Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Prawn (Ebi) Tempura Somen

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To Prep
In a small bowl, combine Obento Mirin Seasoning, Lee Kum Kee Premium Soy Sauce, Obento Rice Wine Vinegar, Yeo’s Sesame Oil and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

To Cook
Cook somen noodles in a pot of boiling water for 2 mins, then rinse under cold water.
Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan to 180°C.
Combine cornflour and plain flour in a bowl, then lightly whisk together with soda water until just combined, being careful not to over mix.
Pat dry the prawns gently with a paper towel before coating them in the tempura batter. Lower the prawns one at a time into oil and cook for approximately 3-4 mins.
Add the noodles, edamame beans, cucumber and daikon to a large bowl, then pour in half of the dressing mix gently until all ingredients are coated.
Divide the noodles between 2 bowls and top with tempura prawns, drizzle over additional dressing if required, then garnish with shredded nori, toasted sesame seeds and some shichimi togorashi to finish.
Serve immediately.

Indonesian Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng)

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To Cook
Pour 1 tbsp oil into a non-stick pan and cook the diced chicken.
Add garlic paste and stir well until chicken is cooked and fragrant.
Beat 1 egg into the pan, then add in the vegetables.
Stir well until the vegetables are cooked.
Add the cooked rice, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, fish oil, tomato sauce and sesame oil and stir to combine.
Serve with fried egg, prawn crackers, sliced tomato and lettuce.

Thai Duck & Dragon Fruit Salad

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To Prep
Heat the oven and an oven tray to 200°C.
Dust the duck breasts with salt and pepper on both sides.

To Cook
Add the duck, skin-side down to a non stick pan (no oil). Cook from cold for 4 to 5 mins.
As the heat rises, the fat will render, making the skin crispy. By now the pan is at a medium to hot temperature.
Seal the duck on all sides in the hot pan then place skin-side down on the heated oven tray.
Squeeze a little orange juice onto the upturned meat (not the skin) and return the tray and duck breasts to the oven to finish cooking (6 to 8 mins).
Prepare the dressing by first combining fish sauce, rice vinegar, orange juice and soy sauce with the palm sugar and mix until sugar is dissolved.
Add sesame oil, crushed garlic and grated ginger, mix well, then set aside.
In a large bowl, combine coriander, oak leaf lettuce and watercress with onion. Drizzle with dressing and toss well to cover.
Combine dragon fruit and orange into the bowl to coat and divide the mixture between two bowls for serving.
Remove the duck breast from the oven, place on a cutting board skin-side up and allow to rest for a few mins. The duck is ready when it’s slightly resistant but springy when pressed.
While the duck is resting, scoop the contents of one dragon fruit, and blend with a teaspoon of cane sugar on high to make your smoothie. Pour into glasses and serve with fresh mint to garnish.
Slice the duck into thick pieces so they remain juicy and serve on top of the dragon fruit, orange, coriander and lettuce mix.
Garnish with chopped peanuts and a further drizzle of the dressing. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Vietnamese Chicken with Coconut (Ga Dua)

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To Cook
Add chicken, ginger, lemongrass and TCC Coconut Milk into a pot, then simmer on low to medium heat for 10 mins. Remove from heat and set pan aside with contents to steep.
Soak vermicelli in a bowl with boiling water until soft (about 5 mins).
Drain and rinse in cold water to cool the noodles. Once cool, leave in colander to drain well.
In a small mixing bowl, combine water, fish sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar and palm sugar. Mix until sugar is dissolved.
Add chillies, lemongrass and garlic, mix well and set aside.
Add carrot and cucumber to vermicelli and arrange on serving plates neatly.
Mix Vietnamese mint, mint, peanuts and lettuce together and arrange onto serving plates.
Remove chicken from pot, then slice into thick slices and place on lettuce and mint mix.
Drizzle sauce liberally over lettuce and mint mix and vermicelli.
Top with fried shallots, mint, crushed peanuts and chillies. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Sweet Pepper Rainbow Steak

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To Prep
Combine the sauce ingredients and set aside.
Heat oil to deep fry in a saucepan or pot. Add the wonton strips, fry until golden, then set aside.

