To Cook
Cut the onions in half lengthwise, from top to bottom. Cut each half into ¼ inch slices and cutting lengthwise.
Combine the onions, mirin, chicken, soy sauce, sake and dashi in a saucepan and place over high heat. When the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for approximately 5 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Mix the ingredients occasionally as they cook.
To prepare the oyakodon one serving at a time, break 2 eggs into a bowl, and lightly beat the eggs. You want part of the yolk and whites to be lightly mixed, while the other parts are still separated.
Transfer one fourth of the chicken mixture (about 1½ cups chicken, onions and broth) to a small skillet. Place the skillet over high heat. When the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat so the broth is simmering.
Pour three-fourths of the egg mixture over the chicken, onions, and broth, Do not mix. Cook for about 1 minute, and then add the remaining one-fourth egg over the ingredients in the skillet. Cover the skillet and cook for 30 seconds more. Turn off the heat, and let the oyakodon rest, covered, for 1 minute.
While the oyakodon is resting, scoop the cooked rice into a serving bowl. When the oyakodon is ready, uncover and slide the entire contents out of the skillet to rest over the rice. Tilt the skillet and use a spatula if necessary as the oyakodon should slide out easily. Garnish with nori, mitsuba and scallions. Add shichimi togarashi to accentuate the taste. Serve immediately and repeat this preparation for the remaining servings.
Vegetables
Ants Climbing on a Tree
To Prep
Marinade the minced beef or pork with pinch of salt. Soak vermicelli as per instructions on packaging, drain and set aside.
To Cook
Heat oil in wok and fry the ground pork until aromatic. Set aside.
Add doubanjiang, minced garlic, sliced ginger and chopped shallot in wok and stir-fry over medium fire until the oil turns red and aromatic. Return pork to wok and add soy sauce. Mix well.
Pour water and bring everything to boil. Add soaked vermicelli and sugar, and stir-fry to mix everything well. There is no need to cook off all the liquid as the vermicelli continues to adsorb liquid after transferring out of the wok.
Sprinkle chopped green onions and serve hot.
Potato Croquettes (Potato Korokke)
To Cook
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Arrange the potatoes on a sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes, until a knife goes through the potatoes easily. When the potatoes have cooled, peel and set aside.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion for about 1 minute, until they turn translucent. Add the pork and cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes, until the pork cooks through. Transfer to a large mixing bowl when cooked.
Add the potatoes to the pork and mash together until just combined. Add the soy sauce, sugar pepper and mash together. Add the heavy cream and mash until all the ingredients are just combined.
Transfer the potato mixture to a sheet pan and spread it out to make a flat disk about ½ inch thick. Place in the refrigerator uncovered to cool and firm up for about 1 hour.
While the potato mixture is cooling, prepare 4 plates. Pour the flour onto the first plate, beaten eggs, panko into the subsequent plates separately. Pour the beaten egg onto the second plate and pour the panko onto the third plate. On the fourth plate, leave it empty as this plate will hold the breaded korokke.
Place a cast-iron skillet on a burner. Fill the skillet with vegetable oil to a height of at least 1 inch. Attach a deep-fry (or “candy”) thermometer to the side of the skillet. On a work surface near the skillet, set up a tray lined with paper towels to drain the cooked korokke.
When the potato mixture is ready, remove from the refrigerator and cut into 8 even pieces. Form 8 korokke patties, one at a time. Wet your hands, then place one of the pieces of the cooled potato mixture onto your palm. With both hands, gently form it into a flat, oval patty. Repeat for the remaining patties.
Turn on the heat under the skillet to high. Heat the oil to 170°C.
While the oil is heating, bread the korokke patties one at a time. First, dredge a patty in flour on both sides and shake off the excess flour. Second, dip the patty in the egg, coating both sides. Finally, lay the patty on the panko crumbs. Pile panko on top of the korokke with your fingers, then gently press the panko onto the patty so a generous layer of panko sticks on both sides. Be careful to handle the korokke very gently so it doesn’t break apart. Place the completed korokke on the empty plate. Repeat with the remaining patties.
When the oil has reached 170°C, carefully slide the korokke into the skillet. Deep-fry to korokke in batches. Regulate the heat to maintain a constant 170°C oil temperature. If the oil is too hot, the korokke will burn; if too low, the korokke will come out soggy and greasy.
Cook the korokke for about 3 minutes, until they heat through and turn golden brown (they’re already cooked inside). When they’re ready, transfer the korokke to the paper-lined plate to cool.
Serve immediately, with tonkatsu sauce.
Indonesian Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng)
To Cook
Prepare the optional accompaniments – Javanese Fried Chicken, Beef Satay, Crispy Fried Shallots, Sambal Kecap, Krupuk and Mixed Vegetable Pickles.
Lightly grease a non-stick skillet with a little oil and fry the eggs sunny side up. Remove from heat and set aside.
