To Cook
Mix stock, garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, ginger, 5 spice, chilli powder and 300 ml water in large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 mins. Taste the stock, adding soy or sugar to your preference.
Put 500ml water in a pot and bring to a boil. Put noodles in and boil for 2.5 mins until ready.
Drain noodles and divide into bowls. Share spinach and pork equally between bowls.
Strain stock into a clean pan then bring to a boil once more. Take the pan off boil and divide between bowls.
Place nori sheet behind pork and add spring onion to bowl once the spinach has wilted. Serve.
Noodles
Korean Army Stew (Budae Jjigae)
To Cook
Assemble the main ingredients (except for instant ramen noodles, rice cakes, green onion and cheese) in a shallow pot. Add the sauce in the middle. Pour the stock in the corner of the pot. Close the lid and boil it on medium high heat until the stock starts to boil (about 8 mins).
Add the remaining ingredients – instant ramen noodles, rice cakes, green onion and cheese on top of the pot and boil uncovered until the noodles are cooked (about 2 to 3 mins). Reduce the heat to low (if you’re cooking on a portable burner and sharing the food at the dining table).
Start dishing out soup, protein and vegetables onto your own soup bowl. Serve with steamed rice.
Vietnamese Meat Pies (Banh Pate So)
To Prep
In a large bowl, place the shredded dried black fungus and dried bean thread noodles and cover in boiling water to soak for 10 mins or until softened. Drain and rinse with cold water, and then drain well. Cut the fungus and noodles into short lengths with scissors.
To Cook
Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a baking sheet.
Place the pork mince, sugar, salt, pepper, fish sauce, coriander, spring onions, carrot, fungus and noodles into a large mixing bowl. Use a spoon or your hands to combine the ingredients well.
Using a round cookie cutter, cut rounds from the puff pastry to desired size.
Place a ball of the meat mixture it in the middle of a pastry round, leaving a 1.5-2 cm border. Brush the egg around the border and place another pastry round on top, stretching the pastry to meet the sides of the bottom. Press the edges down with a fork and place on baking sheet. Repeat until meat mixture is finished.
Cut a small slit on the surface of each pastry, and brush the top with egg wash.
Bake for 20 mins or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and serve.
Spicy Shoyu Ramen
To Prep the Dashi
Wipe your kombu with a damp cloth to clean off any impurities, then make a few shallow cuts into the kombu.
Add the water to a pot and add the kombu to and the pot. Allow it to soak for about 30 minutes before turning on the heat.
Turn the heat on medium and let it boil slowly. Remove from heat just as the water begins to boil.
Add the bonito flakes and return to the heat. Allow the water to simmer for another 1 minute. Be careful not the let it boil over.
Remove the dashi from the heat and wait for the bonito flakes to sink to the bottom of the pot.
Finally, strain the dashi and use for the rest of this recipe. If there is any leftover dashi it can be stored in the fridge for about 1 week.
To Prep Soup
Heat up the sesame oil in a large pot and add your minced garlic and ginger. Sauté until fragrant.
Add the chilli bean sauce and mix well.
Next add the rest of the ingredients for the soup and allow it to simmer for several minutes over medium low heat.
Season the soup with salt, and then strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth into another pot.
Once the soup is done, prepare the ramen noodles as per packet instructions.
Place the noodles in a bowl and add your toppings before ladling over with the soup. Serve immediately.
Spicy Seafood Japchae
To Prepare
Soak the noodles according to packet instructions or until soft, then drain.
Mix 1 tbsp sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and garlic in a bowl to make the sauce.
Combine oil, 1 tbsp sesame oil and chilli powder in a pan over low-medium heat, ensuring that you are stirring often. When the oil starts to run red, turn off the heat and remove the pan.
In a new pan, combine the noodles and 1 tbsp of the sauce over medium heat. Fry for approximately 3-4 mins, till the noodles have softened.
Set the noodles on a plate. Stir-fry the onion briefly in the same pan and add the carrots and mushrooms till wilted. Add a little bit of water if the vegetables seem dry. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add the seafood and sauce and cook until the seafood is fully cooked. Add the optional mushrooms and scallions.
Add the noodles back in the pan and combine. Add more seasoning to taste if required.
Serve while hot.
BBQ Pork and Vermicelli Salad
To Prep
Soak vermicelli noodles in hot water for 5 mins, drain and allow to cool.
In a bowl, prepare the dressing by mixing the chilli paste, lime juice and fish sauce.
Add noodles and Chinese BBQ pork to the dressing.
Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and toss through.
Garnish with mint and peanuts (optional) and serve warm.
Vegetarian Pho
For the Soup Base
To make a more flavourful soup, charring the onion and ginger goes a long way. Do this by simply grilling the onion and ginger until their surface is slightly blackened – take care not to overdo this and actually burn them. Once they are nicely charred, remove from the heat and set them aside.
Dry fry the cinnamon, white peppercorns, star anise, cloves, and coriander seeds over low heat in a stockpot. Fry the herbs until fragrant.
