Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Grill/BBQ

Banh Mi with Lemongrass Pork (Banh Mi Thit Nuong)

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To Prep
Lightly pound the pork slices with a mallet/back of the kitchen knife. In a bowl, mix all the lemongrass pork marinade ingredients well. Put in the pork slices and marinade for about 1 hour or better overnight. Discard excess marinade before use.

To Cook
Preheat grill until ready to use. Gently arrange marinated pork slices onto the grill. Grill until the pork is nicely charred on both sides and meat is thoroughly cooked. If using indoor broiler oven, broil for 5-7 minutes on each side or until the meat is completely cooked and nicely charred.
Remove lemongrass pork from grill and assemble the baguettes with mayonnaise spread, and then put the sliced chillies, a slice of grilled lemongrass pork and finish off with a handful of pickled carrots and daikon and coriander leaves. Serve a whole baguette or cut the baguette into half.

Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki)

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To Prep
Rinse saba under cold water and then quickly dunk the fish in a bowl of sake.
Pat dry the fish with a paper towel and generously salt both side of the fish. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 mins.
Wipe off any excess moisture on the fish.

To Cook
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the fish skin side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil or parchment paper (spray or brush oil so it doesn’t stick). Bake for 15-20 mins, or until the fish is cooked through.
Serve the grilled mackerel with grated daikon on the side. Pour a few drops of soy sauce on grated daikon before you eat. Enjoy!

Crispy Skinned Thai Chilli Snapper

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To Prep
Make four deep slits diagonally across both sides of fish. Place fish in a shallow ovenproof dish.
Combine remaining ingredients, except extra chilli sauce, in a bowl. Pour over fish, cover, then refrigerate for up to 3 hrs.

To Cook
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Cover dish with a lid or foil, bake in oven for 35 minutes, or until fish is almost tender.
Brush fish with the extra chilli sauce. Then grill for another 10 minutes, or until skin is browned and crisp.
Serve with steamed rice and lime wedges.

Spicy Grilled Shrimp Salad (Pla Goong)

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To Cook
Combine the dressing sauce ingredients and mix well.
Brush a bit of oil on both sides of the prawns and then grill the prawns for a couple mins each side until they’re cooked through.
Combine the chopped lettuce, mint and coriander leaves, shallots, red onion, lemongrass and chilli peppers and toss through with the dressing.
Finally, add the grilled shrimp to the bowl and toss everything together.

Grilled Lobster with Spicy Basil Garlic Sauce

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To Cook
Heat oil in a wok or saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and both types of chillies and stir fry until fragrant. Combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce and basil and stir fry for a further minute until well mixed. Add the cornflour mixture and cook until the sauce is thickened. Remove and set aside.
Rub the salt and pepper onto the lobsters. Grill on charcoal, pan grill or under the broiler for several minutes on each side until cooked. Transfer on serving platter.
Spread the spicy basil garlic sauce over the grilled seafood. Squeeze lime over lobster. Serve hot and garnish with crispy fried basil leaves and fresh coriander.

Hanoi Style Rice Vermicilli with Grilled Pork (Bun Cha Hanoi)

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To Prep
For the pork marinade, combine water, sugar, fish sauce, garlic and shallot together in a small bowl.
Slice the pork shoulder into 2 inch by 2 inch pieces. Add half the marinade in the minced pork and the other half in the sliced pork shoulder.
For the ground pork, add the roasted rice powder and form into golf-ball size patties.
Marinate the pork for at least 30 min or overnight.
Cut the papaya, remove the seeds and slice thinly. Add salt to papaya and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then rinse the salt off under cold running water. Squeeze out the water in the papaya. Pat dry and set aside.
Mince garlic cloves and shallots.
Prepare the bean sprouts by cutting off heads and tails, mint, chillies deseeded and sliced.
Prepare vermicelli as per packet instructions.
Prepare the dipping sauce, combine the hot water and sugar. Mix until dissolved. Add lime, garlic, chillies, fish sauce, coconut soda.

To Cook
Grill the pork over charcoal fire for a more authentic taste. You can also bake them in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 min. Make sure to flip and rotate to evenly cook the pork. Let it rest for 10 min.

To Assemble
When you are ready to serve, add a single portion of meat to a small bowl. Ladle on the sweet papaya chili sauce on the meat. Then serve with a side of rice noodles and top it with fresh Vietnamese herbs.

Korean Chicken BBQ (Dak Bulgogi)

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To Prep
In a mixing bowl, add all marinade ingredients and mix well until sugar is dissolved.
Add chicken slices to the bowl and coat evenly with marinade. Set aside to marinate for at least 30 mins or overnight in the refrigerator.

To Cook
Preheat a grill pan (or frying pan) over medium high heat. Then, using a pair of thongs or chopsticks, add chicken slices to the pan while reserving the marinade. Cook until slightly caramelised, about 2-3 mins on each side. Reduce heat slightly to avoid burning, and add the reserved marinade spoon by spoon as the pan gets dry.
Serve dak bulgogi on its own, or with leafy greens (iceberg lettuce, cos lettuce or mustard green) as a wrap, or with steamed rice.

