To Cook
In a pan over medium heat, add butter and stir fry lamb until cooked. Then, add garlic, carrots, celery and onions. Stir fry the ingredients for 1 min.
Pour in diced tomatoes and beef stock. Allow to simmer over low heat for 10 mins. Add in curry and stir well. Allow to simmer for another 10 mins until sauce thickens.
To prepare the rice, wash with cold water thoroughly until water is almost clear, about 4-5 rinses. Cook rice according to packaging instructions in a rice cooker. Once ready, add in salt, sugar, rice wine vinegar and mix well. Allow to sit covered for a further 5 mins to steam.
Scoop rice into panda shaped rice mould. Prepare the eyes, nose, mouth and ears by cutting the shapes out from nori sushi seaweed sheet.
Ladle lamb curry into individual serving bowls and place panda shaped rice balls on top.
Rice
Thai Rice Soup (Khao Tom)
To Begin
Cook rice a day before and leave to refrigerate overnight.
In a large bowl, mix pork, garlic, coriander, salt, black pepper and fish sauce until well combined. Slowly stir in beaten egg and mix the meat mixture again until thoroughly combined. Roll pork mixture into balls.
Prepare a pot of boiling water and cook pork balls batch by batch. Cook for another 2 mins once the pork balls float to the surface to ensure they are cooked through.
In a large pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Add in galangal and lemongrass and simmer for 15 mins. Then carefully ladle in cooked rice and simmer for 5 mins. Season with soy sauce, fish sauce and white pepper. Add more according to your liking.
Remove and discard galangal and lemongrass. Ladle rice soup into 4 serving bowls until half full. Crack in an egg into each bowl. Then ladle more hot rice soup into each bowl. If you like the eggs to be cooked before cracking them in, place eggs into a small pot of water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and allow to sit for 15 mins before cracking them into the rice soup.
Garnish with ginger, spring onions and coriander leaves. Serve hot with some soy sauce if desired.
Simple Chinese Sausage Rice
To Cook
Heat oil in a wok over medium high heat. Fry sliced Chinese sausages until crispy. Drain and set aside.
Toss in onion and garlic and fry in the remaining oil until fragrant. Put in rice and fry for 1-2 mins. Pour in chicken stock, put in half the fried Chinese sausages and add dashes of white pepper. Stir to mix then cover. Allow to simmer for 15 mins until rice is cooked.
Once ready, fry the rice for 1-2 mins. Crack in eggs and continue to fry until mixed through. Add in the remaining fried Chinese sausages and quickly mix through.
Dish out and garnish with spring onions. Serve.
Shanghai Stuffed Sticky Rice Balls (Ci Fan Tuan)
To Begin
Place short grain rice and sweet rice with 1½ cups water into a rice cooker. Cook.
If using frozen Chinese crullers, refry until crispy.
Line a sushi rolling mat with cling wrap and spread ½ of the rice across the mat into a thin layer. Top with a piece of fried Chinese cruller in the middle and sprinkle ½ the pork floss and ½ the zhacai.
Roll the rice using the sushi mat to cover the filling, squeezing the mat to ensure the roll is compact. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Cut into half if desired and serve.
Steamed Pork with Rice Powder (Fen Zheng Rou)
To Prep
In a bowl, mix pork belly slices with marinade ingredients. Set aside.
To Cook
In a pan over medium heat, place in rice, peppercorns and star anise. Fry until lightly browned. Then, pulverize the mixture using a food processor until fine.
Add the fine rice mixture to the marinated pork. Mix well.
Line the base of a heat proof steaming plate with lettuce leaves and then layer with potato cubes. Spread out the pork belly slices on top of the potato cubes. Steam over high heat for 30 mins.
Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with spring onions. Serve.
Vegetable and Prawn Fritters Rice Bowl (Kakiage Don)
To Cook
Season prawns with a pinch of salt.
Place all sauce ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil. Set aside.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix eggs with iced water and sake then, pour into flour mixture. Stir the bowl 10 times lightly in circular motion.
Heat enough oil for deep frying and sesame oil in a wok over medium high heat. Meanwhile, place prawns and vegetables into a bowl and dust with corn starch, coating ingredients well. Pour batter over the ingredients and mix gently. Ladle a scoop of ingredients into a wire sieve and drain off excess batter. Carefully place the battered ingredients into the hot oil and work quickly to collect pieces of stray ingredients into a big piece using chopsticks. Once the fritter is golden browned, dish out and drain off excess oil by placing the fritter on paper towels. Repeat with remaining battered ingredients.
To serve, reheat sauce. Meanwhile, divide rice into individual serving bowls. Pour some sauce over the rice. Top each bowl with a fritter and drizzle with more sauce. Serve immediately.