To Cook
Heat a little oil in a wok, add the garlic and fry until fragrant.
Add the vegetables, stir fry until just cooked through, remove from the wok and set aside.
Season steak with black pepper.
Add a little oil, sizzle the steak in small batches until browned. Remove from the wok and set aside.
Return the vegetables to the wok, add sauce and simmer until thickened.
Add steak and stir through to warm the meat.
Serve with steamed rice, topped with fried wonton.

Fried Vermicelli Noodles

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To Prep
Soak dried vermicelli noodles in warm water to soften.
Marinate prawns in oyster sauce and light soy sauce with a dash of pepper.
Peel and chop the garlic, and set aside.

To Cook
In a wok or saucepan, add oil then fry and scramble 2 eggs. Set aside.
Add a little bit more oil, half the chopped garlic and fry marinated prawns.
Mix together oyster sauce, sesame oil, light and dark soy sauces together with water.
Drain water from softened noodles and add the sauce mixture. Toss noodles in seasoning to evenly coat them.
Using the same wok or saucepan, add more oil and stir fry garlic until golden.
Add seasoned noodles and toss for 3-5 mins until cooked. Add pepper to taste.
To plate up, first place noodles on bowl. Top with scrambled eggs and prawns.
Garnish with fried shallots and chopped up spring onion before serving.

Summer Black Rice Salad

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To Cook
Place the dressing ingredients in a small jug and whisk to combine.
Combine the rice, chopped veggies, picked coriander leaves and dressing in a large bowl. Transfer to a platter to serve and garnish with chopped peanuts and watercress sprigs.

Sichuan Chilli Fish

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To Prep
In a large pot add the rice and water. Simmer on stove top for 12 mins until cooked. Leave covered until serving, then fluff with a fork.
While the rice is cooking, cut the fish into similar sized chunks. Lightly coat in cornflour and set aside.
Finely slice the spring onions and long red chilli into strands.

To Cook
Heat the vegetable oil in a work on medium/high heat. Once hot, cook the fish in 2 batches (approximately 3 mins each batch), until crispy. Remove from work and set aside.
Pour out half of the oil, then add the dried chillies, cook for 1 min and remove from the oil.
Add garlic cloves and half of the Sichuan peppercorns, stir until fragrant.
Return the fish to the wok, then add soy, Shaoxing wine, vinegar and chilli oil. Toss gently to combine.
Remove from wok, then sprinkle on remaining Sichuan peppercorns and top with finely sliced spring onion and red chilli.
Serve immediately with rice to enjoy the crispy coating.

Watermelon and Prawn Salad with Thai Dressing

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To Cook
Roast pine nuts in pan until golden. Set aside.
Combine dressing ingredients in a jar. Taste for balance, then set aside.
Place watermelon in a large bowl with fried shallots, snow peas and mint leaves.
Shake sauce, then dress salad and lightly mix.
Scatter with pine nuts and fried onion flakes.
Decorate with extra prawns (optional) and serve immediately.

Shiitake & Asparagus Nori Rolls

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To Make Filling
Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok over a high heat. Add the shiitake mushrooms in a single layer and fry for 2-3 mins until golden. Turn and fry other side. Repeat with other batches.
Remove from the heat and add soy sauce to each batch while it is still hot.
Toss to coat mushrooms. Allow to cool and drain excess fluid.
In a small bowl, mix Kewpie Mayonnaise with sriracha sauce and set aside.
Lay out chilli mayo mix, mushrooms, asparagus, sliced carrot, Thai basil, chives and spinach in a row ready to make your rolls.

To Roll
Have the short edge of the nori closest to you, the long edge away from you.
Spread a small amount of chilli mayo across the nori sheet 1cm in from the near edge.
On top of the mayo strip, lay a small amount of each vegetable and herb evenly across the width of the nori.
Pick up the edge of the nori closest to you and roll up the vegetables and herbs as tightly as you can in the nori, leaving both ends open.
Take a spring roll skin, placing a corner in front of you and a corner away from you.
Place the nori roll on top of the spring roll skin close to your nearest corner. Roll the spring roll skin around the nori, stretching it slightly as you go and folding in the side edges like an envelope to enclose the nori roll.
Repeat until your vegetables have been used. (A damp tea towel will stop your spring roll skins from drying out.)