Thai Salt-Grilled Fish (Pla Pao)

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To Prep
When buying the fish, ask the fishmonger to remove guts from the gills without slicing the belly open, and leave the scales on. If you’re cleaning the fish yourself and you find it difficult to remove guts through the gills, you can gut the fish by slicing the belly open. Rinse the fish and pat dry with paper towel.
Get the barbie going or heat up the oven while you prep the fish.
Bruise the lemongrass stalks with something heavy and hard, like a mortar. Then roughly chop a handful of kaffir lime leaves.
Fold the lemongrass in half and stuff the fish with a stalk of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Use 2-3 stalks of lemongrass depending on the size of the fish. Do not push too hard until it breaks the flesh of the fish. Alternatively, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves can be placed stomach cavity if the fish is sliced open at the belly.
In a large mixing bowl, add 500g of coarse salt, 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, and 1 tbsp of water. Use your hands to mix well. The mixture should be a little moist so it holds on the fish.
On a pan, add the fish and start layering it with the salt mixture. Pat and rub it with salt, making sure that the fish is covered entirely from head to tail.
Set the barbie to medium heat, or if using a charcoal grill (tastes best) make sure the heat is steady and quite low. Allow fish to cook slowly for about 1 hr. Wait about 15-20 mins before flipping the fish to make sure the salt is dry and plastered onto the fish and not stuck on the grill. Flip as little as possible to avoid the fish from falling apart.

Preparing the Sauce
In the meantime, prepare the sauce. Pound salt, garlic and chillies using a pestle and mortar. This do not need to be pounded till smooth and fine, but just make sure there are no big chunks.
Transfer the pounded chillies and garlic to a bowl, and add lime juice, water, fish sauce and sugar. Mix until sugar is completely dissolved.
Taste-test and adjust according the preference; add more lime juice if you like it more sour, or add more chillies to make it spicier.

To Cook
Grill until the fish feels firm and the salted skin is crusty and golden brown.
Remove from grill and set on a platter. Use a knife to crack through the skin and lift off the salt crust to reveal the juicy moist meat.
Serve grilled fish with the sauce on the side. Pla pao is best enjoyed with a serving of steamed rice or even sticky rice.

Saikoro Steak

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To Prep
To prepare the steak, trim off fat and tendons and cut into mini cubes of 2-3cm. Season steak cubes with salt and pepper. Lay each steak cube on paper towel to remove excess water.
In the meantime, prepare daikon for garnishing. Cut off 4cm of daikon and grate finely with an oroshi daikon or a fine grater. Drain excess liquid and set aside.

To Cook
In a frying pan or a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and fry till golden brown and crispy. Transfer garlic slices onto paper towel to soak up excess oil.
Using the remaining garlic infused oil, heat pan over high heat until it begins to smoke. Add steak cubes to pan in a single layer and cook for about a minute until browned. Then flip the steak over to continue cooking until the other side is browned.
Add white wine to pan and shake to evenly distribute the wine. At this point, the steak cubes should be cooked to medium rare. Continue cooking if you prefer it medium or well done.
To serve, transfer saikoro steak onto serving plates then top with garlic slices, grated daikon, sliced green onion and chilli thread. Drizzle ponzu sauce over before serving.

Grilled Octopus Balls (Takoyaki)

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To Cook
Make the batter by whisking together the flour, yamaimo, eggs, and dashi until smooth.
Brush sesame oil on the insides of the takoyaki pan to generously coat the entire surface, and then place the pan over low heat. Preheat for about 2 mins.
When the pan is ready, pour batter into each mould to fill in three-fourths full. To each mould, add about 2 pieces of octopus and a pinch of spring onions. Add more batter to each mould until they are full. Make sure to not overflow the moulds.
Cook for about 3 mins. Carefully dip each takoyaki using chopsticks or a skewer.
Cook for about 3 more minutes. At this point, the takoyaki should be nicely browned all over and is springy and soft in the inside.
Use chopsticks or a skewer to transfer the takoyaki to a plate.
Drizzle okonomiyaki sauce over the takoyaki, garnish with aonori and bonito flakes, and serve immediately.

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Noodles (Bun Thit Nuong)

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To Prep
Slice the uncooked pork thinly, about 1.5cm.
Mix in the marinade with the pork. Mix until sugar is dissolved.
Marinate the meat for at least one hour, or leave overnight for better results.

To Cook
Bake the pork at 180ºC for 10-15 mins, or until it is about 80% cooked. Finish cooking by broiling pork in the oven until a nice golden brown colour develops, turning the pieces midway.

Nuoc Cham Sauce
Combine water and sugar in a bowl.
Add lime or lemon juice (adjust accordingly to taste)
Add fish sauce in increments (adjust accordingly to taste)
Top with garlic and chilies.

To Assemble
Assemble your bowl with cooked vermicelli noodles, vegetables, noodles, and garnish. You may pour the nuoc cham sauce on top or serve it in a separate bowl to pour in just before eating.

Grilled Chicken Thigh with Coconut Water (Gai Yang)

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To Prep
To marinade, add all the ingredients together in a big bowl and mix well.
Marinade chicken and place the bowl in the fridge for at least an hour.

To Cook
Preheat oven at 170°C.
Pan-fry the chicken in a pan on medium-low heat until cooked or sear both sides on medium-high heat pan; then put in oven for 12-14 mins.
Serve with cooked sticky rice or steamed rice, salad and sweet chilli sauce.