Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Steam

Steamed Crystal Prawn Dumplings (Har Gow)

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To Prep
In a bowl, combine all filling ingredients. Using a fork, whip the mixture in one direction for 2 mins until the mixture begins to appear sticky. Cover with a cling wrap and place inside the fridge while preparing the dough.
In a mixing bowl, combine wheat starch and tapioca starch. Gradually add in boiling water while stirring vigorously. Then, pour in lard or oil and stir well to combine. Knead the dough for 2 mins until you get a smooth ball. Roll the dough into a long log and cut into 20 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball. Place the dough balls into a tray and cover with damp cloth.
Prepare a lightly oiled smooth surface. You can place a baking sheet over a cutting board and lightly oil the baking sheet. Working with one dough ball at a time, flatten it using a rolling pin until rather thin but still able to withhold the weight of the filling. Using a round cutter, about 8cm in diameter, cut out the dough. Place a spoonful of filling in the centre of the dumpling wrap and fold into half. Then, using your fingers, push the dough, forming pleats, until completely sealed from one end to the other. Place prawn dumpling into a large bamboo basket lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining dough balls and leftover dough, if any. Space the prawn dumplings slightly apart to allow for expansion during cooking process.

To Cook
Prepare a steamer over high heat. Steam prawn dumplings over boiling water for 6 mins. Steam in batches if you have a smaller bamboo basket.
Remove and serve hot with soy sauce or chilli sauce.

Steamed Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce (Fung Jao)

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To Cook
Pat chicken feet with paper towels until dry. In a wok or deep pan, heat up oil and deep fry chicken feet in batches until golden brown. Drain.
In a pot, add water till half full and bring to a boil. Carefully place fried chicken feet into boiling water and boil for 40 mins. Check occasionally to ensure there is sufficient water.
Meanwhile, prepare garlic. Place minced garlic in a bowl together with fermented black beans, oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, fermented bean curd, ground white pepper, chicken stock and salt. Combine till well mixed.
Once chicken feet are ready, drain them from the pot of water. Place into a large mixing bowl and toss them with the seasoning sauce. Allow to marinade for at least 1 hr (or best overnight).
Steam marinated chicken feet for 3 hrs over low heat. Occasionally, gently mix the chicken feet with sauce while steaming to ensure that the chicken feet are evenly flavoured and coloured.
Serve immediately.

Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake (Ma Lai Koh)

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To Prep
Crack eggs into a large mixing bowl and add sugar. Whisk until light and fluffy. Pour in oil and milk and continue whisking until smooth. Slowly add in flour and custard powder while whisking until smooth batter is formed. Also, gradually add in baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk until smooth, ensuring there are no lumps. Cover the mixing bowl with cling wrap and allow the batter to rest for at least 30 mins.

To Cook
Prepare a steamer and bring water to a rolling boil. Place a 9-inch round pan into the steamer for about 3 mins to warm it up. Then, pour the batter into the pan and steam for 40 mins. To check if it’s ready, insert a tooth pick into the centre of the cake and remove it. The tooth pick should come out clean.
Take the cake out from the steamer and set aside to cool down slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Prawn and Ginger Dumplings

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To Prep
Roughly chop half of the prawns into chunks. Use a food processor to process remaining prawns into a paste.
In a large mixing bowl, combine both with ginger, chicken stock powder, salt, egg white, Shaoxing wine, cornflour and sesame oil.
Place a small spoonful of prawn mixture in the centre of the dumpling wrapper.
Brush water on one side of the dumpling wrapper, and then fold the other side up.
Working from left to right, make small pleats on side closest to you until both sides have joined, and then pinch together to seal the top.

To Cook
Steam dumplings for 6 mins, and then serve immediately.

Braised Beef Tendons

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To Cook
Add oil into a wok or pot over medium heat. Sauté garlic and ginger until fragrant. Remove and set aside.
Bring the heat up to high and place in beef tendons. Sear and brown them on all sides.
Add all ingredients into the wok, including sautéed garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil then, put on the lid and simmer on lowest heat for 2½ hrs. Stir occasionally and ensure there is sufficient liquid. By the end of the simmer time, the liquid should be thick. Season with salt or sugar according to taste.
Transfer tendons to a steaming plate or bamboo basket and steam over high heat for 30 mins. Remove and serve.

Crispy Fried Yam Puff (Wu Kok)

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To Prep
In a bowl, mix together pork, soy sauce and ginger. In another bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, sesame oil, oyster sauce, cooking wine, water, a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper. Mix well.

To Cook
In a pan, heat up oil over medium heat. Put in pork and cook, breaking the pork into pieces using your spatula. Once they are cooked, add shrimp and stir fry until pink. Pour in the bowl of sauce mixture and stir until well combined. Transfer to a bowl and mix in spring onions. Allow to cool then, refrigerate for at least 2 hrs to marinade.
Spread out yam pieces on a plate and steam over boiling water until softened, around 20 mins. Remove from steamer and mash them immediately into paste. Set aside.
Place wheat starch into a bowl and carefully stir in boiling water to form a rough dough. When the dough mixture has cooled down slightly to a very warm temperature, add mashed yam and mix well. Place in lard, baking soda, salt and sugar. Fold and knead the dough until smooth, removing any yam lumps at the end. Roll the dough into a ball and cut into 4 equal portions. Roll each portion into a log and cut into 6 equal pieces. Using your palm or rolling pin, flatten each dough and roll into a dumpling wrap. Fill each dumpling wrap with the marinated filling and fold the wrap into half-moon shaped dumpling.
In a wok, heat up enough oil for deep frying over high heat. To test if the oil is sufficiently hot, drop a piece of yam lump into the oil. If it stays at the bottom of the wok for a sec before floating to the top, the oil is ready. Gently put in pieces of yam dumplings into the wok of hot oil and fry until browned. The dumplings should also be covered with crispy nettings. Remove and drain off excess oil by placing the fried dumplings on paper towels. Serve immediately.

