Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Rice

Vegan Laksa

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To Prep
Add all of the paste ingredients in a food processor and process until a fine paste has formed.

To Cook
Heat up the oil in a large pan and fry the paste over a low heat for 10 mins, stirring frequently.
Add in the vegetable stock, salt and the green parts of the lemongrass and mix. Cover the pan with a lid and bring to a simmer.
After the broth has simmered for 30 mins, remove the lemongrass and then stir in the coconut milk.
Add the seitan and tofu puffs, then stir through and cook for 3 mins.
Add in the sugar and lime juice, and season to taste with salt.
To serve, arrange the noodles in a bowl and ladle over broth. Top with tofu puffs, seitan, bok choy, beansprouts and chilli, and serve with a lime wedge.

Mum’s Nasi Lemak

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To Cook Rice
Coconut rice – Wash and rinse rice. Add the coconut milk, water and a pinch of salt. Add the ginger, salt, pandan leaves into the rice cooker and set it to cook.

To Make Tamarind Juice
Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 5-10 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind to extract the flavour into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.

To Cook Sambal Ikan Bilis
Rinse the ikan bilis and let it dry. Fry them until they turn light brown and separate them into two plates as you will need some to make the sambal ikan bilis and another portion to serve fried ikan billis.
In a blender or mortar and pestle, blend or pound the toasted belacan together with shallots, garlic, and dried chillies. Set aside.
Heat some oil in a pan and add in the onion rings until fragrant. Stir in the spice paste and fry until fragrant. Add in the ikan billis and stir well. Add tamarind juice, salt, and sugar. Simmer on low heat until the gravy thickens. Set aside.

To Serve
Optional: Place banana leaf on to the plate before plating up the rice.
Plate up the coconut rice and scoop some sambal ikan billis on top of the rice. Serve with cucumber slices, fried ikan billis, toasted peanuts and hard boiled eggs.

Tip
After rinsing, pat dry the ikan bilis with a kitchen paper towel, and spread out onto a plate. Place the ikan bilis in a microwave oven for 1 min on high. Give this a toss to mix, then repeat until the fish is dry. This will result in a crispier ikan bilis.
If using a food processor to grind the paste, adding some oil to the shallots, garlic and chillies can help these ingredients to blend easily. Do not add water, this will affect the quality and taste of the sambal.
Immediately plunging hard boiled eggs from the boiling water into an ice bath will prevent a grey layer from forming around the yolk.

Temari Sushi

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To Make Sushi Rice
In a bowl, combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt and mix well.
Pour into hot cooked rice and mix until well combined.
Roll the rice into rice balls.

To Make Temari Sushi
On a clean working bench, lay a sheet of plastic wrap and place the topping ingredient at the center. Dap a little wasabi on the sashimi, then place a rice ball on top.
Wrap the plastic firmly to form a ball shape. Repeat for the remaining toppings and rice balls.
Garnish the temari sushi with edible flowers or other seasonings to add more depth to the flavours. Serve with wasabi and soy sauce.

Sushi Teddy Bear

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To Cook
Combine the dashi stock, soy sauce, cooking sake and mirin. Place the rice and seasoned dashi stock into rice cooker and cook with normal rice function.
When the rice is cooked, mix with a rice spatula so that the flavoured rice is evenly mixed.

