To Cook
Make the batter by whisking together the flour, yamaimo, eggs, and dashi until smooth.
Brush sesame oil on the insides of the takoyaki pan to generously coat the entire surface, and then place the pan over low heat. Preheat for about 2 mins.
When the pan is ready, pour batter into each mould to fill in three-fourths full. To each mould, add about 2 pieces of octopus and a pinch of spring onions. Add more batter to each mould until they are full. Make sure to not overflow the moulds.
Cook for about 3 mins. Carefully dip each takoyaki using chopsticks or a skewer.
Cook for about 3 more minutes. At this point, the takoyaki should be nicely browned all over and is springy and soft in the inside.
Use chopsticks or a skewer to transfer the takoyaki to a plate.
Drizzle okonomiyaki sauce over the takoyaki, garnish with aonori and bonito flakes, and serve immediately.
Seafood
Shortcut Tom Yum Noodle Soup
To Cook
Bring water to the boil. Add noodles and cook for 4 mins.
Add contents of flavouring sachet, tomato, mushroom and prawns; cook for 1 min.
Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with coriander. Serve.
Fried Dace with Noodles
To Cook
Soak noodles in boiling water until soft.
Place fried dace in a bowl. Cover and microwave until warm.
Heat oil in wok, add garlic and fry vegetables until cooked.
Place noodles on a plate, top with dace and arrange vegetables around dace.
Fried Scallop Wontons
To Prep
Combine soy sauce, green onion, palm sugar, coriander and wasabi paste.
Place a wonton wrapper on the palm of the hand. Top with one scallop, then spoon over a little soy sauce mixture.
Brush water around the edge of the wrapper. Press edges to seal. Set aside. Continue with remaining ingredients.
To Cook
Heat oil in wok. Fry wontons, a few at a time for 2-3 mins, turning halfway through cooking.
Drain on paper. Garnish with coriander and serve with extra soy sauce.
Top Hats (Nyonya Pie Tee)
To Prep
Mix the rice flour, bread flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Make a “well” in the flour with your hands and add in the water, oil and egg. Mix into a smooth batter (which should thinly coat the back of a spoon), rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.
To Cook
Heat up a pot of oil, drop in a little batter, when the batter floats the oil is ready.
Dip the pie tee mould into the hot oil for 10 seconds and let the oil drip off. Dip the mould into the batter (if you can hear a sizzling sound the mould is too hot, best is to let it cool down and start again). You can coat 1 time, 2 or 3 times if you want thicker pie tee’s.
Gently dip the battered mould into the hot oil (which should cover 90-95% of the mould). As the batter starts to cook, slowly lower the entire mould into the hot oil (oil will seep around the sides of the pie tee and the crispy top hat should drop off from the mould). If the top hat doesn’t drop off the mould, move it up and down in the oil a few times gently.
For the Pie Tee Filling
In pan over a medium heat, cook the shallots until they turn golden in colour.
Add in the shrimps and continue to cook until they’ve turned pink, before adding in the jicama and carrots. Season with salt, sugar and pepper and continue to cook for another 5 mins.
When the vegetables have cooked, remove from the heat and set aside.
In a non-stick pan over a medium heat, add oil and the eggs and cook the omelette. When the omelette has been cooked, transfer it on to a surface to cool before cutting in to thin strips.
To Serve
In each of the hats, place a serving of the fillings along with some of the omelette strips. Garnish with chillies or spring onions and serve!
Malaysian Papaya Salad (Kerabu Bok Kua)
To Prep
In a large bowl, mix all the dressing ingredients.
Add in the papaya, dried shrimps and shallots; mix well and adjust the flavour accordingly.
Rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Soft Tofu Soup (Sundubu)
To Cook
Start boiling a 1 litre pot or clay pot of water.
Combine the soup seasoning ingredients. Mix well and reserve.
Sprinkle salt on the soft tofu and let it absorb the salt for about 10 minutes.
Chop spring onions, red and green peppers. Set aside.
Wash and rinse oysters using salted water (1L water and 1 tbsp salt). Drain and remove any excess moisture. Set aside.