Spicy Steamed Beef Tripe

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Main Ingredients
Add oil into a wok or large pan over medium heat. Sauté garlic and ginger until fragrant. Put in tripe and fry for 2 mins. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, black bean sauce, Shaoxing wine, five spice powder, brown sugar, paprika, cayenne pepper and sesame oil. Stir to mix well and cook for another 2 mins.
Pour in water and bring to a boil. Then, turn the heat to medium and simmer for 30 mins or until sauce reduces slightly and thickens.
Take the tripe out and transfer to a bamboo basket or steaming plate. Steam for 30 mins over high heat. Serve immediately with chilli sauce or light soy sauce.

Steamed Pork Spare Ribs with Black Bean Sauce

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To Prep
In a large mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients aside from the pork, chilli and spring onion. Mix to combine.
Add the pork spare ribs and stir through until well coated.

To Cook
Prepare a bamboo steamer over a wok. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium-high.
On a heatproof plate or pan, place the spare ribs on top. Place in the bamboo steamer and cook for 20 mins, or until ribs are fully cooked, topping up water as needed.
Carefully remove from steamer basket, then garnish with spring onion and chilli. Enjoy.

Steamed Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Ice Cream (Putu Ayu)

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Preparing Coconut Ice Cream
Add all the ingredients together and mix them in a large bowl. Transfer the mixture into an ice cream machine. Churn and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Preparing Putu Ayu
Mix the grated coconut, corn flour and salt. Pack 2 tsp of the mixture tightly into each of the moulds.
Using a hand mixer on medium speed, beat eggs and sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Fold in the coconut milk and flour alternately. Add in 1-2 tsp pandan flavouring into the mixture and fold. Pour the mixture into the cake moulds until full.
Prepare a steamer. Bring water to a boil and place cakes in. Steam for 10-15 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. When the cakes have cooked, leave them to cool for 10 mins. Using a knife, ease the cakes out of the moulds.
Serve with a scoop of coconut ice cream. Top with coconut flakes if desired.

Tofu Milk Bao with Asian Pickle

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Preparing the Pickle
Generously salt the cucumber and leave for 20 mins for juices to extract. Meanwhile, place sugar and vinegar in a glass jug and microwave and stir in 30 sec intervals until sugar dissolves. Add cucumber and juices plus radish to cooled pickling liquid. Cover and refrigerate.

Preparing the Buns
Mix all ingredients together with a wooden chopstick or spoon and turn out into a clean bench. Knead milk dough for 10 mins then roll into a ball and place into a clean bowl. Cover with cling film and set aside in a warm area to proof for 1 hr.
Punch dough down and divide into 20 small balls. Place balls on a floured tray, cover with a damp tea towel, and set aside for another 1 hr to proof.
Using a rolling pin, roll balls into flat ovals. Then, fold in half over an oiled chopstick. Place on small squares of baking paper into bamboo steamer baskets (approximately 4 buns per basket). Steam in a large steamer for 8 mins or steam by batches.
Meanwhile, heat up a pan with oil and fry tofu pieces until crispy and blackened.
Assemble buns by placing hot tofu in the centre, then arrange pickles and garnishes on top. Drizzle generously with kewpie mayonnaise and place extra pickles on the table to serve.

Japanese Sake Steamed Clams

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To Cook
Over medium high heat, add the sake and ginger to a large pan and allow to boil.
Add the clams and dried chilli to the pan and turn the heat up to high. Cover the pan with a lid and allow the clams to cook until they are done. The clams are done when they open up.
Remove the lid and sprinkle the black pepper and spring onions over the clams.
Serve hot together with the soup and some steamed rice.

Bubur Cha Cha

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To Cook
Steam diced yam, golden and purple sweet potato in a wok over high heat, until softened, about 20 minutes. Test with a sharp knife or toothpick. They should be very easy to prick through.
Use a large deep pot. Add 1 litre of boiling water with the rock and fine sugar. Bring it to boil. Add pandan leaves. Reduce heat to simmer for 10 min.
Pour in coconut cream. Once it boils again, drain up and discard the pandan leaves.
Add the sweet potatoes. The rock and fine sugar should dissolved completely.
Taste and add more sugar if needed. Served hot. Or let it cool down and chill in fridge if you like it served cold.

To Make Tapioca Flour Cubes
Sift tapioca flour if lumpy flour is found in it. Then, place tapioca flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir-in hot boiling water and combine well until mixture turns dough-like texture. When mixture is cooled, form it into dough on a well-floured table top.
Dust some flour on your palm and divide dough into 4 parts. Mix each portion with 3 different colouring prepared and leave one portion as ‘white‘ original colour (no colouring added).
Knead to combine well and until it becomes a non-stick dough. Then, roll and shape each portion out into long and squarish thin stripes. Thereafter, dice into small cubes.
Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. When boiled, reduce heat, and put in tapioca flour cubes to cook for about 30 min, or until all the cubes float up. Texture of cooked tapioca flour cubes should be chewy, bright in colour with a little translucent appearance.
Dish up and plunge cubes into a bowl of iced water for few seconds. Drain and remove cubes from iced water. Reserve for later.