To Cook
Pan fry potatoes until cooked through and golden brown. Set aside.
Pan fry dried shrimps until it’s aromatic for approximately 3-5 minutes.
Mash potatoes up using a masher.
Dish into a bowl, add fried shrimps, parsley leaves, fried shallots, salt and pepper and mix well.
Shape into patties and coat over with egg.
Pan-fry or deep-fry on medium heat until golden brown on both sides.
Seafood
Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls (Nem rán / Chả giò)
To Prep
Boil water and soak noodles for 30 mins.
Combine all the ingredients for the filling together to form a sticky mixture.
Chop the soaked mung bean noodles into shorter threads and combine with filling.
To roll the cha gio, place a piece of spring roll paper on a clean, wet kitchen towel. Place 1 heaped tablespoon of filling on the moist rice paper, fold the rice paper over the filling, tuck in the sides, then roll to form a cylinder about 3 inches long.
Seal the wrap by dabbing a finger in the corn starch and lining the end of the wrap.
To Cook
Heat oil over medium heat in a wok or a large frying pan. When the oil is smoking, gently place a few cha gio in the oil. Fry them slowly until they turn lightly brown. Drain the excess oil by lining them over some paper towels.
Serve immediately with dipping sauce.
Japanese Pancake (Okonomiyaki)
To Prep
Partially freeze pork belly. Slice pork belly into thin pieces.
For the batter, combine and mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Add cabbage, spring onion, pickled ginger and calamari to batter mix.
To Cook
Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add 150ml of mix to frying pan, then 5-6 slices of pork belly. Cook okonomiyaki until bottom is golden brown. Flip over.
Cook the other side until it is thoroughly cooked and golden brown.
Flip the okonomiyaki again and place on a plate.
Top with tonkatsu sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes and yaki nori strips. Serve hot.
Fish Ball Mee Pok
To Prep
Add the minced pork, light soy sauce, white pepper powder, corn flour, and sesame oil in a small bowl and allow to marinate for at least 10 mins in the fridge.
To Cook
Bring soup stock to a simmer, and add fish balls and fish dumplings. Cook for a few mins until the fish balls float to the surface. Keep the soup bubbling at a low heat.
Add Chinese fish sauce, black vinegar, hot stock, sambal tumis, crispy lard pieces, and lard oil in a serving bowl. Stir and mix it well.
Add one ladle of hot stock over the bowl of marinaded pork. Set them aside.
Meanwhile, bring another pot of water to boil. Cook Mee Pok for about 30-45 secs until just cooked. Rinse the noodles in tap water for a few secs, drain and add to serving bowl.
Blanch fish cake slices and bean sprouts in a slotted ladle for 30 secs. Drain and transfer to serving bowl.
Put the bowl of marinated pork in hot stock back to the soup pot. Cook the pork for a few secs and separate the pork to smaller pieces with wooden chopsticks. Drain the pork and top the serving bowl.
Garnish with lettuce and spring onions. Ladle a small bowl of soup to go with the Mee Pok. Serve with a sauce of sliced chilli padi in soy sauce.
Mix the noodles thoroughly with the sauce before eating.
Laksa Johor
To Prep
Poach the fish until cooked. Then separate the cooked flesh from the bone. Keep the cooking liquid and bones.
Finely blend the bones, fins, and tails together with the cooking liquid using a blender.
Strain the fish stock through a fine-mesh sieve and set aside.
Clean and gut your prawns but reserve the head and shells. Blend the prawn flesh into a paste and reserve for later.
Boil the prawn heads and shells in 3-4 cups of water then transfer into a blender and finely blend.
Strain the prawn stock through a fine-mesh sieve. Set it aside.
Meanwhile, blend the dried shrimps and salted fish with some water until you get a paste. Reserve for later.
Finely blend the shallots, garlic, galangal, ginger, and dried chillies in a blender.
Dry toast the anise and coriander seeds in a frying pan until fragrant. Then, rind using a mortar and pestle.
Heat up some oil in a large pan or wok. Sauté the blended aromatics together with the stalk of lemongrass.
When fragrant, add in the ground herbs and curry powder. Sauté until the oil splits.
Next, add in the fish stock, followed by the prawn stock. Bring the soup up to a boil and add in the coconut milk.
Then add to the soup, the blended dried shrimp, blended salted fish, blended prawn flesh, and cooked fish flesh.
Allow the soup to simmer then add in the slices of asam keping, palm sugar, toasted coconut, torch giner, Thai basil, and Vietnamese coriander.
Season with salt and sugar to taste. Bring the soup up to a boil and allow to thicken slightly.
To Cook
Prepare the spaghetti according to packet instructions, and portion in a soup bowl.
Toss the snake beans with Thai basil and Vietnamese mint until uniformly mixed.
Garnish the noodles with cucumber, bean sprouts, and snake beans and herb mix.
Ladle the hot soup over the noodles. Serve.
Char-grilled Sweet Chilli Garlic Prawns
To Prep
Combine sweet chilli sauce and chilli garlic sauce in a bowl and set aside.
To Cook
Preheat lightly oiled barbecue grill or chargrill pan over medium-high heat.
Thread prawns onto the skewers. Season with salt.
Cook prawns for 3-4 minutes, turning once. Place on a serving plate and drizzle with the sauce. Garnish with coriander leaves and chilli.
Thai Yellow Curry with Prawn
To Make
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add sweet potatoes and boil for 3 mins. Add cauliflower and boil for a further 2 mins. Add capsicum and cook for another 2 mins. Drain and set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat and slightly pan-fry the tofu on all sides. Set aside.
Add 1 tbsp oil to the frying pan and slightly pan-fry the prawns and drizzle with 5ml Squid Brand Fish Sauce on both sides until cooked. Set aside.
Heat the remaining oil in the pan and fry the yellow curry paste until bubbling.
Add coconut milk and stir until well combined. Add in the remaining Squid Brand Fish Sauce and sugar, and continue stirring until the sugar has fully dissolved.
Toss in the tofu and vegetables. Stir for 2 mins until all ingredients are completely coated with curry sauce. Add prawns and stir until well mixed.
Serve hot. Garnish with chillies and basil.