To Cook
Mix coconut cream with flour and bring to the boil on low heat. Stir until thick, then set aside for topping.
In a food processor, thoroughly combine the seafood, curry paste, sugar, egg and fish sauce. Slowly add coconut milk until thick and smooth. Add half the basil and kaffir lime leaves and mix well.
Place basil leaves on the bottom of each ramekin, top with curry mixture and steam for 15-20 mins.
Remove from steamer and top with thickened coconut cream, kaffir lime leaves and chillies. Return to steamer for 1 min and serve with steamed Jasmine rice.
Alternatively, remove from mould and garnish with coconut cream, kaffir lime leaves, mint and chillies on individual plates.
Steam
Steamed Minced Pork with Preserved Vegetable
To Prep
Mix minced meat with seasoning ingredients, then add the cornflour mixture into minced meat. Mix well.
To Cook
Place minced meat mixture on a plate and steam for 30 mins, or until thoroughly cooked.
Chinese Steamed Buns with Char Siu Pork Filing (Char Siu Bao)
To Cook
Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Add 1 cup of flour. Mix thoroughly. Cover with a cloth and allow to rise for 1 hr, until bubbles appear.
Dissolve ¼ cup sugar and vegetable oil in ½ cup boiling water. Stir well. Cool until lukewarm. Pour into yeast mixture. Add remaining flour.
Knead dough on a lightly floured board until smooth. Put into an extra large, greased bowl in a warm place. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until doubled in size (approx 2 hrs).
Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok. Stir fry finely chopped spring onion and garlic for 30 secs. Add pork cut into small cubes. Stir fry for 1 min. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, char siu sauce and remaining sugar.
Add dissolved cornflour. Stir fry quickly until pork is glazed. Remove to bowl and allow to cool.
On a floured board, knead dough for 1 min and roll into one long, sausage-like roll 5cm in diameter. Slice the roll crosswise into 3cm pieces.
Flatten each piece with the palm of your hand and roll with rolling pin into 8cm rounds.
Place 2 tbsp of filling in the centre of each round of dough.
Gather the dough up around the filling by pleating along the edges. Bring the pleats up and twist securely and firmly.
Place each Chinese bun on 5cm square baking paper on a steamer tray. Cover with a towel. Allow to rise for 1 hr, until dough springs back when touched with finger. Remove towel.
Steam over briskly boiling water for 10 mins.
Steamed Tofu with Snow Pea Shoots and Oyster Sauce
To Cook
Mix the oyster sauce and sesame oil in a bowl and set aside.
Cut tofu into uniform slices or cubes. Place on a serving plate and steam for 5 mins (or microwave for 3 mins)
Heat oil in a wok, add garlic, and stir-fry snow pea for 2 mins. Arrange on the serving plate and drizzle oyster sauce mixture over tofu and snow pea shoots.
Straits-Style Steamed Pork Ribs
To Prep
Mix marinade in a bowl and marinate pork ribs for 15 mins.
To Cook
Place fermented soy beans, garlic over pork ribs and steam in high heat for 15 mins.
Garnish and serve hot.
Steamed Custard in a Pumpkin Shell (Sankaya)
To Prep
Combine coconut cream, eggs and sugar.
Slice off the top of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds.
Fill the pumpkin with coconut mixture and steam gently for 30 mins.
Refrigerate and serve chilled.
Steamed Egg with XO Sauce
To Cook
Whisk the chicken broth and the beaten eggs together in a bowl. Pour into 4 small heat-proof bowls and steam for 6 mins.
Add in prawn meat and steam for another 4 mins.
Sprinkle with spring onions and XO sauce. Serve.
Japanese Savoury Egg Custard (Chawanmushi)
To Prep
In one bowl, combine the chicken thigh and 1 tbsp of sake and mix. Repeat with the shrimp. Set both aside and let marinate for 5 mins.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, dashi, mirin, soy sauce, salt and dashi together. Whisk together but be careful not to aerate the eggs too much while whisking as the bubbles could prevent a silky, smooth texture.
Place a quarter of the chicken, shrimp, mushroom and fish cake in to a ramekin or small bowl.
