Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Sausage Vermicelli Salad (Bun Nem Nuong with Nuoc Cham)

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To Prep
Mix the minced pork, sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, minced garlic, ginger powder, roasted rice powder and red food colouring together.
Refrigerate and let the meat marinade for at least 30 mins.

To Cook
Take the meat out from the fridge to prepare your skewers and grill.
Mix all sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside until ready to serve.
To assemble, place the rice noodles in a bowl with the mix salad and cucumber.
Add in the skewers and garnish with crush peanuts. Serve with the dipping fish sauce.

Chinese Marinated Pork Belly

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To Cook
Heat a pan with 3 tbsp oil then fry the onion on a low heat until golden and crisp, then drain on some kitchen paper towel. Chop the onion, then set aside.
Add the pork belly with the fried onions and fry for 5 mins in a hot pan, then add the mushrooms, chopped spring onion, garlic and ginger and fry for a few more mins.
Add in the dark soy sauce, soy sauce, cooking rice wine, star anise, salt, sugar and cooked eggs. Then transfer all the food into a soup pot and add enough warm water to cover everything.
Place a lid on the pot and slowly cook for about 1 hr until the meat is soft and tender and the sauce has thickened.
Serve with jasmine rice and bok choy.

Vietnamese Sticky Tofu with Rainbow Veggie Noodle Bowl

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To Prep
Combine all salad dressing ingredients except sesame oil. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
Add sesame oil, stir and set aside.
Combine all the sticky tofu marinade ingredients in large flat baking dish. Add pressed sliced tofu, cover tofu well with the marinade and leave for at least 10 mins.

To Cook
Heat a non-stick grill pan over medium heat, spray lightly with vegetable oil, add tofu slices and cook for 3-4 mins each side, or until the edges of the tofu turn golden brown.
Remove and repeat until all slices are grilled. Save any remaining marinade for the finished dish.
Put drained rice vermicelli into a bowl. Add salad dressing and toss gently.
Use a fork to pick up and twirl noodles into the middle of the serving bowls. Arrange 5 slices of tofu on one side section of the bowl, then continue around the rest of the bowl with groupings of the vegetables.
Sprinkle over the basil and mint leaves, chilli slices, sliced spring onion, toasted sesame seeds and chopped cashews.
If desired, drizzle any remaining tofu marinade over the dish, loosening with some water if needed. Serve and enjoy!

Grilled Miso Eggplant (Nasu Dengaku)

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To Cook
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Score the cut side of the eggplant and brush each half with a tablespoon of olive oil. Place in the oven and roast for 30 mins.
Meanwhile, make the miso glaze: whisk the miso, mirin, rice wine vinegar and honey together in a small bowl.
Remove the eggplants from the oven. Switch from the oven setting to the grill setting. Brush with a generous amount of the miso glaze.
Place the eggplants under the grill for 5 mins, or until the miso glaze has caramelised.
Serve scattered with spring onion, coriander, chilli, sesame seeds and a side of cooked rice.

Fish Head Curry

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To Prep
Combine half of the tamarind paste with 100 ml of the water and pour the solution over the fish. Let marinate for about 10 minutes.
In a blender or food processor, blend the garlic, shallots, ginger and chillies until they form a rough paste. Set this aside and combine the curry powder with about 3 tbsp of water to make a curry paste.

To Cook
In a wok, heat up 4 tbsp of oil and salute the curry leaves until they become fragrant. Add in the mustard and fenugreek seeds.
Continue to sauté until the mustard seeds begin to pop before adding the blended paste and curry paste. When the oil has begun to separate from the paste, add in the toasted rice flour and the rest of the water.
Bring the mixture to a boil before adding in the fish, eggplant and okra. Reduce the mixture to a simmer and cook the fish for about 10 minutes. When the fish has cooked, remove it from the wok and add in the leftover tamarind paste, salt and sugar and let simmer for another 40 minutes.
When the curry has thickened, return the fish to the wok and bring the curry up to a boil again. Once it begins to boil, remove it from the heat and serve!

Soba Noodle Salad with Sesame Crusted Chicken

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To Prep
To start, combine the breadcrumbs, sesame seeds and chilli flakes in to 1 bowl and the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and kecap manis in to another. Optionally, you can add chilli flakes in to the breadcrumbs for some extra heat.
Dip chicken breasts in to the soy vinegar mixture let them marinate for at least 15 minutes.
When the chicken has marinated, dredge them in the breadcrumb mixture; ensuring that each piece is well coated. Set aside the remaining soy vinegar mixture to be used later.

