Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Seafood

Grilled Eel on Rice (Unagi Donburi)

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To Making the Sauce
Combine mirin and sake in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil to evaporate alcohol.
Add sugar and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Then add soy sauce and bring it to a boil. Then reduce heat and continue cooking on simmer for 10 mins, or until mixture thickens. Turn off the heat to cool it down.

To Prep the Unagi
Preheat your oven to broil at 290°C for 3 mins. Meanwhile, cut unagi in half to fit inside your serving bowls. Line the baking sheet with aluminium foil and brush oil lightly
Put the baking sheet in the middle rack of your oven, and broil on high for 5-7 mins.
After 7 mins or so, take it out and brush the sauce over.
Continue to broil for another 30-60 secs until you see bubbles on top of unagi.
Serve unagi on top of rice and pour/brush more sauce. Serve immediately.
Tip: Use pre-made/frozen unagi from Asian grocers to shave off half the cooking time!

Prosperity Treasure Pot (Pun Choy)

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For the Braised Pork
Blanch pork trotter in water and 3 slices of ginger for 5 mins. This will lessen the porky smell. Drain and rinse the pork. Set aside.
Rub salt and dark soy sauce on pork trotter.
In a wok, heat 2 tbsp oil and sear all sides of the pork trotter until browned and set aside.
In the same wok, pan-fry shiitake mushrooms and dried oysters for 1-2 mins and set aside.
Prepare a pressure cooker. Add pork trotter, shiitake mushrooms, dried oysters and all the remaining ingredients. Fill pressure cooker with water enough to immerse the pork. Seal the lid and cook on high for 30-40 mins and until sauce thickens slightly. Add in the black moss fungus and stir.
Taste test and adjust with more rock sugar or soy sauce if necessary.

For the Seafood Vegetables
In a small pot, fill half full with water and bring to boil. Add Shaoxing wine, spring onions and ginger slices. Keep boiling for another 5 mins.
Add prawns and scallops to the pot to poach for about 2-3 mins. Drain prawns and scallops and set aside.
In another pot, bring chicken stock, wombok and daikon to boil then simmer until daikon is tender. Remove wombok and daikon from the pot and set aside.
With the chicken stock still boiling, add abalone into the pot to cook for 1 min and set aside. Then, blanch broccoli until tender and set aside.

To assemble the Pun Choy
Prepare a large pot, about 28-30cm in diameter and 10-15 cm in depth.
Layer the base with wombok. Save some to place on top with the other ingredients.
Carefully arrange the rest of the ingredients around the pot. There are no set rules, but you’d want to display all the ingredients in their full glory.
Lastly, get your loved ones together and dig in!

Lotus Root Soup (Leng Ngau Tong)

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To Cook
Rinse dried cuttlefish.
In a medium pot, fill half-full with water, add pork bones and bring to boil. Once boiled, drain the bones and wash any dark marrow or coagulated blood off from the pork with cold water. This helps to reduce scum appearing on top of the surface of the soup.
Then fill a pot with 2.5L of water, add in blanched pork bones, lotus root, red dates, raw peanuts and dried cuttlefish. Bring contents to boil.
Once boiling, reduce heat to low and allow soup to simmer for 2-3 hrs.
Skim off any scum appearing on top of the surface.
Taste test and season with salt.
Serve hot in individual bowls.

Spicy Grilled Shrimp Skewers (Gochujang Saewu Gui)

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To Prep
Soak wooden skewers in water while preparing the prawns. Rinse the prawns and drain. Thread the prawns on to the skewers.
Mix all the marinade ingredients well in a bowl.
Spoon (or brush) the marinade over the prawns to coat evenly. Let stand for 20 to 30 mins.

To Cook
Preheat a lightly oiled grill. Grill the prawns over moderate heat until just cooked through, 2 to 3 mins each side. Do not overcook. Baste the prawns with any remaining sauce while grilling. You can also cook the prawns in a grill pan over medium-high heat. Garnish with spring onions or chives.

Japanese Grilled Squid (Ikayaki)

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To Prep
To prepare the marinade, combine soy sauce, aka miso, mirin, sake, ginger and sancho pepper in a large bowl, and mix well.
Add in the squid, and spoon the marinade over to coat well. Set aside to marinate for 15 mins.
When it’s time to cook, separate squid from the liquids, but reserve the marinade for later use.

To Cook
Cooking on a grill plate: Heat a well-oiled grill plate over stovetop. When grill plate is hot, place squid on the grill to cook for about 12-15 mins, turning occasionally, and glazing the squid with marinade. Cooking time will vary a little according to the size of the squid.
Cooking on a pan: Heat a well-oiled pan over medium-high heat. Add squid to cook on pan for about 4-5 mins on each side, turning occasionally. Add the marinade and cook a further 1-2 mins until the sauce thickens.
To serve, slice the squid into rings and place on serving plate. Add a dash of sansho before serving, and a lemon wedge on the side.
Squeeze lemon over hot squid and enjoy ikayaki with a cold beer!