Once the oils in the herbs have been released, add the vegetable stock, charred onion and ginger, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and soy sauce. Turn the heat up to high until the stock begins to boil.
Once the stock begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium low and cover with a lid. Allow to simmer for 60-90 mins.
When the soup is done, strain it through a wire-mesh strainer and season with salt. Keep the soup warm for later.
For the Noodles
Prepare the rice noodles according to packet instructions. Once cooked, drain the noodles through a sieve and rinse under running water to stop the cooking.
Heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat. Pan fry the brocollini until tender and lightly browned. You can add some salt to season the vegetables. Do the same for the button mushrooms and baby bok choy. Set aside the toppings.
Add the portions of noodles into their own separate bowls. Top with the pan fried vegetables, five spice tofu, and bean sprouts, then, pour over with the warm soup.
Garnish with lime wedges and Vietnamese mint and serve hot.
Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad (Bun Bo Xao)
To Prep
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce and water and mix well.
Then, add the lime juice, garlic and chilli. Mix and set aside for later.
Combine the sliced beef, oyster sauce, ½ tbsp minced garlic, lemongrass, salt, pepper, chicken stock and 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a mixing bowl. Mix well, making sure that the beef in evenly coated in the marinade. Let the beef marinade for 20 mins.
To Cook
Heat up a wok and add the remainder of the vegetable oil. When the oil has heated up, sauté the rest of the garlic until fragrant.
Next add the beef to the wok and fry until the beef is no longer pink.
Cook the rice vermicelli according to packet instructions. Drain the noodles when they are done and portion into individual bowls.
Add the mixed greens and cucumber on top the vermicelli and top with the stir fried beef. Garnish with the do chu, fried shallots, and crushed peanuts.
Use the dipping fish sauce as a salad dressing. Mix the salad with the dressing and serve.
Cantonese Fried Flat Noodles in Egg Gravy (Wa Tan Hor)
To Cook the Noodles
Lightly blanch the noodles in some boiling water to avoid them sticking together.
Heat up the oil in a wok over medium high heat. Add the noodles, dark soy sauce and light soy sauce.
Stir fry and toss until the noodles are evenly coated with the soy sauce. Continue until the noodles are cooked. Set aside.
To Cook the Gravy
Heat up some oil in the wok and fry the garlic until golden brown.
Next add the chicken, fish cake and prawns. Fry until the prawns and chicken are cooked and pour in the chicken stock
Season the chicken stock with the light soy sauce, oyster sauce and salt to taste. Once seasoned, bring the stock up to a boil.
Prepare a cornstarch mixture by adding the cornflour to water and mixing well, making sure there are no lumps.
Pour the cornstarch mixture into the chicken stock and simmer until the gravy thickens.
Add the choy sum into the gravy and crack the eggs in as well.
Turn the heat off as soon as you crack the eggs in and stir vigorously to break up the eggs and mix them into the gravy.
Pour the gravy over the prepared noodles and serve immediately.
Claypot Glass Noodles with Prawns (Goong Ob Woonsen)
To Prep
Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
Cut the roots of the coriander into 3cm pieces, and the stems and leaves into 9cm pieces. Set aside.
To Cook
In a claypot, heat the cooking oil over medium heat.
Lay the pork belly at the bottom of the claypot.
Add the garlic, ginger, peppercorns and coriander roots. Turn the heat up to medium-high and stir-fry until they become fragrant.
Add the glass noodles, chicken stock and sauce, and stir until evenly mixed. Cover and simmer for 1-2min.
Add the prawns and top with the coriander stems and leaves. Drizzle sesame oil over.
Cook on medium heat for 10 min or until the prawns and vermicelli are fully cooked. If the sauce dries up while the dish is cooking, add more chicken stock.
Mixed Vegetable Curry (Sayur Lodeh)
To Cook
Grind spice paste A ingredients together. Add in water to ⅓ of the height of the paste.
Heat the cooking oil and saute the paste A. Big bubbles will start to appear as the moisture evaporates. Keep stirring to prevent the paste from sticking to the sides of the wok or pan.
When the bubbles become smaller, add in all the vegetables, stir fry for 5 minutes.
Add in water and coconut milk. Bring this to a boil and add prawns, tofu, tempe and vermicelli bean thread. Boil for about 3 mins and serve hot.
Tofu and Seaweed Udon
To Cook
Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the tofu. Bring back to the boil. Immediately drain, then cut into small cubes.
In a small saucepan, combine the remaining Tofu ingredients, bring to the boil. Add the tofu cubes and simmer for 5 mins. Drain and discard the cooking liquid.
Cook the Udon noodles according to packet instructions. Put the spring onions in a small wire sieve. Dip them briefly into the boiling water. Refresh under cold running water and set aside. Drain the noodles, rinse and drain well.
Put the Noodle’s dashi broth and dark soy sauce into a saucepan. Add the light soy sauce, brown sugar and sake (or sherry). Bring to the boil. Season to taste with salt.
Arrange the noodles in serving bowls. Top with the tofu, spring onions and the nori sheets. Ladle in the hot broth and serve immediately.