Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Deep-Fry

Sweet and Sour Tamarind Deep Fried Barramundi (Pla Tod Samunpri)

by Leave a Comment

To Make Sweet and Sour Tamarind Sauce
Combine all the ingredients in a small heavy-based saucepan and stir over medium heat for 5 mins or until thickened. Keep it warm.

To Cook
Heat vegetable oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy-based saucepan, deep-fry the fish for 8 mins. Drain the fish on paper towel.
In a large bowl, add shredded coconut, fried garlic, fried red shallot, lemongrass, some red chillies, kaffir lime leaves, then add part of sweet and sour tamarind sauce and mix well.
Place barramundi fillet on a serving plate, drizzle with the sweet and sour tamarind sauce, put all of the crispy herb salad mix onto the fish then serve.

Thai Sour Curry with Deep Fried Barramundi (Gang Som Pla Tord)

by Leave a Comment

To Cook
Place all Sour Curry Paste ingredients into a pot and put on high heat to bring to a boil. Boil for 4 mins until the dried chilli is soft.
Use a stick blender to blend all the ingredients until smooth.
Add palm sugar, tamarind paste and fish sauce for seasoning. Keep boiling for 1 min, then turn the heat to medium for simmer.
Add white radish and cauliflower, keep cooking for 4 mins. Then add green beans and continue cooking until all vegetables are soft, which takes about 10-15 mins.
Meanwhile, add fish sauce to the fish and mix well. Coat with potato starch and deep fried until golden brown.
Dish out curry into a bowl and place deep fried fish on top. Serve.

Tip
For soups without coconut milk or cream, using a stick blender instead of pounding speeds up the process and yields the same aroma and flavours from the spices.

Three Flavoured Deep Fried Salmon (Pla Salmon Sarm Ros)

by Leave a Comment

To Prep
Blend all the sauce ingredients together.

To Cook
Coat fish with potato starch and deep fried until cooked. Set aside.
Deep fried basil leaves until crispy. Set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add in the sauce mix. Stir fry on medium high heat for 2 mins.
Add the sauce seasonings, continue to cook for 2 mins.
Add the cooked fish in the sauce and mix through.
Place on a plate and top with crispy basil leaves. Garnish with chilli and yellow capsicum, serve.

Double Cooked Duck Leg with Red Curry Sauce (Gang Dang Ped Tord)

by Leave a Comment

To Make Double Cooked Duck Leg
Put all ingredients in a pot. Bring to boil, then simmer for 1:40 hrs.
Drain the poaching liquid.
Leave it until cold then deep fried in hot oil.

To Make Thai Red Curry Sauce
Fried curry paste in medium heat oil until fragrant. Then add half of coconut cream and cook on high heat until oil split.
Add remaining coconut cream and sugar, continue to cook until sugar dissolved.
Add blended pineapple and mix well.

To Make Pineapple Yoghurt Sphere
Put sodium alginate in water, mix well with a blender.
Leave in a fridge for 1 hr.
Mix yoghurt and pineapple together.
Put yoghurt mix in squeeze bottle.
Squeeze the yoghurt mix in sodium alginate water. Take the sphere off then place in water. Set aside.

For Sauteed Spinach
Saute spinach in medium heat oil.
Season with salt and pepper.

To Make Roasted Trusted Tomatoes
Preheat oven at 190°C.
Season tomatoes with salt and pepper.
Put in the oven for 2-3 mins, set aside.

To Make Caramalized Fig
Dip the cut sides with sugar then use a blowtorch to torch until caramelized. Set aside.

To Make Coconut Cream Espuma
Put all ingredients in a pot, stir until well mixed.
Place on medium heat until salt is dissolved (don’t boil coconut cream)
Use a stick blender to blend on highest power until foam appeared.
Use only the foam to serve.

To Serve
Assemble all ingredients together, following your imagination.

Northern Thai Curry Noodles (Khao Soi)

by Leave a Comment

To Make Curry
Pour the 200ml TCC Premium Coconut Cream in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium-low heat. Add Valcom Yellow Curry Paste, turmeric powder and black cardamom powder. Cook and stir for 2-3 mins until oil separates on the surface. Then, add the chicken and stir until it is coated with coconut and chilli paste.
Add the remaining 200ml TCC Premium Coconut Cream with ½ cup water. Stir the chicken until the curry sauce is mixed through, then reduce heat to low and cook for 10 mins.
Add chicken stock powder, brown sugar and Squid Brand Fish Sauce into the pot, then stir until mixed through. Simmer for 15 mins or until chicken is cooked through.

To Make Crispy Noodles Topping
Pour vegetable oil in a small pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add 100g egg noodles to deep fry until light golden and crispy. Remove and set aside to drain oil.

To Serve
Pour about 6 cups of water in a medium pot then cook egg noodles following the packet instructions. Drain and refresh under cold water. Divide noodles into individual serving bowls.
Ladle chicken curry over noodles. Top with toppings and serve with lime/lemon wedges.
Enjoy your creamy northern Thailand style curry noodles.

Korean Sweet And Sour Pork (Tangsuyuk)

by Leave a Comment

To Cook
Combine the pork and marinade ingredients in a bowl. Mix well, cover, and refrigerate.
Check on the batter mix. When the starch and water separate, pour out the water from the bowl of starch. Add the egg whites and mix well. Use a fork to mix if it’s too thick.
Remove pork from the fridge and combine with batter. Mix them well and set aside in fridge until needed.
Fill a wok with oil. Heat it up over medium-high heat until it reaches 170°C. It should take about 5 mins.
Dip a piece of pork in the oil to test if the wok is hot enough. If it sizzles, it’s ready.
Add pork pieces into the oil one at a time. Use tongs to split them apart if they stick to each other. Make sure the wok is not too crowded and fry in batches if you need to until they are crispy and turn light golden brown (5-7 mins). Dish out the meat onto kitchen towels to soak up excess oil. Repeat with remaining meat is used up.
Then, return all the meat to the wok and deep fry again briefly until they are crispy and golden brown (about 3-4 mins). Dish out and set aside.