Green Papaya Salad with Dried Shrimp (Som Tum)

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To Prep
Place the garlic and chilli in a mortar and use the pestle to crush.
Add the shrimp and long beans and pound a few times to bruise the beans.
Add the peanuts and pound a few more times.
Add the palm sugar and lightly grind until it has dissolved, then add the lime juice and fish sauce.
Add the cherry tomatoes and pound lightly.
Add the papaya and pound lightly, then mix well with a spoon.
Dish out and serve.

Stir-fry Lotus Root with Mixed Vegetables (Chap Chai)

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To Cook
Heat up wok, add oil and stir fry garlic until fragrant.
Add in lotus root and carrots and stir-fry for 2-3 min.
Stir in black fungus and sugar snap peas and fry for another 1-2 mins.
Stir in soy sauce, chicken stock and Shaoxing wine. Add in scallops and stir-fry for a further 2 mins. Do not overcook the scallops as they cook very fast.
Dish out and serve with steamed rice.

Simmered Prawns (Ebi No Umani)

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To Cook
In a medium saucepan, combine ½ cup sake, 2 tbsp mirin, and ½ cup dashi. Then, bring to boil.
Once boiling, lower the heat to simmer and place the shrimp in the sauce. Simmer for 4-5 mins, skimming while cooking on low heat.
Once it’s cooked, immediately transfer the shrimp to a container, saving the cooking liquid.
Strain the cooking liquid, preferably over coffee filter or super fine mesh strainer.
Cover and soak shrimp in liquid for a few hours (at least) or overnight. Serve it at room temperature.

California Crab Maki Roll

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To Prep the Fillings
Firstly, cut avocado into half, pit and scoop out with a spoon and slice to 0.5cm thick slices. Squeeze lemon juice over avocado to prevent browning.
Then cut cucumber into thin long strips, and slice to remove cucumber seeds.
In a bowl, add crab meat and Japanese mayonnaise, and mix well.
Trim nori sheet according to intended size of the California Crab Maki Roll.

Assembling the sushi:
To prevent rice from sticking to the bamboo mat, wrap mat with cling film.
Tip: Also, rub both hands with mayonnaise before handling rice to prevent them from sticking.
On the bamboo mat, lay one nori sheet down and spread about 1 cup of rice evenly onto the nori sheet. Use your fingers to press and push to rice to form an even layer of rice.
Sprinkle the rice with toasted sesame seeds.
Then, turn the nori sheet over so that the rice now faces down towards the bamboo mat. Align the edge of the nori sheet to the bottom of the bamboo mat.
Add crab meat and arrange avocado and cucumber in a row, close to the bottom of the nori sheet.
Then, pull up the bottom edge of the mat, while using your fingers to roll and tuck the fillings in. Lift the mat slightly to go over the roll, and continue rolling forward while keeping a firm hold.
Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into equal portions. To ensure a clean cut every time, keep a damp cloth handy and clean the knife after every cut.
Serve up your California Crab Maki Rolls on a platter or, stack them up and decorate your very own Sushi Christmas Tree as shown in the video below!

Rice Crackers with Minced Chicken Dip (Khaw Tang Na Tang)

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To Cook
Heat oil and fry rice crackers a few pieces at a time over medium flame till crispy and golden in colour. Set aside and drain.
Pound together chilli, coriander root, garlic and peppercorns till fine.
Heat coconut milk in a pot but do not bring to a boil. Add pounded mixture, minced chicken and prawns. Stir to avoid lumps.
Add sugar and fish sauce. When cooked, add peanuts and shallots.
Garnish with parsley before serving.

Spicy Grilled Shrimp Salad (Pla Goong)

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To Cook
Combine the dressing sauce ingredients and mix well.
Brush a bit of oil on both sides of the prawns and then grill the prawns for a couple mins each side until they’re cooked through.
Combine the chopped lettuce, mint and coriander leaves, shallots, red onion, lemongrass and chilli peppers and toss through with the dressing.
Finally, add the grilled shrimp to the bowl and toss everything together.

Grilled Lobster with Spicy Basil Garlic Sauce

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To Cook
Heat oil in a wok or saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and both types of chillies and stir fry until fragrant. Combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce and basil and stir fry for a further minute until well mixed. Add the cornflour mixture and cook until the sauce is thickened. Remove and set aside.
Rub the salt and pepper onto the lobsters. Grill on charcoal, pan grill or under the broiler for several minutes on each side until cooked. Transfer on serving platter.
Spread the spicy basil garlic sauce over the grilled seafood. Squeeze lime over lobster. Serve hot and garnish with crispy fried basil leaves and fresh coriander.