Let the pipi clams exude debris by soaking them in salted water (1L water and 1 tbsp salt). Set aside.
Add vegetable broth and all ingredients with seasoning to a clay pot and heat till boiling.
Add soft tofu, oysters and clams to the boiling clay pot. Continue boiling for 1 min so the flavours blend together making soft tofu soup.
Garnish the boiling soup with mushrooms, Korean Red Peppers and green pepper and spring onions.
Break the egg and add it to the boiling soup. Serve.
Sambal Ladies Fingers (Sambal Okra)
To Cook
Boil water in a pot and blanch the okra for about 3 mins. Drop them into a bowl of cold water to stop these from cooking further.
When these have cooled down a bit, slit the tip of the stalk, peel off the center and remove the seeds. This can take some practice as you want to create a pocket for the sambal to sit in, Try not to mutilate the okra too much.
Mix the dressing ingredients together and leave for 15 mins to dissolve the sugar.
To serve, stuff the okra with sambal.
Vermicelli Salad (Kerabu Bee Hoon)
To Cook
Prepare vermicelli as per instructions on package. Ensure that vermicelli is not overcooked, then refresh in cold water, drain and set aside.
Steam the prawns with their shells on for 10 mins until cooked and then peel off the shells. This helps as the prawns will not shrink.
In a big bowl, mix the shallots with the dressing and add in the vermicelli. When evenly mixed, add in prawns, half of the toasted groundnuts and kerisik.
Garnish with the remaining toasted groundnuts, coconut and curled coriander sprigs.
Abalone Porridge (Jeonbok Naejang Jook)
To Prep
Rinse the medium grain (calrose) rice and soak thoroughly in 950ml water for about 2 hrs at room temperature.
Pry the abalone from its shell using a spoon. Take a 1.5cm incision on the end of the abalone closest to the adductor muscle and remove the abalones tooth. Cut open the intestine and remove the debris.
Clean the abalone by rubbing it with salt. Rinse the abalone and separate the intestine. Cut the intestine into small pieces and thinly slice the abalone meat.
To Cook
Heat a flat pan over a medium heat and season with sesame oil. Add the sliced abalone meat and intestine to the pan and saute. Then, add rice and saute for about 1 minute.
Add 1.9L to the flat pan and increase to high heat to make the porridge.
Once the porridge starts boiling, lower to medium heat. Let the porridge continue to cook until the rice grains become extremely soft making the jeonbok naejang jook.
Transfer the jeonbok naejang jook to a serving bowl and garnish with pine nut powder. Serve with salt and soy sauce on the side.
Note: When buying abalone, ensure that they are still alive in their shell, stored on ice or it is still in the water. Make sure your abalone does not have any fishy smell as that is a sign it is not fresh. Quickly refrigerate them in the coldest part of the fridge and store them in a bowl and cover it with a wet cloth. Use within 24 hours.
Stuffed Squid with Lemongrass Pork and Vermicelli
To Cook
Season squids in marinade for 30 mins. In a separate bowl, mix pork, lemongrass, water chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms and seasoning mix until well combined. Add softened bean vermicelli, mix well and the filling is ready.
Stuff the squids with filling. Seal the opening of both squids with toothpicks. Place the squids on a steam proof dish and steam over high heat for 15 mins. Remove.
Coat cooked squids with Lee Kum Kee Chicken Marinade. Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry both squids slightly. Dish out.
Cut the stuffed squids into sections. In a saucepan, cook the sauce mix until thickened. Drizzle over the squids and serve.
Fried Rice with XO Sauce
To Cook
Place diced pork into a bowl and add in marinade ingredients. Mix well.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Add pumpkin and fry until cooked. Drain. Add oil in the pan and fry eggs. Toss in rice and fry until well combined. Dish out and set aside.
Add 2 tbsp oil and stir fry pork until cooked. Then, add mushrooms, prawns, scallops, Chinese broccoli and pumpkin. Stir fry for 2 mins. Mix in sauce ingredients and heat through.
Pour over fried rice and serve.