Heat the wok and add oil over medium heat and stir-fry the shallots, garlic, minced chilli and dried shrimp paste until fragrant for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the prawns and stir-fry until almost cooked and then add the cabbage and leftover cooked meat and continue to stir-fry until the cabbage is slightly wilted. Increase the heat to high, add the rice, salt and sweet Indonesian soy sauce and stir-fry until all the ingredients are mixed well and heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Transfer the fried rice to a serving platter, top with the fried eggs and arrange the accompaniments at the side, around the plate. Garnish with cucumber and tomato slices and serve with the accompaniments on the side.
Spicy Fish Stomach in Coconut Sauce (Lemak Perut Ikan)
To Prep
Grind the spice paste ingredients until fine.
Soak the tamarind in water. Squeeze the soaked tamarind in the water to release the flavour, until the water turns a creamy brown. Remove the pith and set the tamarind water aside.
To Cook
Add the spice paste and tamarind water to a pot, bring to a boil and stir well. Lower heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Add in ingredients A to the pot and cook for 6 minutes.
Add in ingredients B, seasoning and herbs and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
Garnish with sliced torch ginger flower and serve with rice.
Chicken Congee
To Cook
Place chicken drumsticks and a teaspoon of salt in six cups of boiling water and bring back to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on.
Remove chicken and set aside to cool down. Add cooked rice to the broth and boil until rice thickens into porridge, stirring the whole time.
Chop up the white section of the spring onion and thinly slice up the green part.
Saute the chopped onion and the white spring onion with oil until fragrant. Add julienned ginger and continue to saute until onion is caramelised. Turn off heat.
Remove meat from chicken drumsticks and coarsely chop up chicken. Return chicken pieces to rice congee. Add extra water to congee if it becomes too thick.
Taste test. Add remaining salt as necessary. Add pepper, stir through and remove from heat.
Serve congee garnished with caramelised onion, ginger and sliced onion.
Japanese Fried Noodle (Yakisoba)
To Prep
In a small bowl, mix all ingredients for sauce and set aside.
Prepare and slice all vegetables and meat.
To Cook
In a frying pan, heat oil on medium-high heat, and then add meat to cook for 2-3 mins.
Add onions, carrots and cabbage, and cook until almost tender. Then add spring onions and shitake mushrooms and cook for another 1 min. Season with black pepper and stir-fry to mix well.
In the meantime, prepare yakisoba or ramen noodles as per instructions on packaging. Before adding the yakisoba or ramen noodles to the frying pan, separate the noodles with your hands. Lower the heat to medium and add the yakisoba or ramen noodles. Pour yakisoba sauce over the noodles, and stir-fry to combine yakisoba or ramen noodles with ingredients.
Transfer yakisoba to plates and serve with benishouga (pickled red ginger) and aonori (dried green seaweed).
Note: Adjust the amount of yakisoba sauce used according to the amount of ingredients. Too much sauce will make your yakisoba soggy, while too little sauce will result in the lack of flavour.
Japanese Rice Balls (Onigiri)
To Cook
Cook rice in accordance to instructions.
Combine rice wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pour into rice with sesame seeds and mix well.
Cut the seaweed sheet into six strips. You may further cut the seaweed into any shape to decorate the onigiri.
Place 1/3 cup of rice over the centre of the cling wrap. Gather the ends of the cling wrap and squeeze to form a ball. To add filling, press an indent into the rice, add filling and mould the rice into a triangular shape or a ball.
Remove the cling wrap and cover the bottom of the onigiri with a seaweed strip.
Serve with Japanese soy sauce.
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.
Stir Fried Beef with Kai Lan
To Cook
Add 1 tsp each of corn starch, oil, and soy sauce to the beef in a bowl. Use your hands to massage these ingredients into the beef and set aside to marinate for 20 mins.
Heat a wok over high heat and add a tbsp of oil. When the oil starts to smoke, sear the beef for 30-60 secs, just until browned.
Remove from the wok and set aside.
Add 2 more tbsp of oil to the wok along with the ginger. Let the ginger caramelize for 15 secs.
Add the garlic and Chinese broccoli and stir fry for 1 min.
Add the beef, oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, sugar, sesame oil, and hot beef stock then stir fry until mixed thoroughly.
Once the liquid comes to a boil, push the beef and vegetable away from the middle of the wok.
Stir in the corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce. Mix everything until the beef and vegetables are thoroughly coated.
Plate and serve over hot steamed rice.
Chicken Red Curry with Pumpkin (Gaeng Phed Gai Sai Fak Tong)
To Cook
Add some oil to the pot and fry the red curry paste until fragrant.
Add chicken and pumpkin and stir fry until chicken and pumpkin is halfway cooked through for approximately 10 mins. The pumpkins will turn soft which will add volume and thickness to the curry after boiling.
Pour in the can of coconut milk then stir to combine all of the herbs. You may add pumpkins now if you want whole chunks in your curry.
Boil until the chicken is cooked.
When cooked add the sweet basil leaves or kaffir lime leaves. Stir into mix and remove from heat.
Season to taste with fish 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.