To Make Sushi Bears
For each sushi bear, scoop ⅓ of the rice into the bear onigiri mould, close the lid and shake well until the bear shape is formed. Place the sushi bear on a plate.
For the ears, use a bubble tea straw to press onto the sliced cheese to create a circle. Then use a toothpick to remove the cheese from the straw. Repeat once to make two circles.
With a normal straw, press on the edge of the cheese circle to create a crescent shape. Use a toothpick to spread some mayonnaise as glue on the cheese and place onto the bear’s ears.
For the face, use a pair of scissors to cut an oval shape from the cheese, place onto the bottom part of the bear’s face.
For the nose, use a normal straw to press onto the sliced ham to create a circle. Alternatively, cut out a circle from nori sheet as the nose. With a tweezer, pick up the ham and dip a little mayonnaise on the back and stick onto the top position of the oval cheese.
For the eyes, use a panda nori puncher to punch the nori sheet. Keep the panda eyes and discard rests. Alternatively, use scissors to cut the nori sheet. With a tweezer, pick up a nori eye and dip a little mayonnaise at the back, place onto the sushi bear. Repeat for the other eye.
For the mouth, use a smiley nori puncher to punch the nori sheet. Keep the smile and discard the rests. (Alternatively, use scissors to cut the nori sheet.) With a tweezer, pick up the smile and dip a little mayonnaise at the back, place the smile underneath the nose. You can play with different positions and angles to create different look!
Serve the sushi bear on a plate or in lunch boxes.

Korean Red Bean Doughnuts (Chapssal Donuts)

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To Prep
Grease 2 large plates or trays and set aside.
Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl and mix until they are well combined.
Divide the paste into 10-15 equal-sized pieces and roll in to ball shapes. Place them on one greased plate or tray and cover with cling wrap.
Sieve the flours into a large mixing bowl and mix together before adding the butter and hot water and kneading to make one large piece of dough.
Divide the dough into 10-15 equal-sized balls before place onto the second greased plate or tray. Cover with a damp tea towel.
Roll out one ball of dough and wrap it around one ball of the paste and seal the dough around it. Repeat with the rest of the dough and paste.

To Cook
Pour enough oil in a pot to fry the doughnuts and heat it up to 150°C.
Place a batch of the doughnuts into the pot and fry until golden brown in colour. Use a spoon to stir occasionally to ensure that the balls cook evenly and don’t stick to the bottom.
When the doughnuts have cooked, transfer them from the oil to some paper towels to drain while they cool down.
When the doughnuts have cooled down, coat them with caster sugar and serve!

Omelette Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng Pattaya)

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To Prep
Season the chicken pieces with ¼ tsp of salt. Mix well and set aside.

To Cook Fried Rice
Heat cooking oil in a wok on high until smoking hot. Add in the garlics and shallots, sauté until fragrant and lightly browned.
Add in the chicken pieces and carrots, stir for about 2 mins until the meat is cooked and carrots are soft.
Add in the ketchup, fish sauce, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Add in the rice and stir until all ingredients are well combined. Remove from heat and pack the rice into bowls.

To Make Omelette
Add the omelette seasonings and cornflour mixture into the beaten eggs, mix well.
In a non-stick fry pan, heat oil over medium heat. Hold the pan away from heat and pour in the eggs. Swirl the pan to make the omelette thin and large. Place the pan back on the heat and cook on low for 20 secs.
Turn off the heat and cover the pan and cook for 1 min.

To Wrap Fried Rice
Place a bowl of rice at the center of the omelette, fold the 4 edges to wrap the rice.
Hold a plate over the omelette fried rice and flip it over.
Serve wrapped or cut open, garnish with coriander and chillies.

Rice Cooker Mushroom Rice (Shiitake Gohan)

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To Prep
In a saucepan, soak shiitake mushrooms in 1 cup water for min. 30 mins.
Remove the mushrooms from the water, reserving the mushroom water in the saucepan.
Slice the shiitake mushrooms, then place back in the reserved water. Add mirin, sake and Japanese soy sauce into the saucepan and combine.

To Cook
Place soaked rice in a rice cooker. Pour the dashi and mushroom stock with the mushrooms over the rice and stir.
Cook the rice according to the manufacturer’s instructions of your rice cooker.
Once cooked, fluff the rice with a fork or spoon.
Garnish with spring onion and serve.

5 Ingredient Kimchi Pork Rice

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To Cook
Add rice into the rice cooker and pour over water.
Add chicken powder and stir to dissolve, then add pork belly and kimchi.
Cook the rice according to the manufacturer’s instructions of your rice cooker.
Once cooked, fluff up with a fork or spoon.
To serve, portion rice into a bowl and top with extra kimchi.

