To Cook
Wash and devein prawns, leaving the tail on.
Marinate prawns with oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice and pepper. In the meantime, slice zucchini lengthwise and pat dry.
Spray/brush zucchini with oil and grill until cook.
Grill marinated prawns.
Plate up zucchini with prawns and decorate with alfalfa and mayonnaise on the side. Tip: To eat, wrap prawn, alfalfa in a strip of zucchini, and add a dollop of mayonnaise. Eat it in one bite to get all the flavours in one go.
Grill/BBQ
Whole Snapper with Vietnamese Sauteed Tomatoes and Bokchoy
To Cook
Rinse the cavity and fish with water and dry very well with paper towels. Make 3-4 incisions into the thickest part of the fish fillet. Generously season with salt just before cooking.
Heat your barbecue grill or fry pan to medium-high heat. Make sure the grill/pan is cleaned and well oiled.
Lay the fish directly on the grill or fry pan and cook for 7-8 mins. Do not attempt to turn fish until the skin has browned and crisped or it will stick.
Using a spatula, carefully turn fish and cook for another 7-8 mins. The fish is done when it flakes at the thickest part.
Place onto a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
Sauteed tomato sauce
Heat oil in a pan on a medium-high heat.
Add the onions and cook until translucent before adding the tomatoes, coriander stems and cooking wine.
Sautee until tomatoes start to soften around the edges.
Add fish sauce and sugar. Continue cooking for another 2 mins. If the sauce is too dry add the water. You want a chunky thick sauce.
Spoon sauce over the snapper to serve. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Bok Choy
Heat oil in a pan on high heat, add garlic and cook for 20 secs or until fragrant.
Add bok choy and Shaoxing wine. Stir fry constantly until bok choy leaves wilt. Add oyster sauce and continue to cook for a further 1 min.
Place bok choy around snapper to serve.
Notes
Shaoxing wine can be replaced with water or stock. Bok choy can be replaced with any Asian greens. Serve this dish with steamed jasmine rice.
Hoisin Chicken with Chinese Pickles & Sesame Mantou
Chinese Pickles
Heat vinegar, sugar, water and salt until dissolved.
Place the vegetables in a sterilised jar, add the vinegar mixture and allow the flavours to develop, for 2 days or longer.
Hoisin Chicken
Combine the marinade ingredients, cut the chicken thighs in half, marinate for 4 hours.
Cook on a hot BBQ grill, turning to avoid burning, until the chicken is cooked through and the outside caramelised.
Black Sesame Mantou (Steamed Buns)
Process 25g black sesame seeds with 15g caster sugar until powdered, set aside.
Dissolve the yeast & sugar in the warm milk, set aside to develop for 10 mins.
Add the flour, oil and 25g black sesame seeds and mix together until dough forms.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 mins, form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, covered with cling wrap, to rise for 45 mins or until doubled in size.
Punch down, roll out into a thin rectangle, lightly dampen the surface, sprinkle evenly, with the powdered black sesame/caster sugar mixture.
Roll up from long side, like a Swiss roll. Cut into 1.5cm slices. place on squares of baking paper, rest in a warm place for 15-30 mins, to rise.
Place in a steamer, bring water to boil and steam for 10-15 mins or until cooked through.
Serve with caramelised chilli sauce, spring onion curls and steamed rice.
Lobster Tails with Ginger Sauce & Vietnamese Noodle Salad
To Prep
Trim lobster tails, slice in half lengthwise, brush with a little peanut oil, cook on a hot BBQ grill, cut side down until half cooked, turn over and continue to cook until just done.
Ginger Sauce
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add ginger and fry gently until fragrant, mix the potato flour with a little stock to make a paste.
Add all the remaining ingredients, except the potato flour paste, simmer for a few minutes until flavours develop, add the potato flour paste and simmer until thickened, season with a squeeze of lime juice (to taste).
Sweet Potato & Spring Onion Fritters
Mix the tempura batter according to the package instructions, stir the sweet potato and spring onion through until combined.
Heat the oil in a heavy based frying pan, fry spoonfuls of the batter until cooked through and golden, on both sides.
Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad
Prepare the noodles according to the packet instructions, set aside to cool.
