To Cook
Prepare noodles as per packet instruction – drain and set aside. Heat oil in wok over low heat and stir fry Laksa Paste until fragrant. Then, add coconut milk and water, bring to a boil.
Add vegetables and heat through. Put in chicken fillet and cook to tender. Then turn down to a simmer. Pour in fish sauce. While cooking, place noodles in serving bowl and top with bean sprouts.
Spoon laksa soup on top of noodles and garnish with shallots and coriander.
Serve with a wedge of lime if preferred.
Noodles
Mee Goreng
To Cook
Heat oil in a wok or deep pan on high heat. Sauté onions until translucent. Add in garlic and sauté until lightly browned and fragrant.
Add chicken, sliced fish balls, celery and carrots. Stir fry until chicken is cooked. Throw in other vegetables and prawns. Fry until prawns turn pink. Add in all the sauces and seasonings. Mix well.
Finally toss in noodles and stir thoroughly until the noodles absorb all the liquid.
Serve hot with chilli sauce.
Thai Stir Fried Noodles (Pad See Yew)
To Prep
In a bowl, mix marinade ingredients with beef steak strips and leave to marinate while you prepare other ingredients.
To Cook
Place all the stir-fry sauce ingredients in a jug or bowl and stir well to combine. Loosely split up the noodles if they are stuck together. Then in a wok or large pan, add in oil and swirl around. Place over medium high heat. Once hot, add in garlic and briefly sauté until fragrant. Add in the marinated beef with its sauce and stir fry for 2 mins. Add in stock whenever your wok or pan becomes dry, enough to keep stir frying ingredients nicely.
Toss in broccoli and continue to stir fry for 1 min, again adding stock whenever necessary. Then, make a hole in the middle and break an egg into the centre of the wok or pan. Quickly stir fry the egg and mix through the entire dish.
Add in noodles and pour in the stir fry sauce. Gently lift and turn the noodles to mix well with the sauce and other ingredients. Cook until noodles start to soften, for about 2 mins.
When noodles are soft, remove from heat. Taste-test for saltiness, adding more fish sauce if necessary according to preference.
Transfer to serving plate and garnish with coriander. Serve hot.
Veggieful Soba Noodle Salad
To Cook
Heat a pan and spray with preferred oil. Fry the tofu until lightly golden brown. Slice into ½ cm slices and set aside. In the same pan, add asparagus, carrot and zucchini and pan fry until they have some colour but not too soft. Put aside.
Place a saucepan of water to boil. Then add in edamame to the boiling water for a few mins. Remove the edamame and place into a bowl of cold water, reserve the hot water. Shell edamame once cooled and set aside. Reserved hot water can be used to cook the soba noodles to save time if preferred. Cook soba noodles according to packet instructions. Refresh under cold water.
Mix together soy sauce, mirin, grated ginger, garlic, red chillies, lemon juice and rice vinegar.
To assemble the dish, put noodles in a large bowl and add in coriander, shallots and mixed sauce. Combine thoroughly. Add in cucumber, zucchini, carrots and shelled edamame. Mix well, distribute fried tofu and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
Drizzle some sriracha according to taste. Serve immediately.
Vegetarian Japanese Curry with Noodles
To Prep
In a pot of boiling water, cook the somen noodles according to the packet instructions.
When the noodles have finished cooking, drain the water and then rinse them in cold water to stop them from over cooking, as well as to remove some of the extra starch.
To Cook
Heat a pan over a medium heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Allow it to heat up before adding in the onions and cooking until they become translucent.
Add the water in to the pan and bring it to a boil. When it begins to boil reduce it to a simmer, add the carrots and cook until they become tender.
Add in the cauliflower, broccoli and green beans.
After about 2 minutes have passed, add in the curry roux and stir the roux until the curry thickens.
To serve, plate the somen noodles in to a bowl or dipped plate and spoon over some of the curry.
Sesame Soba Noodle Salad
To Cook
In a large pot, fill with enough water to cover the soba noodles and bring to a boil, then add the noodles. Cook the soba noodles according to the instructions on the package, generally this is approx. 5 mins. Drain and rinse immediately with cold tap water. Make sure you rinse them thoroughly, so they are not too starchy. Drain the cooled noodles and set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, add the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin, lime juice, sesame oil, red chillies and sesame seeds. Whisk all ingredients together to combine well.
Now in a large salad bowl, add the soba noodles, spring onions, coriander, julienne carrots and asparagus ribbons and drizzle the dressing over the salad. Gently combine well, cover and chill down in the fridge before serving.
