To Cook
Using a mortar and pestle, pound garlic and coriander roots into paste. You can use a food processor if you prefer.
Place pork pieces in a non-metallic bowl. Add the paste and mix using your hands.
In a separate bowl, add soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, salt and pepper, coconut milk and corn flour. Mix to combine. Add the marinade to the pork pieces and gently mix them thoroughly using your hands.
Cover the bowl, place in the refrigerator and let the pork marinate for a few hours or overnight.
Thread a few pieces of pork on the skewer.
Preheat the grill or chargrill on medium-high heat. Brush with oil to lightly grease.
Cook pork for 5-7 mins each side or until cooked through.
Serve with steamed rice.
Grill/BBQ
BBQ Raspberry Pork Ribs
BBQ Raspberry Sauce
Put all sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix it.
BBQ Pork Ribs
Cut ribs into portions of 3-4 bones each.
Rub pork ribs with squished lemon, ground black pepper, Himalayan pink rock salt with crushed chilli and ground cinnamon.
Use a mini chopper to almost finely ground the garlic, lime leaves, squished lemon, onion, coriander, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger, fish sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil.
Mix and rub the blended ingredients into marinated pork ribs and put into a pan all together and cook with low heat.
Pour wine into the pan, put the pan lid on and leave it for 45 mins.
Turn the ribs over, and change sides every 5-10 mins so it will cook evenly.
Put the butter in grill pan and grill pork ribs until the colour change to golden brown. Coat with BBQ raspberry sauce evenly on each side.
Fragrant BBQ Fish
Vietnamese Slaw
In a bowl, combine the wombok, spring onions and carrots, roughly mix together.
Add in the Thai basil, coriander and chilli, lightly mix.
In a small bowl, combine the rice wine vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, ginger and garlic, stir thoroughly until the sugar has dissolved.
Pour dressing over salad, ensuring all salad components are covered in dressing. Top salad with the roasted peanuts. Put into the fridge to chill whilst making the fish parcels.
Fish parcels
Using a large bowl, combine the lemongrass, shallots, turmeric, garlic, pepper and salt, mix well. Then add in the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, mix again to combine.
Heat the BBQ to medium heat. Place banana leaf onto the bbq to soften (about 15-20 secs). Remove banana leaf from heat.
Lay out banana leaf, then place a piece of fish in the middle along with half of the lemongrass mixture. Fold the banana leaf over the fish covering all sides and secure with toothpicks to ensure it remains closed while cooking.
Place banana leaf parcel onto the grill at medium heat, close lid and cook for 8-10 mins.
Remove parcel from the grill and let it rest for 1 minute.
Serve the fish parcels with the fresh Vietnamese slaw.
Okonomiyaki Tofu Burger Set
Gyoza
Combine the water and spinach in a blender and blend until smooth. (You may need to add a little more water to help the process). This should make 60ml of liquid at the bottom of the blender, if not, add a little water to make it equate 60ml.
Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add in half of the hot water and all of the spinach liquid. Mix until a crumble forms, then add the rest of the water. Combine together until a rough dough forms and the dough can hold its shape.
Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead dough for about 2-3 mins until it is smooth. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, then wrap in glad wrap, let it rest for 1-2 hours at room temperature.
Whilst dough is resting, you can make the vegetable mixture. In a bowl combine: cabbage, carrot, shiitake mushrooms, white pepper, soy and sesame oil, mix well and set aside.
Once rested, roll the dough into a log shape, about 2.5cm width, then cut into 1.5cm pieces. Roll each disc into 8cm round circles.
Fill each gyoza wrapper with the vegetable mixture, being careful not to fill it too much. Seal the wrapper with water and press firmly.
Heat some vegetable oil in a pan to a medium heat, arrange gyoza in pan, then quickly add water and put on the lid to allow the gyoza to steam. Cook for 6-8 mins, remove from pan.