Slice the cucumber into thin ribbons, discarding the seeds, spiralise or julienne the carrot, slice the onion, chilli and spring onions. Toss through the noodles.
Combine the dressing ingredients, adjust the flavours to taste, toss through the salad just before serving.
To serve
Arrange Asian leaves and salad on a serving plate, sprinkle with coriander leaves, chilli and spring onion slices.
Arrange the BBQ Lobster Tails on top, drizzle with ginger sauce and garnish with fried ginger floss (finely shredded ginger, fried till crisp).
Grilled Barramundi Fish with Sambal Matah
To Prep
Marinate the fish with fish sauce for 1 hour. After marinating, grilled the fish on each side till cooked. When the fish is almost cooked, brush the grilled fish with ABC Sweet Soy Sauce. Put aside on a serving plate.
Preparing Sambal Matah
Place the shrimp paste in a small frying pan over low-medium heat and dry fry for about 3 mins, turning a couple of times, and flattening.
While the shrimp paste is toasting, let’s get all the ingredients ready. Start by halving, then slicing the kaffir lime leaves fairly finely.
Chop up the chillies and garlic finely. Slice the lemongrass very thinly.
Place the toasted shrimp paste, the salt, sugar and lime juice in a medium-sized bowl and with the back of a spoon, mash up the shrimp paste and mix everything up until you have a paste.
Add all the ingredients that you’ve chopped into the bowl and toss everything well, making sure that all the chopped ingredients are coated with the shrimp paste and lime juice sauce. Serve on top of the grilled barramundi fillet.
Thai BBQ Chicken With Spicy Dipping Sauce
Thai BBQ Chicken
Use a pestle and mortar to crush the coriander and cumin seed until it is in powder form then add coriander root, black pepper, garlic, shallot and lemon glass (add dried chili if desired). Crush all ingredients into a paste and add turmeric powder and mix through.
Put the oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice and dark brown sugar in a bowl. Using a large spoon, mix all of the ingredients together until fully combined. Taste and adjust the sauce to suit your taste.
Add paste to the bowl, then mix together.
Put chicken pieces in the bowl. Wear gloves and massage all chicken and marinate in the sauce. Keep marinated chicken in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
Cook chicken in the oven or BBQ stove until cooked through and serve with Thai spicy dipping sauce.
Thai Spicy Dipping Sauce (Nam Jim Jiew)
Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Adjust the taste, the sauce should be predominantly salty, sour and spicy.
Teriyaki Beef and Quinoa Bowl
To Cook
Place the beef in a shallow dish with 1 tbsp of the teriyaki dressing. Turn the beef a couple of times to coat and place in the fridge for 30 mins to marinate.
Place the quinoa in a saucepan with a cup of water, bring to aboil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 mins. Drain and set aside to cool.
Preheat a grill pan or BBQ on high. Cook the beef for 2-3 mins each side, or until done to your liking. Allow to rest for 5 mins.
Meanwhile, chop some of the tomatoes (leaving some whole with the vines intact to decorate), slice the avocado into thin wedges, and use a peeler to peel thin strips of cucumber.
For the dressing, finely grate the ginger and add to a small bowl with remaining ingredients. Whisk to combine. Stir through the quinoa. Divide the quinoa between two bowls.
Slice the beef, then arrange the beef and vegetables on top of the quinoa.
BBQ Snapper
Coriander Sauce
Place all sauce ingredients into a blender/food processor.
Process until ingredients are finely chopped and well combined.
Set aside.
Sour Mango Salad
In a small saucepan on a medium heat, place fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and water. Heat the mixture just before boiling point before removing from heat. Stir lime juice through and allow to cool.
Julienne the mangoes into a bowl, then mix mint, Thai basil, Vietnamese mint and chilli through.
Pour half of the salad dressing over the mango mixture, stir well to combine. Pour the remaining dressing into a serving dish.
Top the salad with toasted peanuts and additional chilli for extra heat.
Fish
In a bowl, mix together: galangal, shallots, bird’s eye chilli, lemongrass, light soy sauce and lime juice. Stir to combine well.
Place banana leaf onto the barbecue to soften (about 15-20 secs). Remove from heat.
Score the fish 3-4 times on each side, then lay onto the banana leaf’s shiny side. Generously stuff fish with galangal mixture. Wrap the fish completely and seal with the banana leaf to form a package and secure with toothpicks.