To Cook
In large saucepan of water, boil the soba noodles according to the packet instructions.
Nearing the end of boiling the soba noodles, add the julienned carrots and cut snow peas to blanch them.
Drain the soba noodles and vegetables and rinse them under cold water to stop them from overcooking and to remove the extra starch from the noodles.
Over a medium to low heat, pour enough vegetable oil to shallow fry the chicken. Cook the chicken until the crust has browned and the chicken has cooked through. Try to ensure that the heat is lowered if the crust begins to cook too fast.
Transfer the cooked chicken on to a plate with a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing in to thin pieces.
Wipe off the excess oil from the frying pan before adding a tablespoon of oil and heating over a medium heat.
Fry the ginger until it becomes fragrant and then add the white part of the spring onions and cook for another 30 seconds.
Add the leftover soy vinegar mixture and bring it to a boil before reducing to a simmer and continuing to cook until the sauce has thickened slightly.
Add the red cabbage to the noodles and other vegetables and spoon in some of the sauce. Mix the noodles until they have been coated evenly.
To plate the dish, place some of the soba noodles on to the plate and top with the chicken slices and the green part of the spring onions. Drizzle with the extra sauce and serve!

Red Curry Grilled Chicken with Tamarind Sauce (Gai Yang Ka Ti Kab Jeaw Makham)

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To Prep
Combine Valcom Premium Coconut Milk, Valcom Red Curry Paste, sugar and Squid Brand Fish Sauce in a large ceramic bowl. Add chicken breast, turning to coat each side and leave to marinate for 1 hr.

To Cook
Heat a barbecue hotplate or chargrill pan on medium-high heat. Grill chicken breast for 3-4 mins each side or until cooked.
Slice chicken breast and place on serving plate. Serve with salad on the side.
Mix all ingredients for dipping sauce until sugar dissolves. Serve sauce on the side.

Barramundi Fillets with Red Curry

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To Cook
In a pot, fry the red curry paste and lime leaves in 1 tbsp of oil until fragrant.
Add the palm sugar, coconut cream and fish stock, and simmer on low heat until the mixture thickens.
In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil. While the oil is heating up, lightly salt the barramundi fillets. Place the fillets skin-side down and fry until the skin is golden brown, before flipping over and cooking the flesh.
Cut the leaves off of the bulbs of the bok choy and steam them for 1-2 mins.
Arrange the bok choy, red curry and fish and serve.

Indonesian Chicken Noodles with Mushrooms (Mie Ayam Jamur)

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To Cook
Cook the chicken fat over medium heat and wait for it to turn crispy. Keep the crispy fat to garnish the noodles.
Soak the shiitake mushrooms for about 2 mins. Heat up a pan and add the cooking oil and garlic, frying for about 30 secs. Add the ginger and fry for about 30 secs.
Add the chicken and cook for 1 min. Add the mushrooms, 1 cup
of chicken stock and seasonings and bring to a boil before lowering the heat to simmer for 15 mins.
Season to taste. Add the hard boiled eggs to the sauce and leave for one day so that the eggs absorb the flavour and turn brown.
Cook the noodles based on the package, rinsing with cold water after cooking.
Blanch the bok choy until it has become soft and rinse with cold water. Then, set roughly chop it and leave it to the side.
Remove any fat from the chicken and cut the chicken into small portions. Dice the fat and cook it on low-medium heat, waiting for the fat to ooze out. Take out the crispy chunks and save them.
Place the 3 cups of chicken stock in a small sauce pan and let it simmer gently and season with salt and sugar to taste.
Remove the hard-boiled eggs from the sauce and cut into desired portions.
Add 1 tsp of the chicken fat/oil and 2-3 tbsp of the chicken stew sauce to one bowl with some noodles. Divide the noodles, chicken meat and mushrooms among the bowls. Top the bowl with green onions, fried shallots, egg and crunchy pieces. Pour some chicken stock in a smaller bowl with some spring onion as garnish.
Serve while hot.

Korean Spicy Beef Soup (Yukgaejang)

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To Make Stock
In a large saucepan, add skirt steak and water. Bring it to a boil. Skim off any impurities that float to the top. Add onions, cloves of garlic and black pepper. Simmer stock for about 1½ hrs.
Discard onion, garlic and black pepper from stock. Take meat out and let it cool. Shred or cut meat into 5cm shreds. Set meat side. Set drained stock aside.

To Cook
Heat oil and chilli oil in a large saucepan. Add chilli powder and garlic, sauté over a gentle heat for about 2 mins, taking care not to burn chilli powder. Turn off the heat.
Add meat and then all the remaining ingredients (except stock, noodles and eggs). Mix well and let sit to marinate for at least 15 mins.
Add stock to the seasoned meat and vegetables. Bring this to a boil, then simmer for about 5 mins. Add in the noodles, then pour in the eggs in streams. Season with salt. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Tips – How to Cook Braken
Soak dried bracken at least overnight in cold water.
Boil rehydrated bracken for about 5-10 mins.
Drain bracken and soak again in cold water for about 1 hr. Drain until ready to use.

Lamb with Chilli, Soy and Noodles

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To Cook
Place the noodles into a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, then drain, refresh in cold water, drain well again and set aside.
Combine together the egg, cornflour, salt and pepper. Mix the lamb strips well with the coating and set aside.
Heat a wok, add the peanut oil and stir-fry the lamb for several minutes. Then add the capsicum and stir-fry for 30 secs. Add ABC Sweet Soy Sauce, ABC Original Chilli Sauce, stock, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine and noodles.
Toss gently then fold in the spring onions and serve.