally. Cut into 3.5cm squares and pat dry with paper towel.
Heat the oil in a large wok over medium heat until it reaches 190°C on a confectionery/oil thermometer. (Or, add a 5cm cube of bread to the oil – it should turn light golden in 10 secs)
Meanwhile, combine the flour, salt, pepper, Chinese five-spice and chilli in a medium bowl. Add the squid and toss gently to coat.

To Cook
Remove half of the squid from the flour mixture and shake off any excess. Add to the oil and cook, turning with a slotted metal spoon, for 2 mins or until the squid just turns golden and curls. Use the slotted spoon to transfer the squid to a large plate lined with paper towel to drain. Reheat the oil in the wok to 190°C. Repeat with the remaining squid.
Serve immediately with lemon wedges and chilli soy sauce.

Honey Sesame Chicken

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To Prep
Whisk all the “Frying Batter” ingredients together until smooth and set aside.
Thoroughly coat chicken cubes in frying batter and set aside.
Mix all the ingredients of the “Honey Sesame Sauce” together and set aside.

To Cook
Heat up a sauté pan and add about 5cm of oil on medium to high heat.
When the oil is fully heated, gently drop in the battered chicken cubes, one by one, making sure it is spread out to prevent sticking together. Continue to fry until the colour changes to golden brown. Dish out and drain on paper towels.
Transfer 2 tbsp of the frying oil in a wok or skillet, stir-fry the garlic until aromatic. Add in the Honey Sesame Sauce, and bring to a light simmer or until the sauce thickens.
Add chicken to sauce and stir-fry to combine both. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on chicken, dish out and serve immediately with steamed white rice, or Chinese fried rice.

Fish-Flavoured Eggplant

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To Prep
Place the eggplant strips in a colander set over a plate and sprinkle lightly with salt. Leave for 30 mins to draw out moisture.
Rinse and pat dry with paper towel.

To Prep Batter
To make the batter, whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth.

To Prep Fish-fragrant Dressing:
Gently fry the chilli bean, pickled chilli, garlic and ginger in vegetable oil until the oil is red and fragrant.
Add sugar and fry for 20 secs and then add both vinegar.
Reduce gently until sauce thickens enough to coat the eggplant.
Taste and add sugar if too salty/sour or add vinegar if too sweet.

Garnish
Gently toast the Sichuan pepper in a pan until fragrant and grind to a fine powder (save for garnish later).

To Cook the Eggplant
Heat the deep-frying oil to 180°C.
Working in batches, lightly coat the eggplant strips in corn flour then the tempura-like batter.
Place one at a time, in the hot oil and deep-fry for 4 mins, or until golden and crispy.
Drain oil on paper towel.

To Serve
Transfer the deep-fried eggplant to a bowl and gently toss with dressing.
Arrange on a serving plate. Sprinkle spring onion and Sichuan pepper to taste and serve.

Son-in-Law Eggs

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For the Runny Yolk Egg
Boil the eggs with cold water (water level should just cover the egg), once the water starts to boil, let it boil for another 30 secs then turn the heat down. Keep the eggs in water for another 2-3 mins.
Boil the eggs by adding cold water to cover the eggs. Once when the water starts to boil turn the heat down a bit.
Once when water starts to boil, let it boil for 3 mins.
For hard boiled eggs, let the eggs boil for 5 mins from the time the water starts to boil, not when you turn on the heat.
After the egg is boiled, pour the hot water out. Run the eggs under cold water for a few seconds and let them sit in a pot of cold water. When the eggs are cooled, peel them.

For the Egg
Heat up the wok, add ⅓ cup of oil.
Make sure your wok is hot before adding the boiled eggs in otherwise, they may stick to your wok. Dry the eggs with kitchen paper before putting into oil.
Add the eggs in and turn them to brown the white.
When done, drain the eggs out from oil and set aside. Turn down the heat.
Add dried chilli peppers if you prefer serve it hot. Quickly fry the chillies for a few seconds, do not fry it too dark, then scoop out the fried chillies and set aside.
Use medium or medium low heat, use the oil to fry the sliced shallots. Add in more oil if required. Stir to brown the shallots evenly. It will take 5-7 mins, and then drain the shallot from oil and set aside.

For the Sauce
Drain all the oil out from the wok.
Use low heat; add palm sugar, fish sauce, water and tamarind.
Mix them together to dissolve sugar and tamarind.
You might want to add a few more tablespoons of water thin the sauce.
Taste to see if you need to adjust the sauce. The 3 flavours, sweet, salty and sour should be in balance.
When the sauce is cooled, the taste will be more pronounced.
The sauce will get thicker as it cools down as well.

Plating
Halve the eggs and place them on a serving plate. Pour the sauce over the eggs. Sprinkle fried shallots and fried peppers. Place a few sprigs of coriander on top.
Serve warm or room temperature with rice.