To Cook
In a sauce pan, bring water to the boil over medium heat.
Boil the prawns’ heads and peels for 2 mins and remove. Use only the stock.
Bring the stock to the boil, adding lemongrass for half a minute, then add mushroom, prawns, kaffir lime, fish sauce, lime juice and chilli.
Remove from heat and serve in soup bowls. Garnish with fresh coriander.
Seafood
Seafood San Choy Bow
To Prep
Cut the prawns in to small chunks and add them to a mixing bowl along with the marinade ingredients.
Add the shiitake mushrooms, carrots and water chestnuts in to the mixing bowl and let marinate for about 15 minutes.
To make the lettuce cups, remove the outer layer of the lettuce and cut out the stem of the lettuce.
Remove the leaves of the lettuce and trim them in to cup shapes with enough space to put the fillings in to them.
Store the trimmed leaves in a large bowl of cold water and keep cool until they are served.
To Cook
In a large pan or wok, add 1 tbsp of oil and saute the garlic and green onions until fragrant.
Add the marinated prawn mixture in to the pan and stir-fry until the prawn has cooked through.
Add in the Shaoxing wine and cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.
Add in the oyster and soy sauce and stir until well combined before adding the cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp of cold water.
Stir the cornflour mixture until the sauce begins to boil and thicken before removing from the pan.
To serve, place a couple of the lettuce leaves on to a plate and fill with the prawn filling.
Pad Thai with Prawns
To Cook
Blanch prawns in boiling water for 1 min. Drain and set aside.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan, add chopped onions and stir-fry on low heat until fragrant. Add Pad Thai noodles and stir-fry until softened, some water can be added.
Add Pad Thai Paste and stir to mix. Push the mixture to one side of the pan. Add 1 tbsp of oil, bring to medium heat and add the eggs.
Wait for 1 min for the eggs to set, then add the prawns; stir-fry until everything is well mixed in the pan.
Add beansprouts and Chinese leek and stir through before removing from heat. Garnish with ground roasted peanut before serving.
Indonesian Stir-Fry Seafood Noodle (Bakmi Goreng)
To Cook
Place noodles in a deep bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 2-3 mins until separated. Drain and set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil, pour in eggs to make an omelette. When cooked, slice and set aside.
In a bowl, mix together chilli sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil.
Heat remaining oil. Add garlic, stir-fry until fragrant. Add prawns and squid. Cook for 2 mins, or until prawns turn pink and squid curled up.
Add the bowl of mixed sauces, and then the mushrooms, cook for 2 mins.
Add the noodles and toss to coat the noodles in the sauce, ensuring all ingredients are well coated. Season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with sliced omelette and spring onion. Serve.
Tips
For any successful stir-fry, have all the ingredients prepared and sauces on ‘stand-by’. As food is cooked on high heat, the order of adding the raw ingredients into the hot pan is important so as not to undercook, nor overcook them.
For a vegetarian option, replace seafood with a variety of fresh mushrooms like oyster, brown, white, chanterelle and enoki to give both flavour and texture to the dish.
Chinese families often fry a bowl of finely chopped garlic in a cup of oil, until golden brown. Store in a jar, and drizzle over food as a finishing touch to dishes as you would with extra virgin olive oil. Or use this fragrant oil to fry your eggs.
Tempura with Wasabi Tartar Sauce
To Cook
Add tempura batter mix to cold water and whisk through, do not over mix. Coat your choice of ingredient in the batter and deep fry in hot oil (150˚C -180˚C) until golden brown.
Mix wasabi paste, mayonnaise, capers, gherkins and chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with assorted tempura, fish and chips or use as a dipping sauce.
Steamed Coral Cod with Goji on Lotus Leaf
To Prep
Score the fish by making 2 cuts on each side of the fish. Use 2 tbsp vegetable oil to brush over the fish.
To Cook
Line bamboo steamer with lotus leaf. Place fish on a lotus leaf and sprinkle goji berries on top of fish. Steam for 15 mins or until cooked.
Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in fry pan. Sauté ginger and spring onion. Add seasoning mix, stir through to combine well. Pour over the fish. Serve hot with steamed Jasmine rice.
Enjoy your Steamed Coral Cod recipe!
Stuffed Hairy Gourd in Oyster Sauce
To Cook
Cook hairy gourd in a pot of boiling water until tender. Drain and let cool.
Combine minced shrimp meat with marinade ingredients. Mix well. Dust the inner part of hairy gourds with corn starch and stuff with marinated shrimp.
Prepare a steamer over high heat. Steam hairy gourds for 8 mins. Remove from heat and discard excess juice.
Sauté mushrooms and pour in sauce mix ingredients. Stir and heat through. Pour over steamed hairy gourds and serve. Garnish with chopped spring onions and red chillies if desired.
