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.
Rice
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.
Crab Fried Rice (Kani Ankake)
To Cook
Heat 1 tbsp of the sesame oil in a wok over high heat. Add the eggs and gently scramble until cooked. Remove the eggs and set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp of the sesame oil in a wok over high heat. Add the spring onions and cook, stirring constantly, for about 30 secs or until fragrant.
Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 secs. Add the soy sauce, salt, pepper, and cooked eggs, cooking while stirring constantly for another 30 secs. Add the remaining 1 tbsp of sesame oil and cook, stirring constantly, for 10 more secs. Turn off the heat.
To plate the rice, arrange 4 plates, and ready 4 small bowls to serve as molds (rice bowls are ideal). Spoon ¼ of the cooked rice into each bowl, then quickly flip the bowl over, and rest it onto the plate rice side down. Do not remove the bowl for now; it will keep the rice warm. Repeat with the remaining 3 bowls. Set aside.
To Cook Ankake
Combine the crab, chicken stock, lettuce, ginger, salt, and pepper in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let the ankake simmer for 2 mins over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the potato starch mixture and cook, stirring constantly, for about 15 secs. Remove from the heat.
Removing the bowls covering the rice. Pour about ¼ of the ankake either alongside each serving of rice or over it, as you desire. Serve immediately.
Thai Chicken Rice (Khao Man Gai)
To Make the Chicken and Broth:
Pour 10-12 cups of water in a large pot and bring to boil. Add salt, coriander roots and the chicken. Add more water if needed to cover the chicken, then lower the heat to simmer about 30-45 mins or until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove the chicken and set aside to rest. De-bone and slice to pieces to serve.
Strain the chicken broth and reserve for later.
To Make the Rice:
In a rice cooker, place the rice and add the fried garlic, ginger, and bruised cilantro roots on top. Add additional salt (adjust from chicken broth’s taste) or ground white pepper if desired.
Add chicken broth (adjust if needed) and cook the rice in your usual fashion until it is done.
To Make the Dipping Sauce:
Mix all sauce ingredients until well combined (adjust taste as needed).
To Make the Soup:
Heat the chicken broth and water over medium heat.
Add in the chopped vegetable and cook about 10 mins or until tender. Adjust the taste with fish sauce if needed and serve with chopped cilantro.
To Serve:
Plate a serve of rice with sliced chicken at the side.
Serve with the soup, dipping sauce, cucumber slices, and garnish with a sprig of coriander.
Vegan Tempura Sushi Burger
To Cook
Add sauce ingredients into a bowl and mix together until fully combined. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring to avoid burning. Take off heat when sauce is reduced by half. Set aside to cool.
Add sushi seasoning to cooked brown rice, mix and sit for 15 mins.
Add vegetables into a large mixing bowl. Add in ½ cup flour and salt, and toss until coated thoroughly.
In a separate bowl, prepare the tempura batter by incorporating the remaining plain flour, potato starch and ice water. Then add the batter with vegetable mix, tossing to combine.
Heat the vegetable oil in a wok. Spooning bits of the vegetable batter into the oil, using a chopstick to shape it into a round form.
Remove from oil when golden and place on wire rack or drain on paper towel.
To shape sushi buns, spoon 2-3 tbsp of sushi rice into an egg ring and press to mold into shape. Place sushi buns on heated pan to sear the surface.
Assemble the burger by adding wasabi, pickled ginger, cucumber and desired amount of sauce before topping off black sesame seeds on top of sushi bun.
Fried Rice Flour Cake (Bot Chien)
To Cook
In a microwavable bowl, combine the rice flour, tapioca starch, water, vegetable oil and salt. Stir well to dissolve. Set aside for 30 mins to reduce the strong flour smell.
Before putting it into the microwave, stir up the batter again. Microwave for 2 mins. Take out and stir well, then microwave for 1 min. Repeat.
Transfer the paste into an 18x18cm (7×7 inch) square mold greased with some vegetable oil. Flatten the surface with a spoon or spatula. Steam the paste for 30-40 mins until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool and refrigerate overnight.
Remove the cake from the mold, cut into rectangular cubes in the size of a domino—about 5x2x1cm (2x1x0.5 inch). Divide into 2 portions for each serving.
Mix each rice flour cake portion with 1 tsp dark soy sauce and set aside.
To make the dipping sauce, combine soy sauce, sugar and vinegar together and stir well to dissolve. Add some chopped chilli if desired.
Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the rice flour cake cubes and pan-fry both sides 7-8 mins each or until crispy and golden brown.
Crack 2 eggs into the pan and break the yolks to bind the rice flour cubes together. Top up with 2-3 tbsp chopped spring onion and cook for 1-2 mins until the egg is slightly set. Flip rice cakes over and cook other side for 1 min.
9. Transfer to a serving plate and top up with the pickles. Drizzle some sauce over the plate, mix well and serve.
Shanghainese Shaomai with Sticky Rice
To Prepare Overnight
Soak the glutinous rice in cold water for about 8-10 hour.
To Cook
Drain the water from the glutinous rice. Put baking paper or a similar substitute on a steamer and spread the glutinous rice over it. Steam for about 15-20 minutes until it has fully cooked.
Remove the glutinous rice and cover with a wet cloth.
Heat oil in a pan and add the pork until it has browned.
Add dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and sugar and cook for few minutes.
Add enough water to cover the pork and ginger and cook for few minutes.
Add the glutinous rice until the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from heat and mix in scallions. Set aside.
Place the filling in the centre of the wrapper, then pleat and shape the shaomai.
Repeat until all the filling is used.
Steam them for 10 minutes. Serve with hot.
Stir Fried Rice with Fish
To Cook
Pan fry fish in oil until golden brown and cooked.
Add leeks, carrots, oyster sauce and fine shrimp sauce. Stir fry until fragrant. Toss in cooked rice. Stir well until heated through. Serve.
Lee Kum Kee Fried Rice
To Cook
Heat oil in a wok and stir fry shallots until fragrant. Add in eggs and stir fry until half cooked. Toss in rice, char siu, oyster sauce, soy sauce and spring onions. Stir fry until well combined and heated through.
Dish out and serve.
Rice Dumplings with Mushroom and Pork
To Cook
Mix pork belly with marinade and leave overnight in fridge. Wash and soak black glutinous rice overnight. Drain. Wash and soak glutinous rice and mung beans separately in water for about 2 hrs. Drain. Mix black glutinous rice and glutinous rice with seasoning mix. Mix mung beans with sesame oil.
Soak dumpling leaves and wrapping straws in water for 2 hrs. Boil for 10 mins before use. Drain.
Use dumpling leaves to form a hollow. Spread a layer of mixed glutinous rice over dumpling leaves. Spread a layer of mung beans on rice. Put 1 heaped tbsp Lee Kum Kee XO Sauce, pork belly, some peanuts, some dried shrimps, 1 salted egg yolk and 1 Chinese mushroom on mung beans as filling. Spread another layer of mung beans and mixed rice to cover the filling. Cover the dumpling with another dumpling leaf. Fold the leaves to form dumpling shape. Wrap the two ends with straw to secure. Repeat the steps to form 10 dumplings altogether.
Put all dumplings in a big pot of boiling water. Ensure all dumplings are immersed in water. Cook for about 2½ hrs until dumplings are cooked. Drain.
Remove dumpling leaves. Serve hot with either sweet soy sauce or sugar.
Vegan Buddha Bowl
To Cook
Cover tofu with paper towel to draw out excess liquid for 15 mins, and then cut into small cubes. In a medium-sized bowl, combine cornflour, pepper and salt. Heat oil in a saucepan or pot over medium-high heat. Dip tofu cubes into cornflour mixture and then carefully drop into hot oil. Once golden brown, remove from oil and place onto a plate lined with paper towel.
Combine soy sauce and sliced chillies in a small bowl and set aside.
To assemble, add cooked brown rice into a bowl. Top with carrot, grilled bok choy, cucumber, salt and pepper tofu, avocado and radish. Serve with chilli soy sauce.
Korean Buddha Bowl
To Prep
Combine soy sauce, sugar, garlic, sesame oil and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Add in steak and coat in marinade. Cover bowl in cling wrap and set aside in fridge to marinate for at least 1 hr or overnight.
To Cook
After steak has marinated, heat oil in a pan over high heat. Once oil has come to temperature, reduce to medium-low heat and place steak in pan. Cook for 30 secs on each side, or until browned. Continue to cook, turning every 20 secs until cooked to desired doneness. Remove from heat and allow to rest on a plate for 5 mins before slicing.
To assemble, add cooked white rice into a bowl. Top with carrot, red cabbage, kimchi, sliced steak and fried egg. Drizzle over sriracha, and garnish with sesame seeds and spring onion before serving.