Okonomiyaki
Place the flour in a bowl, making a well in the centre and gradually at the water whilst whisking. Combine until smooth. Cover with glad wrap and place in the fridge for 30 mins.
Once rested, add the egg to the batter whilst whisking, then add the cabbage and the spring onion and mix well.
In a fry pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil, then place the mixture into the pan, creating 3 or 4 medium sized okonomiyaki to suit the size of your burger. Cook for 3 mins, then flip and cook for another 2 mins.
Remove from pan and decorate with kewpie mayonnaise and hoisin sauce.
Tofu Bun
Using a large circular cutter, cut a disc of firm tofu about 1cm thick.
In a fry pan, heat vegetable oil to a medium heat and lightly cook the tofu about 2 mins each side, remove.
Place sugar, soy and sesame oil in the pan and heat to medium heat. The mixture should start to thicken as the sugar caramelises. Once it starts to thicken, place the top of the burger bun into the pan for the caramelisation. Cook for 1 minute, then remove from pan.
To construct the burger, place the burger bun onto a plate, the place lettuce, okonomiyaki, complete with the sauce, carrot, seaweed and the burger top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and finely chopped nori.
Serve with seaweed salad.
Korean Spicy Pork BBQ (Jeyuk Bokkeum)
To Prep
Mix all marinade ingredients well. Combine the meat, onion, and scallions with the marinade and mix well.
Marinate for about an hour or overnight.
To Cook
Preheat and lightly oil with sesame oil before adding the meat. Grill over charcoal or pan fry in a skillet over medium high heat until slightly caramelized.
Serve with steamed rice or as a wrap. First, put a leaf of lettuce in your palm. Add perilla leaves followed by a piece of meat and then add a dollop of gochujang (Korean red chilli pepper paste) or doenjang (Korean soybean paste) if you can’t handle spiciness, a sliver of garlic and a piece of chopped Korean green chilli pepper.
Grilled Japanese Eggplant (Yaki Nasu)
To Cook
Spray grill with cooking oil. Cook eggplant in their skin over medium high heat for about 5 mins on each side until the inner flesh is soft and tender and the outer skin is charred.
Either place the eggplant (skin on) in cool water, or allow it to rest until room temperature. Once the eggplant cools, gently remove all of the charred skin. Remove the stem, and chop the eggplant into thirds or fourths, creating small bite size pieces.
Plate the Yaki Nasu and garnish with fresh grated ginger, bonito shavings and sliced green onions. Drizzle with soy sauce. (Dashi shoyu or ponzu are alternative seasonings).
Green Curry With Roast Pork (Gaeng Keow Wan Mu Yang)
To Cook
Grill or roast pork steak in an oven (medium-rare) and slice into 1cm thick. Set aside.
Heat oil in a wok or frying pan, stir-fry Valcom Green Curry Paste over low heat for 2 mins or until fragrant. Slowly add half of the Valcom Premium Coconut Milk and bring to the boil over medium heat.
Add the roast pork, Squid Brand Fish Sauce and sugar. Stir through.
Mix the remaining of Valcom Premium Coconut Milk with water and slowly add into the mixture. Bring to boil for 2 minutes.
Add eggplants, capsicum, kaffir lime leaves and red chilli. Stir well. Return to boil until the eggplants are cooked. Add basil leaves before removing from heat. Serve with steamed rice.
Thai Leaf Wrapped Grilled Fish (Miang Pla Pao)
To Prep
Stuff 3 stalks of bruised lemongrass and 1 cup of basil leaves inside the fish. Then rub 2 tbsp salt all over the fish.
To Cook
Heat up the grill and cook the fish for 15-20 mins on each side.
Prepare the sauce while the fish is grilling. Combine all the ingredients for the spicy sauce in a food processor and blend until it becomes a thick paste. Spoon out and set aside.
To make the sweet sauce, add all ingredients to a saucepan and heat over low heat. Keep stirring until palm sugar is fully dissolved. Turn off the heat, add in crushed peanuts and stir to mix well.
