Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Mini Japanese Pancakes (Okonomiyaki)

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To Prep
Place the zucchini and onion in a bowl with 1 tsp salt, then toss to combine and set aside for 20 mins to draw out liquid. Squeeze out the excess liquid and discard.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the egg and 2 tbsp cold water then season and lightly whisk until thick and smooth. Add the zucchini mixture, then stir to combine.

To Cook
Heat the oil in a large fry pan over medium heat.
Working in batches, drop tablespoonfuls of batter into the pan and cook for 3 mins each side or until golden and cooked through.

To Serve
To serve, top each pancake with ½ tsp barbecue sauce, stripes of mayonnaise and pickled ginger.

Slow Cooked Red Curry

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To Cook
In a slow cooker, place 3 tbsp of red curry paste with 1 tbsp of oil.
Dice and add in the chuck steak along with the coconut milk.
Leave to cook for 2 hrs.
Dice and add in the sweet potato, eggplant and zucchini.
Add peanut paste, fish sauce, palm sugar and cook for another 2 hrs. Add snow peas.
Serve with boiled rice.

Thai Red Curry and Chicken Soup

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To Cook
In a large saucepan, add 1½ cups water, cook rice and set aside.
Cut the chicken breast into a few pieces and boil them until they have cooked through. Set aside to cool off.
Add butter, garlic, onion and capsicum to the stockpot. Cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 3-4 mins. Stir in ginger until fragrant, about 1 min.
Whisk in curry paste until well combined, about 1 min. Gradually whisk in coconut milk and vegetable stock and cook, whisking constantly until incorporated, about 1-2 mins.
Shred chicken breast. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 8-10 mins.
Stir in rice, shredded chicken, lime juice and coriander. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve immediately.

Bo Kho (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

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To Prep
In a large bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients (ginger, galangal, garlic, palm sugar, five spice powder and fish sauce) and mix until sugar is dissolved.
Place meat into bowl and coat with spice mixture. Set aside to marinate for 25 mins.

To Cook
Using a large saucepan, heat vegetable oil on a high heat. Add in garlic, shallot and lemongrass and stir for 3 mins until the shallot becomes translucent.
Place the beef in the pot and brown on each side. Reduce heat to medium, add tomato paste and cook for 4-5 mins.
Add to the pot the star anise, chilli powder, paprika, white pepper, water and coconut water. Simmer for 60 mins, stirring occasionally.
Once the hour is up, add in the chiu chow oil, soy and carrots. Continue cooking for another 35-40 mins.
Prepare the egg noodles according to the packet instructions, then divide between 4 bowls.

To Serve
Remove the star anise from the soup then carefully ladle mixture over the noodles, ensuring there is a generous amount of beef and carrots.
Top the soup with Thai basil, coriander, sliced shallot and lime.
Enjoy!

Bun Ga Thom (Vietnamese Fragrant Chicken Vermicelli)

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To Prep
Prepare the marinade in a large bowl: Mix the marinade ingredients thoroughly to ensure the sugar has dissolved.
Add the chicken and mix well to fully coat with marinade. Set aside to marinate for a minimum of 1 hr, preferably longer if you have time. (For food safety, marinate in the fridge for longer periods).
After chicken has marinated, place the vermicelli into a bowl and pour over boiling water until it covers the noodles. Loosen the noodles with a fork and set aside for 5 mins. Rinse noodles under cold water and drain well. Divide noodles between 4 bowls.
In a small bowl, add in the sauce ingredients, continue stirring until the sugar has fully dissolved.

To Cook
Heat a large fry pan with oil to medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until it is cooked through, it will start to caramelise (approximately 3 mins per side). Remove from the heat and set aside for a few mins to rest.
Prepare the chicken for serving by slicing into strips (about 1cm wide).
Prepare each bowl of vermicelli with a generous amount of mint and Thai basil leaves and Thai mint along with the vegetables. Add the sliced chicken, spoon over some of the sauce and finally top with peanuts, lime and chilli to taste.
Enjoy!

Sesame Tofu & Sweet Corn Ramen

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To Prep
Drain & press the tofu overnight, cut into 2cm square strips, marinate in the teriyaki sauce for 3-4 hrs.
Remove the tofu from the marinade, pat dry, dip into the egg/almond milk mixture and coat with black and white sesame seeds. Chill for 30 mins.