To Prep the Sauce
Add sweet and sour sauce mix to the pot and boil for 1 min.
Add potato starch mix to the sauce. Stir constantly until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat.

To Serve
Serve Tangsuyuk on a plate and pour the sweet and sour sauce over it. Garnish with thinly sliced onions and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

by Leave a Comment

To Prep
Prepare batter by mixing the flour and water. Set aside.

To Cook
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and stir-fry cucumbers, carrots and black fungus. Add seasoning mix and softened vermicelli. Cook until heated through. Set aside to cool.
Then, divide the cooked fillings into 10 portions and wrap with spring roll wrappers. Seal with flour batter.
Deep fry the spring rolls in heated oil until golden brown. Drain.
Deep fry the spring rolls a second time for 1 min. Serve with dipping sauce.

Tip
When buying spring roll wrappers, choose spring roll pastries that are made of wheat, square, and around 20cm in length.

Sichuan Chilli Oil

by Leave a Comment

To Cook
Heat oil on high for 2 mins and add in Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, star anise and cinnamon stick. Then turn the heat down to medium-low.
Making sure the bubbling around the spices is constant by controlling the heat by turning it up and down. Keep frying the spices for 30 mins and making sure they don’t get burnt.
Meanwhile, prepare the crushed chilli flakes in a heat proof bowl. Place a metal mesh strainer on top of the bowl.
After 30 mins, the spices should be darker in color but not black which means it is burnt this would reduce the quality of the oil. Turn the heat off and let the oil cool for 5 mins.
Once the oil is cooled, slowly pour over the crushed chilli flakes with the mesh capturing all the spices. Stir and add salt to taste.
Once the chilli oil is completely cooled down, store in jar for use at any time.

Katsu Curry Don

by Leave a Comment

To Cook
Pound the pork cutlets with a meat tenderizer, season with salt and pepper. Lightly coat them with the flour, dip in the beaten egg and then coat with the breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan to 180°C. Deep fry the meat until golden and cooked through. Set aside on wire rack.
Heat the 1 tbsp of oil in a large saucepan, fry the onion and carrot over a medium heat until softened. Add the water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins. Remove from the heat then add the curry roux, in pieces, stir until completely dissolved. Simmer gently for another 5 mins, stirring constantly.
Slice the meat and serve with the curry sauce drizzled over the cooked rice.

Thai Spicy Stir-Fried Crispy Pork Belly with Beans

by Leave a Comment

To Prep
Place the whole piece of pork belly in boiling water and simmer until tender (around 50 minutes). Pierce the skin with a fork. Rub the skin with baking soda then follow by half of the salt and pour white vinegar all over the skin. Use the remaining salt rub the meat.
Allow to cool. In a deep pan or pot, place the pork skin side down in cold oil and turn to high heat. Fry until skin puffs up. Then, place the meat side down and continue frying until golden brown.
Allow to cool, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Discard all but 1 tbsp oil.
Blanch beans in boiling water until tender, then refresh in ice-cold water. Drain and set aside.

To Cook
Heat the reserved oil over low heat. Add red curry paste and stir-fry until fragrant. Add water and palm sugar. Stir over low heat until the palm sugar has dissolved. Then, add pork, beans and kaffir lime leaves. Stir through and dish out. Serve.

Tips
When piercing the pork belly’s skin, the more you pierce, the more the skin will puff up.
Once the pork belly has cooled down, place it in an oven at 140°C for 20 mins. Remove and allow to cool again before deep frying. This will help remove moisture from the skin, allowing it to puff up easier.

South Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Cha Gio)

by Leave a Comment

To Prep
To pickle the vegetables, combine all the Pickled Vegetables ingredients and set aside
To make the dipping sauce, pound garlic and chillies with sugar. Combine all dipping sauce ingredients and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Wet bean vermicelli under the tap, drain and set aside.
Remove wood ear fungus from water and chop them up finely.
Place all main ingredients in a bowl and mix well, in one direction.
Place the spring roll pastry on the bench with one corner pointing at you and one corner pointing away from you.
Add a tablespoonful of the filling on the pastry in the corner closest to you. Bring the pastry over the filling and roll it tightly to enclose the filling. Bring in the two sides to meet in the middle. Dab a little bit of paste on the end and roll the spring roll to the end.

To Cook
Heat oil to 180°C. Deep fry the spring rolls until golden brown. Serve wrapped with lettuce and herbs, dipped in a Vietnamese dipping sauce and side of pickled vegetables.

Tips
Spring rolls can be made in advance and kept frozen until required. To be cooked frozen in hot oil at 190°C.
Vietnamese dipping sauce can be prepared in bulk and kept refrigerated for up to three weeks if cool boiled water is used.

Shallot Oil

by Leave a Comment

To Cook
Heat oil in a small sauce pan on high for 1 min.
Add in the sliced onion and turn down the heat to medium. Stir occasionally to cook the onion evenly.
Keep frying the onion until they turn crispy dark brown but not burnt.
Once the onion is done, remove from oil to cook down. Transfer oil onto a heat proof container.
Use when needed.