The fish should be ready by now. Serve whole fish with fresh vegetables, rice noodles and sauces on the side. Simply peel off the skin and scales of the fish to reveal the moist and tender fish meat.
To enjoy, take a betel leaf, add some rice noodles, fish meat and other vegetables. Wrap it up and dip it into either sauce and shove it into your mouth!
Chinese Pork Jerky (Bak Kwa)
To Prep
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well with a sturdy serving spoon for about 2 mins until mixture thickens. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hrs or overnight.
Prepare 5 to 6 sheets of parchment paper the size of a jelly roll pan.
Spread a thin layer of meat mixture with a butter knife onto parchment paper. The meat layer should be about 2mm to 2.5mm thick.
Place a large piece of shrink wrap over the meat. Using a rolling pin, roll over meat to even out the spread meat.
To Cook
Transfer sheets of meat to jelly roll pans and bake in a 120°C oven for 10 mins.
The partially cooked meat should be nice and dry*. Blot with paper towels if necessary. When it is cool enough to handle, cut each sheet of meat into 6 pieces.
Increase oven temperature to 220°C. Transfer meat and parchment paper to a broiler pan this time and grill for approximately 5 min. Adjust time accordingly to ensure meat does not burn.
Remove from oven. Flip slices of meat over with a pair of tongs. Return pan to the oven for another 5 mins. If you wish to caramelize it more, flip and grill 2 more minutes on each side. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
Love Letters (Kuih Kapit)
To Prep
In a large bowl, add eggs and sugar, and whisk to mix well until sugar has dissolved.
Add glutinous rice flour, rice flour, salt and coconut milk. Stir to mix well.
Gradually add flour mixture (dry ingredients) to egg mixture (wet ingredients) and whisk to combine. Strain the batter and set aside to rest for 1 hour.
In the meantime, prepare charcoal grill. The fire needs to be consistent and moderate heat to achieve the even brown colour.
To prepare the kuih kapit mould, lightly grease with oil and heat the moulds over the grill. (if you are using an old kuih kapit mould, you may skip this step).
To Cook
When the mould is hot, pour over a ladle of batter, close the mould firmly and lock it, and grill over charcoal fire. Working quickly, trim the sides with a butter knife before it’s fully cooked.
Let it cook for about 1 min, then flip the mould over to cook the other side for about another minute. Open mould slightly from time to time to take a peek at the kuih kapit to check on the colour.
When the biscuit turns golden brown, peel it off immediately with a butter knife and fold half and half again to form a fan shape. Again, work quickly before the kuih kapit cools and becomes crispy. Use the base of a saucer to lightly press and crease the kuih kapit for a neater fold. Alternatively, you can roll up the kuih kapit into cigar rolls.
Set aside to cool, then store in airtight containers. These kuih kapit make wonderful gifts when visiting family and friends during the Lunar New Year.
Grilled Pork Belly (Samgyupsal Gui)
To Cook
Prepare the vegetables. Mix the sauce ingredients.
Heat the grill (or a flat pan). Cut the pork belly strips in shorter bite size pieces. You can also grill first and then cut the meat into bite sized pieces.
Add the meat to the grill along with the garlic, chili peppers, and any other vegetables you are using. Grill over moderate heat until cooked through.
Grilled Rice Ball (Yaki Onigiri)
To Prep
Lightly season the cooked rice with table salt.
Using a generous piece of plastic wrap, place portion of cooked rice, add filling in the center (optional), wrap with plastic wrap, then mould into balls.
To Cook
Lightly spray the grill of the broiler grill with cooking spray to prevent the rice ball from sticking.
Over medium heat, allow the rice ball to grill on both sides until golden brown and slightly crisp. Time may vary from 15 to 20 mins depending on your grill.
Drizzle soy sauce over yaki onigiri and serve immediately.