To Cook
Place the vegetable stock, white miso paste, sesame oil, togarashi spice, cooking sake into a saucepan and simmer for 5 mins.
Add the sweet corn kernels, baby corn and shredded nori and simmer for 1-2 mins; set aside, keeping warm.
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the Hakubaku Organic Ramen noodles, cook for 4-5 mins, drain and keep warm.
Heat a little oil in a heavy based fry pan, cook the sesame coated tofu, turning to brown each side. When cooked, drain on kitchen paper and slice.

To Serve
Place the noodles & broth in a bowl, arrange the sesame tofu and hard boiled eggs on top. Garnish with enoki mushrooms, nori and chives.

Nasu Chips

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To Cook
Prepare 3 bowls for Eggplant coating.
On the first bowl, add flour, chilli powder, salt & pepper. On the second bowl, beat the egg and on the third bowl, put the panko breadcrumbs.
Heat pan with oil in medium heat.
Dredge eggplant in the flour mixture. Then dip it in egg wash and finally coat with panko breadcrumbs.
Repeat with the rest of the Eggplant. Fry for at least 5 mins or until golden brown.

To Serve
Mix mayo, lime, salt and wasabi in a small bowl for the dip and serve together.

Tom Yum Noodle Soup

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To Prep
Soak the rice noodle in warm water until they soften, then set aside.

To Cook
Mix the Valcom Authentic Thai Tom Yum Paste with water in a pot and bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling, reduce to medium heat and let simmer.
Add in the sliced mushroom and tomatoes and let simmer for 1 min. Add in the prawns and the mussels and bring to boil for 3 mins.
Take out the prawns and the mussels and set aside so they don’t overcook.
On low heat, place the noodles in the pot and let simmer for 20 secs in the soup.
Remove the noodles into a bowl and top with the prawns and mussels.
Finish the soup with the fish sauce and sugar, then pour over the noodles when ready to serve.

To Serve
Squeeze a lime over the top and serve with some fresh coriander and chilli (optional).

Radish and Sweet Potato Cake

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To Prep
Cover dried mushrooms with 2 cups of water in a medium sized bowl. Let them soak in the water until all mushrooms are soft.
Use a cheese grater to grate radish and put it in a large bowl. Add in ½ tbsp of salt, mix it all together and leave it for 15 mins.
After 15 minutes, squeeze out the excess water from radish and transfer dried radish into another bowl.
Add water into the bowl until it covers the radish and wash salt out the from radish by squeezing until dry and transferring it into another bowl.
Repeat washing with water to rinse out salt from radish another 2 times. Leave dried radish in a bowl.
Use cheese grater to grate sweet potato into the same bowl as the radish.
Squeeze out water from shiitake mushroom and chop the mushroom into very small pieces. Keep the water for further use.
Put frying pan on the stove and pour 3 tbsp of oil into the pan over medium high.
Wait until the oil is hot then add the red shallot and fry for about 30 secs. Add the chopped mushrooms and fry them for about 45 secs before adding the minced garlic and frying it all for about 1 min. Pour all of ingredients with the oil into a bowl. Put it aside.
In a large bowl combine the radish, sweet potato, and the mushroom mixture together.
Add the rice flour, tapioca flour, wheat starch, 2 tsp of salt, black pepper and sugar into the bowl.
Pour 1 cup of soaked mushroom water into the bowl. Mix all together until combined. If the mixture is a bit dry you can add a further ⅓ cup of soaked mushroom water. The mixture should be a thick paste (not very runny).

To Cook
Transfer the batter to a greased glass or stainless steel tray that will fit into your steamer.
Add water to the steamer and put on the gas top. Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
When the water is boiling put the mixture tray into the steamer and cover it with the lid.
Cook for about 30-45 mins until it is cooked through (test by using a toothpick inserted into the cake; it should come out clean).
For the dipping sauce, mix all the dipping sauce ingredients together and adjust the flavour as you like. Put it aside.
As soon as the cake has completely cooked, allow it to cool before cutting it or putting it into the fridge overnight.
Before eating, transfer the cake onto a chopping board and cut it into squares or triangles. Dust lightly with rice flour and cook them on a frying pan with a little bit of oil over medium heat. Do not crowd the pan and cook both sides until golden brown.
After cooking, drain all cakes with paper towels to remove excess oil.

To Serve
Place the cakes onto a plate, garnish with chopped spring onions and serve it with the dipping sauce. Enjoy!

Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger and Black Fungus

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To Prep
Mix sweet soy sauce, soy sauce and oyster sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

To Cook
Put the wok or fry pan over high heat. Add oil and wait until the oil has heated up. Once you see the smoke start coming up from the wok, put the chicken in.
Cook chicken until just cooked through or about 5 mins. Sprinkle chicken stock powder in the wok.
Add Chinese cooking wine or water and cook for about 1 min.
Add ginger and sauce mixtures. Cook for 1-2 more mins.
Add black fungus and mix until the sauce is well coated on to the black fungus and the fungus has heated through; add a little water if it looks a little dry.
Add spring onion and white pepper and give it a few stirs.

To Serve
Serve with jasmine rice, garnished with extra spring onion.

Asinan Betawi (Jakartan Pickled Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing and Mie Crackers)

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To Prep
In a saucepan, boil water with 2 tsp turmeric powder and add the tofu and cook until they begin to rise to the surface. Drain and then cut into cubes. Set aside.
Blanch the savoy cabbage in boiling water for 30 secs, drain and set aside. Repeat with the bean sprouts.

To Make Peanut Dressing
Dissolve the dark palm sugar in ¼ cup water and simmer on a stove top for 5 mins.
Heat oil in small fry pan over medium-high heat.
Stir fry garlic and chilli for 1 min. Add Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Stir-fry Sauce and stir for a further min.
Add all other ingredients, except salt, sugar, extra water and lime juice. Bring to boil and lower heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened.
Remove from heat and cool. When cool, blend until mostly smooth (you still want some chunks of peanut).
Add more water if needed, to make dressing a thick but somewhat runny custard-like consistency. Add lime juice.
Taste and add salt and sugar if needed. Serve warm over prepared salad.

To Make Asinan Salad:
Arrange lettuce leaves on plate. Mix all other vegetables together. Pile on top of lettuce. Tumble over turmeric tofu. Drizzle with Peanut Dressing.
Serve with Mie Crackers.

Vegan Jackfruit Baos

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To Prep Baos
Combine flour, instant yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl.
Add about ½ cup of warm water and 1½ tbsp of oil. Mix it together with a wooden spoon then start combining the dough with your hands. You will need to add another 2 or 3 tablespoons so it’s not too dry or too sticky, but do this a tablespoon at a time.
Knead it for 10 mins until elastic and smooth. Form the dough into a ball and rub a small amount of oil on the dough’s surface to prevent it from drying. Place in a clean bowl covered with a kitchen towel and place somewhere warm for about 1-2 hrs or until it doubles in size.

To Make the Filling
Open the can of jackfruit and drain it. Remove the firm pointy ends off each triangular piece of jackfruit and squash each piece of jackfruit gently so that it separates into individual strands and soaks up more of the cooking sauce. Set aside.
Heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a medium size pan. Fry spring onions until softened. Add chopped garlic and ginger and fry gently until soft and fragrant.
Mix in Chinese five spice and fry gently for 1 min.
Now add the remaining sauce ingredients: soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar and sugar. Mix them around well and allow sugar to melt. Finally add in jackfruit and mix well to allow it to warm up and soak up the maximum amount of sauce.

To Make the Baos
After the dough has doubled in size, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and press the air out with your fingertips. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and form small balls. Place the balls on a lightly floured surface, cover with a kitchen towel and leave for another 30 mins.
Using a rolling pin, roll the balls out into ½cm thick oval shapes. Fold each shape in half and insert bamboo steamer paper (you can buy these at the Asian grocers) or baking paper between the bun halves.
Line your bamboo steamer with bamboo steamer paper and place folded up buns inside for another 30 mins of proving. If your steamer is too small, rest the remaining buns on baking paper and lightly dusted tray until you are ready to steam. Fill a pot/wok (which the steamer can comfortably sit on) with water and place the steamer with the buns on top.
Turn heat to medium-high and let the water come to a simmer; don’t be tempted to peek inside or you will ruin the buns. Once you can hear the water simmering vigorously, put the timer on for 10 mins.
After the time is up, take the pot and steamer off the heat and rest the buns for another 5 mins.
After 5 mins, lift the lid off and remove the buns gently. Repeat the process to cook the other buns.

To Serve
Fill each bun with pulled jackfruit, pickled veggies, coriander, Sriracha and some extra hoisin sauce and crushed peanuts.