Heat barbecue to medium, place banana leaf parcels onto the grill and shut the lid. Cook for 10 mins, then remove from heat.
Open parcels and top with spring onion, chopped peanuts and chilli.
Serve whole fish with mango salad, extra dressing and coriander sauce.
Grilled Miso Salmon and Japanese Coleslaw in Steamed Bao
To Prep
To make the salmon marinade, stir together the miso, vinegar, sugar and sake. Cover the salmon fillets with the marinade. Place in the fridge for at least 30 mins or better still overnight.
To make the coleslaw, place the mayonnaise, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Add to the cabbage and snow peas. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Set aside.
Heat a large steamer over a medium-high heat. Steam the buns for 5 mins or until heated through (this can be done in batches according to the size of the steamer).
While buns are steaming, heat a charcoal grill, BBQ hot plate or frying pan. Lift salmon out of marinade and grill over medium heat for 3-5 mins on each side or until the fish flakes easily and is cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil.
To assemble, place a portion of grilled miso salmon in a bao bun, top with coleslaw, garnish with nori, spring onions, cucumber and chilli. Eat while hot.
Takoyaki
To Cook
In a large bowl, mix water, eggs, and takoyaki flour well with a whisk.
Heat a takoyaki pan with oil just until the oil begins to smoke. Use enough oil to coat the pan using a paper towel so that the batter won’t stick. Then pour batter to fill the holes of the pan.
Drop octopus pieces in the batter in each hole, and sprinkle chopped green onions and rice crispy bits all over the pan.
Cook at medium heat for 1-2 mins and turn over using a wooden skewer. Cook another 3-4 mins, turning constantly.
Place the cooked takoyaki on a plate and pour takoyaki sauce and mayo over them. Finish the dish by sprinkling the takoyaki with bonito flakes and chopped spring onions.
Grilled Barramundi Curry In Banana Leaf
To Prep
Cut 100g of barramundi fillet into small pieces and put in a food processor or use a mortar and pestle to make fish paste.
Put coconut cream, fish sauce, rice flour, red curry paste, turmeric powder and crack egg into the bowl.
Using a large wooden spoon, mix all ingredients together until combined then, add fish paste into the bowl. Keep stirring fish paste for about 2-3 mins until the fish paste is a bit sticky.
Add 300g medium size cut barramundi into the bowl then, add all basil leaves and 2 julienned kaffir lime leaves. Gently mix through.
Prepare banana leaf by putting one banana leaf onto the kitchen bench (shiny side down) then put another sheet of banana leaf on top (if you have small pieces of banana leaf you can put 3-4 pieces on top of each other).
To Cook
Put fish curry in the center of the banana leaf then fold the leaf to cover the fish curry, using wooden toothpicks to make banana leaf parcels. Continue until all of the fish curry is finished.
Place the banana leaf parcels on BBQ grill, cook for 20-25 mins or until the fish mixture is cooked.
Before eating, open banana parcel and garnish with julienned kaffir lime leaves and sliced chillies (if you like).
Enjoy Grilled Barramundi Curry in Banana Leaf.
Note
If you don’t have banana leaf you can put the fish mixture onto baking paper and wrap it with aluminum foil then prepare with the same method above (but you will lose the banana leaf smoked flavor in your fish curry).
Grilled Teriyaki Steak
To Cook
Whisk together soy sauce, mirin seasoning, brown sugar, sake, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. Marinate steak for 15 mins.
Heat vegetable oil until hot in a skillet on the grill.
Fry ginger and 1 shallot until light brown, remove carefully from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.
Leave oil in skillet and grill steak for 2-3 mins each side, basting with marinade. Then, leave steak to rest.
Reduce heat and add remaining marinade into skillet until it boils and thickens, keep sauce aside.
Add broccolini to the skillet for 3-4 mins until chargrilled.
Toss together carrot, cucumber, 1 shallot, coriander leaves (saving some for garnish) and roasted sesame dressing. Arrange salad on plate. Slice the steak and place on top of salad. Spoon over the sauce and garnish with fried ginger, shallot, coriander and sesame seeds.
Serve with broccolini (drizzled with some sauce) and rice on the side.