Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Simmered Beef and Potatoes (Nikujaga)

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To Make Dashi Stock
Wipe kombu with a damp paper towel to clean off any impurities, then make a few shallow cuts into the kombu.
Add the water to a pot and add the kombu to and the pot. Allow it to soak for about 30 minutes before turning on the heat.
Turn the heat on medium and let it boil slowly. Remove from heat just as the water begins to boil.
Add the bonito flakes and return to the heat. Allow the water to simmer for another 1 minute. Be careful not the let it boil over.
Strain the dashi stock into a bowl and reserve for later.

To Cook
Blanch the snow peas in boiling water for half a minute, then soak in ice water.
Cook the shirataki noodles for a minute in boiling water.
Heat the vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat, then add the onions and stir fry for a minute.
Next add the beef and cook until they are done.
Add the potatoes, carrots, shirataki noodles, and dashi stock.
Add all the seasoning ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil.
Turn down the heat when the soup begins to boil, and slowly simmer the soup from here on out. Skim off any scum that has risen to the top of the soup.
Use a otshibuta, a Japanese drop lid, if available. An otshibuta will help prevent vegetables from breaking apart. Simmer the stew for about 15 minutes on medium heat.
Remove the pot from the heat and take off the otshibuta and add the blanched snow peas. Serve when the snow peas are warmed up.

Vegetarian Mapo Tofu

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To Prep
Softened the shiitake mushrooms by soaking for about 10 mins. Keeping the water for later, remove the mushrooms, discard the stems and chop the caps finely.
Soak eggplant in cold water 2-3 times and drain. This helps to remove bitterness.
Heat water in a saucepan in medium-high to just before boiling. Add the tofu cubes and turn the heat to medium-low when the tofu begins to sway. Simmer for 2-3 mins and drain.
Combine all sauce ingredients with the shiitake water and mix well.

To Cook
In a wok, heat the sesame oil along with the garlic, ginger, leeks, shiitake, eggplants and chilli bean paste. Stir-fry for 3 mins.
Add the sauce mixture to the wok and bring to boil. Turn the heat to medium and add in the tofu. Stir gently without breaking the tofu, then summer for about 5 mins before turning off the heat.
Sprinkle some sansho or Sichuan pepper and garnish with spring onions. Serve with rice.

Asparagus with Gochujang Sauce

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To Cook
Wash asparagus and cut off 2cm from the bottom of the asparagus. Cut into 5cm lengths on an angle.
Heat oil in wok on medium low heat. Saute garlic till fragrant and add asparagus and continue to stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
Mix cho-gochujang in a small bowl. Pour the mixture over the asparagus, and stir well to coat.
Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 5-6 mins or until tender and stir again to evenly coat the asparagus before turning off heat.
Remove onto plate and garnish with sesame seeds.

Thai Noodles with Pork (Pad Mama)

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To Cook
In a hot wok, add oil and then the garlic, stir until fragrant.
Add the pork, stir-fry until white. Add the egg, stir-fry until softly scrambled. Add the vegetables and mix well. Add the seasoning ingredients and stir-fry.
Add the noodles and chilli powder (optional), stir-fry for about 2 mins. Serve with lime and prawns, garnish with parsley.

Claypot Loh Shee Fun

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To Cook
Prepare all the ingredients for cooking. Marinate the meat. Blanch the noodles in boiling water for a few mins before draining. Fry the salted fish with the vegetable oil, keep the oil after cooking. Mix the seasonings together.
Heat up the vegetable oil that was used to cook the salted fish. Add the garlic and shallots, cooking until aromatic. Then, add in marinated meat and shiitake mushrooms. Keep cooking until aromatic. Add in the seasoning mixture and water.
Stir fry everything together and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and beansprouts. Toss to mix the noodles with the meat, beansprouts and sauce. Add any more seasonings if it’s not to your taste. Stir fry for another 2 mins.
Heat up the claypot and transfer your stir-fry to the claypot. Make a well in the middle of the noodles and crack an egg on top. Garnish if you wish, put the lid on the clay pot and serve.
Right before serving, stir the egg around in the claypot.

Stir Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts (Gai Pad Med Mamuang)

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To Prep
In a bowl, mix chicken and soy sauce and set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.

To Cook
In a wok, heat a little oil and sear the chicken on one side until golden brown. Remove and set aside. The chicken is only partly done at this stage.
Add 1-2 tbsp of oil to the wok and saute garlic and onion until the garlic starts to turn brown. Mix in the seared chicken, mushrooms and chillies and toss quickly.
Stir in the sauce and cook until the chicken is done. You may add a splash of water if the dish is too dry. Turn off the heat, add cashews and green onions and mix well. Serve hot.

Soy Simmered Chicken (Tori No Shoyuni)

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To Prep
Prepare your daikon by cutting it in half lengthwise, then cutting them into 3 cm slices.
Then add the daikon to a pot of water over medium heat and let the water simmer with the daikon for about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

To Cook
Start boiling some water in a pot, and when it is at a rolling boil, add the chicken to the pot. Parboil for 2-3 min or until skin and flesh turns pale. Drain the chicken and soak in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain again and pat dry with some kitchen towels.
Place your kelp at the bottom of a deep pan or saucepan. Then place the chicken, radish and chilli on top. Add 500ml of water, the mirin and soy sauce to the pan.
Bring the broth to a boil over medium heat, and then reduce the heat to low before adding the spring onions.
Allow the broth to gently simmer while skimming off any scum that rises to the top. Do this for 30 minutes.
Before the chicken is done, cook the broccoli by boiling or steaming until done.
Transfer the chicken, daikon and broccoli to a bowl. Strain the broth to remove the kelp and spring onions and pour the broth over the chicken, daikon and broccoli then serve.