Nyonya Rice Dumplings (Bak Chang)

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To Prep
Soaked the dried bamboo leaves in water over 3 days, ensuring you change the water at the end of every day. Drain before use.
Soaked the glutinous rice overnight, then drain well.

To Prep the Rice
Heat oil in a wok and add shallots, fry on low heat until caramelized and fragrant.
Add the rest of the ingredients and fry until all the rice is well coated with the seasoning and fragrant oil.

To Make the Meat Filling
Bring 3L water to a boil and add pork belly until it is cooked through, about 5 mins.
Remove the meat, drain and then cut into chucks. Place a third of the meat into a food processor and pulse-blend to roughly mince the meat. Set aside and repeat for the rest of the meat. Set aside the cooking liquid for later.
Alternatively, cut the meat into tiny cubes.
Heat oil in a wok and add shallots, fry on low heat until caramelized and fragrant.
Add the meat, mushrooms, winter melon, coriander powder and seasoning, and stir. Add a few tbsps of the cooking liquid as you stir-fry the filling, ensuring the mixture is moist. Let it to simmer over low heat for 10 mins, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and transfer filling into a bowl. Set aside to cool.

Wrapping the Dumplings
Form a cone with 2 bamboo leaves. Insert a piece of pandan leaf against the cone.
Scoop a heaped tbsp of rice into the cone, and using the back of a spoon, create a well.
Scoop a heaped tablespoon of meat filling onto the rice and top up with another scoop of rice.
Fold the top of the leaves over the rice, and around the cone to neaten and secure the rice dumpling within the cone. It should look like a pyramid. Secure with kitchen string.
Boil a large pot of lightly salted water. Drop the dumplings in gently and boil for at least 1 hr, 3 hrs is preferred.
When cooked, remove the dumplings from the water and let it drain overnight.
To serve, re-steam until warmed through.
These dumplings can be frozen for months. To serve, thaw and re-steam for 10 minutes.

Indonesian Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng)

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To Cook
Pour 1 tbsp oil into a non-stick pan and cook the diced chicken.
Add garlic paste and stir well until chicken is cooked and fragrant.
Beat 1 egg into the pan, then add in the vegetables.
Stir well until the vegetables are cooked.
Add the cooked rice, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, fish oil, tomato sauce and sesame oil and stir to combine.
Serve with fried egg, prawn crackers, sliced tomato and lettuce.

Pineapple Fried Rice with Prawns

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To Prep
Mix all of the seasoning mix in a small bowl and set aside.

To Cook
Pour the vegetable oil into the wok.
Add the white onion into the hot oil and mix it. Then, add garlic and prawns into the pan.
Keep stirring until the prawns turn pink, then add the curry powder and cook for 40 secs.
Add carrot in and mix all together, then add fresh capsicum and fresh pineapple. Keep stirring until all of the ingredients are cooked through.
Add the rice into the wok then pour all seasoning on top of the rice.
Mix and stir for a few mins until the rice is mixed in with all of the ingredients.
Add the spring onion, remove from heat and mix all ingredients together.
Put the pineapple fried rice onto a serving plate, then top it with roasted cashew nuts, pork floss and garnish with spring onion, coriander and sliced chillies.
Enjoy your pineapple fried rice with prawns.

Shanghai Pork with Rice & Egg

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To Cook
Heat 60ml of peanut oil in wok over high heat and add peppercorns, red and green chillies, spring onions and fry for 3 mins.
Add pork mince and fry until browned.
Add and stir through light soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, chilli garlic sauce, black vinegar and tahini, and simmer until thickened and most of the liquid has evaporated.
Add 20ml of peanut oil to another pan on high heat to fry eggs.
Heat remaining oil in a pan. When oil is hot, carefully place one sheet of rice paper in oil and remove once curled. Repeat for the second rice paper .
Place fried rice paper on each plate, divide rice between serving plates, top with pork mixture, top with fried eggs and scatter with remaining spring onions and add a few drops of sesame oil over the dish.