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.
Seafood
Soft Shell Crab Hand Roll
To Prep
Add the sushi vinegar to the cooked sushi rice and gentle fold in to the rice until well incorporated.
Combine 125 g of tempura flour and ice water together in a mixing bowl and lightly stir them together. Don’t over mix as pockets of flour will make the batter airy. Pour the remaining 50 g of flour in to a separate bowl.
To Cook
Heat the oil to about 180°C, then dredge the crab halves one by one in the tempura flour, then into the batter and fry till golden brown. Let cool on paper towels to drain the excess oil.
To Make the Roll
Halve the seaweed sheets. Place sushi rice and then the lettuce, cucumber and half a crab onto one side of nori.
Fold the nearest corner of the nori over the filling and start to shape.
The hand roll should be shaped cone shaped to stop any rice from falling out.
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.
Prawn in Yellow Coconut Curry (Kari Udang)
To Cook
In the mortar pestle, pound chili, onion, garlic and turmeric. Then transfer ingredients to the pot.
Add some water and lemongrass and cook for 5 minutes.
Add in coconut milk, green beans, tomato and salt. Bring this to a boil and add prawns. Boil for about 4 mins and serve hot with rice.
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.
Eggs with Fermented Shrimp (Cincalok Omelette)
To Prep
Drain excess liquid from the 2 tbsp of cincalok. Then thinly sliced the red onion. Deseed the red chilli and thinly slice.
Crack 5 large eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk. Add in the drained cincalok and ¼ tsp pepper. Mix well.
To Cook
In a pan, heat oil and saute chilli and red onions until soft.
Then pour in egg mixture. When the base of the egg is set and firm, flip over to cook the other side.
Dish out when omelette is cooked on both sides. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with lime and sambal belachan.
Chinese Omelette (Foo Yong Tan)
To Prep
In a bowl, crack the eggs and beat with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the oil, into the egg mixture, stir thoroughly and make sure all ingredients are combined well.
To Cook
Heat up 3 tbsp of oil in a wok or a pan over high heat. When the oil is fully heated, add the egg mixture into the pan, keeping the diameter of the omelette to about 12cm wide.
The omelette should be thicker in the centre, therefore use a pair of chopsticks to move and gather the beansprouts and other ingredients to the middle of the omelette. Let the omelette set, cooked until golden brown, for about 3 minutes before flipping it over. Fry the omelette until both sides are nicely puffed up.
Use the remaining egg mixture to make a total of 3 omelettes using the same steps. Serve immediately.
Vietnamese Squid Salad
To Prep
Pound chillies and garlic together then add fish sauce, vinegar, lime juice and sugar. Mix well until sugar is dissolved.
Add tomatoes and onion and set aside for 1 hr.
Wash and clean the squid tubes, and cut into 1.5cm rings.
To Cook
Bring 6 cups of water and a pinch of salt to the boil. Add the squid and cook for 5 mins until soft and tender.
Toss with the prepared dressing and garnish with the hot mint leaves before serving.
Spicy Vegetable Soup (Gang Liang)
To Prep
Pound the white pepper, garlics, shallots and chillies in a mortar and pestle until smooth. Add the remaining paste ingredients and pound until smooth.
To Cook
Pour water into a pot and bring to boil. Add in the paste and simmer for a few mins.
Add in the vegetables, from the longest cooking time to the ones that cook fast. Cook until almost done.
Add in the prawns and cook until all ingredients are cooked through. Add the fish sauce to taste.
Remove from heat, add lemon basils and serve hot.
Stir Fried Green Beans with Minced Meat, Preserved Radish and Dried Shrimps
To Cook
In a pot of boiling water, blanch the green beans for 1 min. Drain well and set aside.
Heat some oil in wok on medium, add the dried shrimps and fry until crispy and fragrant.
Add in the minced pork and stir well until cooked.
Add in the green beans and preserved radish, stir fry 1-2 mins until the beans are cooked. Remove from heat and serve.
Japanese Style Savoury Pancake (Monjayaki)
To Prep
Mix the flour, water and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, prepare and mix all other solid ingredients.
To Cook
Place the solid ingredients on the pan or hot plate. Cook and cut the ingredients at the same time with two teppanyaki grill spatulas.
Once the ingredients are cooked, form the ingredients into a donut shape, creating a circle in the middle, and then pour the mixed batter in the middle of the donut and bring to a boil.
Mix everything up to form a pancake and let it cook thoroughly.
Once cooked, add mayonnaise and tonkatsu sauce on top for extra flavour. Eat by scraping off pancake mixture with a small spatula, directly from the hot plate.