Steamed Fish Cake
To Prep
Separate ½ cup coconut milk into small saucepan, mix with flour, stir until smooth, place over low heat until thickens. Remove from heat and set aside in a container for topping.
Mix light coconut milk with the curry paste in a mixing bowl. Stir well with wooden spatula, combine the fish, stir gently and slowly, pour coconut milk into the mixture little by little, keep stirring until the fish absorb the curry. Add beaten egg and fish sauce, stir through, and then ½ cup basil leaves and 1 tbsp kaffir lime until the mixture becomes smooth.
Put the vegetable or few basil leaves at the bottom of the prepared ramekins or bowls, place 4 tbsp of the fish curry mixture over the vegetable. Top with thick coconut milk and garnish with a little kaffir lime and red chilli.
To Cook
Place the bowls in the steamer, steam over boiling water at high heat for 20 mins or until cooked. Remove from heat.
Your Steamed Fish Cakes are ready!
Korean Soft Tofu Hotpot (Sundubu Jjigae)
To Cook
Heat cooking oil in a saucepan. Cook pork quickly for about 2 mins over medium heat. Add garlic and continue cooking for 10 secs.
Turn heat down to very low and add the chilli powder and chilli oil and cook for 2 mins. Stir well and make sure you don’t burn the chilli powder.
Add water and onion and bring it to a boil. Simmer soup for about 5-7 mins. Add in pipis and cook for about 2-3 mins until shells have opened.
Add the tofu with the rest of other ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer soup for about 1-2 mins and season with extra salt if necessary.
Add 1 egg yolk to soup towards the end of cooking time, careful not to stir yolk until its set.
Hot and Spicy Rice Cake (Tteokbokki)
To Cook
Soak rice cakes in a bowl of cold water for about 20 mins if using rice cakes stored in the fridge or freezer. If using fresh rice cakes, there is need to soak. Pull rice cakes apart into individual pieces is they are stuck before cooking.
Fill saucepan with water and gochujang. Bring this to a boil. Put in the fish cakes and onions and simmer for about 5 mins. Alternatively, to lessen the spiciness, reduce gochujang and substitute with some tomato sauce for colour.
Add the rice cakes, garlic, gochugaru (chilli flakes), soy sauce, sugar and corn syrup and cook until the rice cake are soft, this should take about 5 mins.
Drizzle in some olive oil before serving.
To Serve
Tteokbokki can be served with hard-boiled eggs, cooked instant ramen or even fried mandu (Korean dumplings).
Mamak Mee Goreng
To Make Fritters
Mix all the ingredients for fritter to form batter. Use a tablespoon to scoop a big dollop into hot oil and deep fried till golden brown. Cooled and cut into chunks.
To Make Chilli Paste
Remove seeds from dried chillies, soak in hot water for 15 mins and blend with 2 tbsp of water.
Heat up frying pan with 3 tbsp of oil and sauté the chilli paste over low heat till fragrant and oil is separated. Add in brown sugar, tamarind juice, salt and cook for 1 min. Set aside to cool.
To Cook Mamak Mee Goreng
Put 2 tbsp oil into frying pan and sauté the chopped onion and garlic.
Toss in fried tofu slices and boiled potatoes and fry for 1 min.
Add in 1 tbsp fried chilli paste (add 2 tbsp if you prefer spicier), squid and fry for 1 min.
Toss in the choy sum and squid, stir and put in the fritters and tomato wedges. Cook for 1 min.
Toss in the noodles then the sauce ingredients and stir for further 30 secs or till well mixed.
Push noodles to one side, pour beaten eggs, stir it till half cooked.
Bring noodles together with the eggs and fry till cooked.
Toss in bean sprouts and chillies, cook for 1 min and plate up.
Garnish with cucumber julienne, sliced green chillies and lime wedges. Serve.
Otak-Otak
To Prep
Cut banana leaves into 12-15 pieces, approximately 20cm long and rectangles-shaped. Soak in hot water until softened. Drain and pat dry.
Blend the spice paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
Chop the fish fillet into small pieces, then blend with the rice flour, kaffir lime leaves, salt and sugar until a smooth paste forms.
Transfer the fish paste to a mixing bowl. Add the spice paste, eggs, and coconut milk, then mix until well-combined.
Place about 1 tbsp of the mixture in the centre of a banana leaf piece. Fold the leaf over the filling, tuck both ends underneath to form a parcel, and secure with toothpicks. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
To Cook
Bring water to a boil in a wok or steamer.
Arrange the parcels in the steamer basket and steam over rapidly boiling water for 10 minutes.
Carefully unwrap the banana leaves and serve the otak-otak hot.