Yam Rice
To Prep
Place pork belly slices into a bowl and mix well with all pork marinade ingredients. Set aside.
To Cook
Heat up oil in a wok or large pan. Sauté shallots until aromatic. Dish out and set aside. Toss dried shrimps into the remaining oil and fry until fragrant. Add marinated pork belly slices and stir fry for about 2 mins. Then, place in mushrooms and yam and stir fry for another 2 mins.
Add in rice and rice seasonings. Turn the heat to medium-low and gently stir fry to mix well.
Carefully pour in rice mixture into a rice cooker and pour in water. Cook the rice in the rice cooker and allow to rest for at least 5 mins once ready. Gently mix the rice to loosen the grains.
Serve yam rice with sprinkles of spring onions and fried shallots.
Korean Fist Rice (Jumeok-bap)
To Begin
Cook rice according to packaging instructions.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry luncheon meat until crispy and browned. Set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in the same pan. Sauté garlic, toss in carrots and kimchi and season with a pinch of salt. Cook until carrots soften. Set aside.
Place cooked rice into a large bowl. Top with luncheon meat, fish roe, kimchi-carrot mix, sesame oil, sesame seeds, Japanese mayonnaise and toasted laver strips.
Wearing gloves, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Season with salt accordingly. Then, form the rice mixture into bite-sized balls. Enjoy!
Jack-O-Lantern Onigiri
To Prep
Add sushi rice, water, turmeric powder, hot chilli powder and salt in a rice cooker, and cook according to manufacturer’s instructions. Once rice has cooked, allow to cool completely.
Oil hands, then form 2-3 tbsp of rice into a round shape and fill centre with mashed pumpkin.
Using scissors or a knife, carefully cut out facial features out of nori sheet. Place onto rice ball.
Cut ends of spring onion and attach to top of Jack-O-Lantern Onigiri.
Serve on a plate with coriander and steamed pumpkin.
Malaysian Fried Rice Cake (Char Koay Kak)
To Cook
In a large non-stick pan, heat up 1 tbsp of oil and pan-fry the rice cake cubes until the sides are a light brown colour.
Remove the rice cakes and set them aside.
Add another 3 tbsp of oil in to the pan and saute the garlic and pickled radish until fragrant before adding in the chilli paste.
Return the rice cake cubes back in to the pan and then add the dark soy sauce and stir.
Season the rice cubes with salt and pepper to taste before making an empty space in the centre of the pan and pouring in the eggs.
Toss the rice cake cubes in the egg to coat them.
Finally, add the bean sprouts and chives and stir fry for another minute before removing from the pan and serving.
Blue Butterfly Pea Rice Salad (Nasi Kerabu)
To Cook
In a rice cooker, add in rice, water, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and salt. Strain blue butterfly pea flowers, reserving the blue water. Add blue extract into the rice cooker and cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.
To make the sambal, blend the chillies together with sugar. Alternatively, use a mortar and pestle. Transfer into a small bowl. Season with salt and lime juice to taste. Cover and set aside.
For the fish and coconut floss, blend together the red onion and lemongrass into a fine paste. In a dry pan, add the onion and lemongrass paste with the mackerel and shredded coconut. Cook on medium heat until the mackerel dries and turns into a floss. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl for the salad, combine the ingredients.
To assemble, line a plate with banana leaves. Place blue rice in the centre of the plate, and arrange sambal, fish and coconut floss, salad, fried chicken, fish sausage, prawn crackers and salted egg around. Serve immediately.
Blue Butterfly Pea Nasi Lemak
To Cook
Start by preparing the coconut rice. Wash the rice and place in a large saucepan and add the salt, ginger, pandan leaves, coconut milk, and water. Cook all the ingredients in a rice cooker.
When the rice is done, discard the garlic, ginger and pandan leaves, and then fluff up the rice. Divide into 2 equal portions. Add My Blue Tea Blue Butterfly Pea Flower Powder to one and mix well. Combine both rices together.
For the sambal, blend the chilli paste, garlic, ginger, shallots, and ¼ cup water in a blender to a smooth paste.
Heat the peanut oil in a wok or skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the sambal paste and stir fry for 10 mins, or until fragrant and the oil separates. Add the onion and cook for another 5 mins or until soft. Add the tamarind paste and remaining ½ cup water and mix well to combine with the paste.
Taste the sambal and add more sugar or salt if needed. Remove from heat.
To serve, line a plate with a banana leaf. Place about 1 cup of the cooked coconut rice in the middle of the leaf. Place about 3 tbsp of sambal, a few slices of cucumber, half a hard-boiled egg, 1 tbsp of peanuts and fried anchovies around the rice. Serve warm.