Teriyaki Tofu Sushi
To Cook
Cut tofu into long thin pieces and marinate in teriyaki sauce for 20 mins. (I left some tofu unmarinated for those in the family that did not like teriyaki)
Cook the sushi rice by following the packet instructions. Once cooked, fold through Obento seasoning and cool in fridge.
Lightly fry the tofu and place in the fridge to cool.
Prepare vegetables while the rice is cooling by slicing long thin pieces of avocado and cucumber.
Cover your sushi roller in plastic to keep it clean and begin by placing your sushi sheet (shiny side up) in the middle of the mat.
Push rice flat onto the sushi sheet taking up the bottom three indents on the sheet. Put a generous line of mayonnaise horizontally along the rice followed with a slice of tofu and vegetables. Be careful not to overfill.
From the bottom up, roll the sushi mat over the sushi to form a roll, making sure to tuck in the seaweed tightly as it folds over.
Repeat this for all sushi folds. Once the rolls have set for a minute, use a wet knife to cut into slices and serve with ginger and soy sauce. Enjoy!
Spicy Rainbow Soba Noodle Salad
To Cook
Prepare Obento Soba Noodles as per packet instructions, allowing to cool in the fridge while you prepare the other ingredients.
Prepare cherry tomatoes, carrot, cucumber and cabbage and roughly toss together in a bowl.
Make salad dressing by combining all salad dressing ingredients.
Serve salad by first placing the noodles, then the vegetable mix, then the dressing and garnish with fresh coriander and fried onion for that extra crunch.
Toshikoshi Soba
To Cook
Make the dashi stock by combining 1.5L of water with 8 tbsp of dashi granules into a large saucepan.
Add the mirin to the dashi stock and bring to a gentle simmer, then add the tamari sauce.
Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and continue to simmer until the broth is ready to be served.
Cook the soba noodles by bringing a saucepan of water to boil and then adding the soba noodles.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and allow the noodles to cook for approximately 4-5 mins.
While the soba noodles are cooking, add the asparagus and mushrooms to the dashi broth and cook in the simmering liquid.
Drain the noodles and rinse under cold water and set aside until ready to serve.
Scoop the asparagus and mushrooms from the broth and set aside.
To Serve
Pour the broth into bowls.
Add the noodles.
Add the tofu, asparagus and mushrooms.
Garnish with sliced chives and toasted nori flakes.
Sesame Noodles with Grilled Marinated Beef
To Cook
Mix together ingredients for beef marinade, add beef and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
For the shredded omelette, mix the eggs with the salt and sesame oil. Heat wok or fry pan and grease with the peanut oil. Add the egg and rotate the wok or pan to create a very thin layer of egg. When the egg sets, remove from the wok and allow to cool. Roll the egg into a cylinder and slice thinly.
For the dressing, add peanuts and sesame oil to a mortar and pestle and pound into a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Seal beef on a hot grill until the meat is caramelized on both sides, finishing it in the oven at 180℃ for 5 mins. Let the beef rest and slice into thin pieces.
Cook noodles according to the directions on their packet and rinse under cold running water. Drain well.
Place noodles on a plate with piles of carrot, cucumber, beef and shredded egg. Pour the dressing over the dish and serve.
Chicken Noodle Soup (Soto Ayam)
To Cook
In a large pot, pour in the water and add the chicken cutlets, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and salt. Bring to a boil.
Skim off any foam, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 mins. Skim any excess foam as needed.
Wash the eggs and place into the stock for the final 10 mins of cooking to hard boil. Remove, peel and set aside.
Prepare the spice paste while the chicken in simmering by crushing together the ingredients in a mortar and pestle or food processor into a paste.
Remove the chicken and pour the stock into a jug or bowl. Set aside.
Pull away the skin and bone, leaving big chunks of meat. Set aside.
In the same pot that the chicken was cooking in, add peanut oil and gently fry the spice paste on medium heat for 5 mins.
Place the rice vermicelli into a bowl and cover with cold water for 15 mins. Drain and set aside.
Return the chicken stock to the pot, pour in the can of TCC Coconut Milk. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 10 mins. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Divide the rice vermicelli and the chicken between 4 bowls. Ladle over the soup.
Garnish with the bean sprouts, hard boiled eggs, fried shallots, fresh coriander and wedges of lime. Serve with Yeo’s Sambal Oeleck. You can either eat it as is, or with fluffy white rice.
Chicken Laksa
To Cook
Prepare the noodles as per packet instructions in a bowl. Set aside.
Heat oil in a large saucepan (or wok) over low heat, fry ½ jar of laksa paste until fragrant.
Add the chicken and stir fry until cooked.
Add coconut milk and a little water if desired, and bring to a boil.
Drain and place noodles in bowls. Top with laksa soup.
Place beansprouts on top and garnish. Enjoy!