To Cook
Heat the oil in a large pan. The width of the pan must be greater than the length of the rolls.
Shallow fry the rolls over moderate heat.
Drain on absorbent paper and cut diagonally.
Serve immediately with two sauces: Kewpie Dressing Sesame Soy Sauce and Kewpie Dressing Roasted Sesame or sweet chilli sauce and Kewpie Dressing Sesame Soy Sauce.

Crispy Vietnamese Vegan Crepes with Tempeh and Fried Tofu (Bánh Xèo)

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To Prep
Soak mung beans in hot water for at least 1½ hours or overnight.
Drain soaked mung beans and transfer into a blender then add coconut milk and 1 cup of sparkling mineral water and puree until mung beans are very smooth.
Transfer mung bean puree into a large bowl and then add rice flour, potato starch, cornflour, turmeric powder, salt and remaining sparkling mineral water. Mix all ingredients together until smooth and allow the batter to rest for at least 45 mins (or overnight in the fridge).
Add garlic, chilli, sugar and 2 tsp of salt into a mortar to make the dipping sauce. Use pestle to crush garlic and chilli until smooth.
Transfer to a bowl, add hot water and mix all ingredients until sugar and salt dissolve.
Add vinegar and lime juice, then season to taste. Set aside.

To Cook
Take batter out from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Add sliced spring onions into the bowl and gently stir all batter until mixed through.
Add 1½ tbsp of vegetable oil into a wok. Add mushrooms in the wok and cook for a few mins, then transfer to a large bowl.
Add fried tofu and tempeh into the bowl. Add soy sauce, sesame oil and black pepper to taste.
Add 1½ tbsp of vegetable oil into a cast iron pan, then heat on medium low.
Using a large ladle, pour in enough of the batter into the pan to cover the surface.
Swirl the batter until it covers all of the pan’s surface in a thin layer.
Reduce the heat to low and cook the pancake for 3-4 mins until the edges begin to crisp and pulls away from the pan.
Add half a handful of beansprouts onto the pancake, then cover the pan with the lid for about 40 secs.
Open the lid and allow some water to evaporate and then add tofu and tempeh and then fold the crepe in half and put it onto a serving plate.
Serve the crepe with lettuce, Vietnamese herbs and dipping sauce, and garnish with coriander and sliced chillies.

Tempura Mushroom Bao with Pickled Radish and Miso Mayo

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To Make Fillings
Place all pickled radish ingredients in a bowl and massage the salt, sugar, vinegar and chilli into the radishes. Leave in the fridge for 5-10 mins.
Place tofu, miso paste, rice vinegar and rice malt syrup in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Set the blender on high speed and drizzle in the oil so it emulsifies. Store the mayo in the fridge.
Mix sake, sugar, mirin, soy sauce, and water in a saucepan. Cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
Add mushrooms and cook for 5 mins or until tender. Remove and pat dry with paper towel.
Return half the liquid to the heat and reduce by half.
Heat the oil in a large wok. Mix the corn flour, plain flour in a large bowl, add soda water and mix quickly.
Add mushrooms and turn them to coat. Lift one mushroom at a time to let the excess tempura batter drip off, then lower into the hot oil. Repeat until all mushrooms are golden brown. Drain them on paper towel.

To Make Bao
Place the milk, flour, baking powder, yeast and sugar together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the oil and water together.
Make a little well in the middle of the bowl with the dry ingredients and add the water oil mix.
Stir with a spoon and use your hands to knead until the dough comes together.
If the dough is too sticky add a little more flour and keep kneading. Knead for about 5-8 mins or until it is smooth. Cover and leave it in a warm place for 90 mins to rise (roughly double its size).
Once the dough has risen place on a floured surface and knead for a further 5 mins to get the air out. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough about 1 cm thick.
Grease the top with oil then use a glass or rough cutter that is roughly 8 cm in diameter to cut out 12 circles. Remove the excess dough.
Fold the circles in half and slightly roll with a rolling pin. Place each bun on a square of baking paper and pop in bamboo steamer to rise for 30 mins.
Fill a third of a wok or saucepan with water and heat on high.
Place the bamboo steamer on top and steam buns for 12 mins.
Then turn off the heat and let it sit for 4 mins before taking the lid off.

Assembling the Bao
Take your bao bun, open it up and fill with shredded wombok, green onions and pickled radish.
Place your tempura mushrooms on top, then add a drizzle of the reduced mushroom liquid and a dollop of miso mayo. Enjoy!