Pour the egg mixture through a strainer and in to the cup. Pour in enough egg mixture to fill ¾ of the cup. If any bubbles are in the mixture, remove them by poking them. Repeat with the remaining cups.
To Cook
Cover each of the cups with aluminium foil or a lid and set in to a steamer to steam for 20-30 mins at a low-medium heat.
To Serve
When the chicken has cooked through, remove the chawanmushi from the steamer. Remove the lid and sprinkle Mitsuba leaves and cover again if not serving immediately.
Finish by topping with ikura and enjoy!
Chinese Steamed Rice Flour Cake (Huat Kueh)
To Cook
Prepare a steamer by bringing water to boil on high heat.
Line each bowl with cling wrap or a piece of baking paper. Make sure the lining is as close to the sides as possible.
In a mixing bowl, sift rice flour, baking powder and icing sugar. Add water and food colouring, and mix well.
Just before filling the moulds with the batter add baking soda and mix well.
Fill each mould to ¾ full and steam on high heat for 15-20 mins. Insert a skewer into the middle of the cake. If the skewer comes out clean, the huat kueh is ready.
Remove from steamer then take the huat kueh out from the moulds to cool.
Serve plain or with any breakfast spread. When it becomes dry and hard the next day, steam the cakes again before eating.
Chinese Steamed Eggs (Sui Tan)
To Prep
Crack three eggs into a large bowl. Lightly beat eggs and slowly add in water. Do not beat it too hard as air may develop in the egg.
Add seasonings and mix well.
Strain egg mixture with a sieve into a shallow bowl and cover with heatproof cling wrap or aluminium foil. Ensure there are no bubbles before steaming as we want a smooth and silky surface.
To Cook
Place the bowl on to a steamer rack and steam over low heat for 10 minutes or until its set.
While waiting for eggs to be steamed, fry minced garlic till its golden brown in colour. Set fried garlic aside together with the oil.
Once steamed eggs are done, sprinkle the fried garlic with oil, light soy sauce and spring onions over it. Serve hot with rice.
Steamed Pandan Tray Cake (Nyonya Kuih Talam)
Preparing the Green Layer
First extract the pandan juice by finely blending 15-20 pandan leaves with 300ml of water. Strain the blended mixture to get 300ml of pandan juice.
Make a simple sugar syrup by mixing the sugar, salt and plain water in a pot and bringing it to a boil, making sure all the sugar and salt has dissolved.
Then, combine the pandan juice with the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Slowly mix in the hot sugar syrup into the green mixture while stirring constantly.
Then strain the mixture into a metal mixing bowl.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, reducing the heat to medium when it does. Set the mixing bowl with the green mixture over the pot and cook until it has thickened. Remove from heat and mix until smooth.
Pour the thickened mixture into a greased 20cm baking tin and steam over medium heat for 15 mins. Try to make an uneven surface to help the two layers stick to each other.
Preparing the White layer
Combine the coconut milk, rice flour, green bean flour and salt. Then, slowly pour in the hot water gradually while stirring constantly.
Once smooth, strain the mixture into a metal mixing bowl.
Repeat the same cooking process as with the green mixture.
Pour the white mixture on top of the steamed green layer and steam over medium heat for 15 mins.
Set aside to cool, and serve. Make sure to cut the Kuih Talam with a greased knife as it is quite sticky.
Steamed Egg with Pork and Mushroom
To Make the Steamed Egg
Crack eggs into a bowl. Add 500ml water, sesame oil and salt. Whisk and pour through a sieve, dividing evenly into 2 steam-proof dishes.
In the wok or steamer, steam the egg mixture on high heat for 3 mins. Then, turn off the heat and let it sit for 20 mins. Do not remove the lid.
To Make the Pork and Mushroom Topping
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and fry until fragrant.
Add pork and stir fry until almost cooked.
Add in sliced shiitake mushrooms, then soy sauces and stir through.
Once pork is cooked, remove from heat and stir through sesame oil.
To Serve
Top steamed egg with pork and mushroom, then garnish with sliced spring onion. Serve!