Seaweed Rice Rolls (Gimbap)

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To Prep the Spinach
Combine the blanched spinach, 2 minced garlic cloves, ½ tsp salt, and 1 tbsp sesame oil in a bowl.
Mix well by hand and put it on a large platter with the sliced yellow pickled radish.

To Prep the Carrots
Combine the carrots with ¼ tsp salt. Mix well and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Heat a pan and add a few drops of vegetable oil.
Squeeze out excess water from the carrots, then saute for about 1 minute. Put it on the platter next to the spinach.

To Prep the Eggs
Crack 3 eggs in a bowl and add ¼ tsp salt. Beat with fork and remove the stringy chalaza.
Drizzle a few drops of oil on a heated 25cm non-stick pan. Wipe off the excess with a paper towel so only a thin sheen of oil remains. Turn down the heat to low and pour the egg mixture into the pan. Spread it into a large circle so it fills the pan.
When the bottom of the egg is cooked, flip it over with a spatula. Remove from the heat and let it cook slowly in the hot pan for about 5 mins, keeping the egg as yellow as possible, and not brown.
Cut it into 2cm wide strips. Put it next to the spinach on the platter.

To Prep the Rice
Place freshly made rice in a large, shallow bowl. Gently mix in ½ tsp salt and 1 tbsp sesame oil with a rice scoop or a wooden spoon.
Let it stand until it’s no longer steaming.
Cover and set aside.

To Prep the Steaks
Trim the fat from the skirt steaks and slice into 1cm x 10cm strips. Put the strips into a bowl. Add 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 minced garlic clove, ¼ tsp ground black pepper, 3 tsp sugar, and ½
tbsp sesame oil.
Mix well by hand.
Set aside, and let them marinate for 30 mins
Heat up a pan over medium high heat and cook the marinated beef, stirring it with a wooden spoon until well cooked.
Set aside.

To roll the Gimbap
Place a sheet of gim on a bamboo mat with the shiny side down. Evenly spread about ¾ cup of cooked rice over it, leaving about 5cm uncovered on one side of the gim.
Place beef, carrot, yellow pickled radish strip, a few egg strips, and spinach in the centre of the rice.
Use both hands to roll the mat (along with gim and rice) over the fillings, so one edge of the rice and gim reaches the opposite edge. This centres the fillings in the roll, so they’ll be nicely in the middle when you slice it.
Grab the mat with both hands and press it tightly as you continue rolling the gimbap. Push out the mat as you roll, so it doesn’t get wrapped in the gimbap.
Remove the roll from the mat at the end and set the finished roll aside with the seam down, to seal it nicely.
Repeat 4 more times with the remaining ingredients.
Put some sesame oil on the finished rolls and sprinkle some sesame seeds over the top. Cut each roll into 1cm bite size pieces with a sharp knife, occasionally wiping it with a wet paper towel or cloth to clean the starch off and to ease cutting.
Put it on a plate and serve immediately or pack it in a lunchbox.

Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetables

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To Cook
In a wok under high heat, heat oil and stir fry garlic and blanched vegetables for 1 min.
Add black fungus, fried bean curd and chicken stock and stir through vegetables. Add corn flour mixture.
Cook until sauce thickens to desired consistency. Serve with steamed rice.

Drunken Thai Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)

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To Prep
First, combine all the ingredients for the stir-fry sauce in a bow and set aside. This amount ingredients used is sufficient for 4 serves, extra sauce can be kept in the fridge for a month, and can be used for other stir fries.
Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and chillis until you get a rough paste.

To Cook
In a wok or large pan, heat some vegetable oil over high heat. When the oil begins to smoke, add the pounded garlic and chillis. Fry until the garlic begins to brown.
Add your meat to the wok and stir fry until almost cooked. Then add your baby corn and asparagus.
When the vegetables are done, add your noodles, stir fry sauce and sugar. Using some wrist action, toss the noodles in the wok to evenly coat with the stir fry sauce.
Add the black soy sauce and toss again to mix. Mix the noodles around a few more times until the sauce is absorbed.
When the noodles are done, remove from the heat and quickly mix in the Thai basil to wilt them. Transfer to a serving plate and serve hot.

Korean Spicy Chewy Noodles (Jjolmyeon)

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To Cook
Add all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside for later.
Blanch the soybean sprouts in boiling water for about a minute. Then drain into a colander and cool the soybean sprouts under running water. Let the soybean sprouts sit in the colander for a few minutes to allow any excess water to drain out.
Prepare noodles according to packet instructions. Once cooked, immediately drain into a colander and rinse under cold water. Drain any excess water from the noodles.
Portion noodles into individual bowls. Then stack on vegetables on top of the noodles.
Add 4-5 tablespoons of sauce (to your liking) to the noodles and sprinkle with some sesame seeds.
Add half an egg into each bowl of noodles and serve.

Steamed Okra

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To Cook
Bring water to a boil in a large pot. When the water is boiling, put in the okra for 1-2 mins. Drain the okra and place on a plate.
Combine half of the garlic with the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice in a small bowl.
Pour the sauce over the okra and garnish with the garlic and chilli.
Serve.