Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Hoisin Meatballs

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To Prep
Combine all of the main ingredients together and mix until well combined. Allow to sit for 10 mins.
Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and lightly oil it.

To Cook
Roll the meat mixture in to bite-sized balls and place onto the baking paper.
Bake the meatballs for 10-15 mins.
While the meatballs are baking, combine the hoisin glaze ingredients into a pot and bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
To serve, spoon hoisin glaze on serving plate or dipping bowl. Serve with meatballs.

Stir Fried Green Beans with Dried Shrimps and Pickled Radish

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To Cook
Heat a clean, dry wok on low, stir fry the pickled radish until dry and fragrant. Remove and set aside.
Heat oil in wok, saute garlic and dried shrimps until fragrant slightly crispy.
Increase the heat to medium high, toss in the beans, pickled radish and chilli, stir fry until beans are cooked. Season with salt and toss well.
Transfer to serving plate or bowl, serve.

Pan Fried Omelette with Chives

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To Prep
Add the soy sauce and cornflour in the beaten eggs and mix well, set aside.

To Cook
Heat some oil in a fry pan, stir fry the chives briefly. Season with salt and mix well.
Use spatula to spread the chives evenly in the pan, pour the eggs evenly over the chives. Turn the heat to low, pan fry until golden brown and cooked.
Fold the omelette in half and transfer to a serving plate. Serve.

Steamed Taro Cake

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To Cook
Stir fry the onions and dried shrimp in some oil in a pan on medium high heat until fragrant.
Next, add the yam and fry until they start to color.
Separately, combine the rice flour, wheat starch and water in a mixing bowl and mix until you get a smooth paste with no lumps. Sieve the flour and wheat starch before adding to the water to minimize any lumps.
Slowly add the flour paste into the pan while stirring the contents of the pan continuously. Continue stirring until everything is well combined and you have a thick paste.
Next add the Chinese five-spice powder, salt and pepper. Mix well and taste to make sure the paste is well seasoned.
Pour the mixture into an appropriately sized and greased loaf pan or baking tin and steam for 45 minutes on high heat.
When the yam cake is cooked, sprinkle liberally with the toppings and garnish to your liking and serve with a side of sambal chilli sauce for dipping.

Blanched Bok Choy with Soy Sauce

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To Cook
Bring a pot of water to boil. Once the water is boiling, drizzle some oil into the pot and blanch the bok choy for 1 min. Remove and drain.
Place bok choy onto a plate and drizzle the soy sauce and sesame oil over it.
Garnish with red chilli and serve.

Chinese Chives Omelette

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To Prep
Add the soy sauce in the beaten eggs and mix well, set aside.

To Cook
Heat some oil in a fry pan, stir fry the chives briefly. Season with salt and mix well.
Use spatula to spread the chives evenly in the pan, pour the eggs evenly over the chives. Pan fry until golden brown.
Flip the omelette over and pan fry the other side to golden brown. Remove from pan and serve.

Pan Fried Omelette with Onion

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To Prep
Add the soy sauce in the beaten eggs and mix well, set aside.

To Cook
Heat some oil in a fry pan, sauté the onion until soft and fragrant.
Use spatula to spread the onion evenly in the pan, pour the eggs evenly over the onions. Pan fry until golden brown.
Flip the omelette over and pan fry the other side to golden brown. Remove from pan and garnish with spring onion. Serve.

Pork Ribs, Lotus Root and Peanut Soup

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To Cook
Blanch the pork in boiling water for 5 minutes and remove it from the water. Clean off any impurities and set them aside.
Put all the ingredients into a pot and add water. Ensure the water covers all the ingredients by 4-5cm, otherwise, add more water to the pot.
Bring the water to a boil on medium-high heat, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about 3 hours or until the pork is tender.
Alternatively, if using a slow cooker, bring the ingredients and water to boil. Then, transfer pot contents to a slow cooker to cook at low for 5-6 hours.
Season with salt and serve.

Vietnamese Bread Roll (Banh Mi) with Ham

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To Prep
Combine the water, rice vinegar, sugar, and salt and stir until they have all dissolved.
Place the daikon and carrots in to a resealable jar and pour over the pickling liquid before sealing the jar and storing in a fridge for at least 1 hour.

To Serve
Slice the Vietnamese ham into thin slices.
Cut the baguettes lengthwise and spread some of the mayonnaise on to the bread before adding the ham, pickled vegetables and cucumbers slices.
Garnish with coriander, spring onions and slices of chilli.

Meatballs in Thai Egg Drop Soup

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To Prep
In a large bowl, combine minced pork thoroughly with soy sauce, sesame oil, corn flour, salt and white pepper. Add minced mushrooms, carrots, garlic and shallots. Mix thoroughly until well combined. Marinate the meatball mixture in the refrigerator for at least 3 hrs or best, overnight.

To Cook
Remove from the refrigerator and mix again. Using hands, press the mixture together so that the ingredients will bind well. Preheat oven with fan at 205°C. Place aluminium foil over baking tray and lightly oil the surface of the aluminium foil. Roll meatball mixture into balls of 3-4cm in diameter and place onto the well-oiled aluminium foil. Bake for 20-25 mins until browned.
While baking the meatballs, heat up sesame oil in a pot and add in minced ginger and chillies. Stir fry until fragrant. Then add chicken stock, water, soy sauce, fish sauce and lime juice. Allow to boil over medium heat. Give the soup a taste and further add fish sauce and lime juice by 1 tsp intervals according to your liking.
Turn the heat to low and slowly stir in eggs to create ribbons. Put in carrots, spring onions and coriander. Give a quick stir and remove from heat.
Ladle egg drop soup into serving bowls. Gently drop the meatballs into the soup and serve.

Chinese Steamed Glutinous Rice with Chicken (Lo Mai Kai)

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To Prep
In two separate bowls, soak dried shiitake mushrooms and glutinous rice for a minimum of 5 hrs. Keep the water used to soak the dried shiitake mushrooms. Slice rehydrated mushrooms into half.
In a bowl, combine chicken and rehydrated mushrooms with marinade. Add 10 tbsp of leftover mushroom water. Set aside.

To Cook
Using a wok or large pan, heat up oil and sauté shallots and garlic over medium heat until aromatic. Put in glutinous rice and remaining seasoning ingredients and fry, stirring constantly to combine all the ingredients well.
Dish out glutinous rice mixture to a large plate. Drizzle over about 6 tbsp mushroom water. Place in a steamer and steam for 45 mins.
Once the glutinous rice is almost done, heat up some oil in the wok or pan and stir fry the marinated chicken and mushrooms. Add in Chinese sausages and sauté for 1 min. Thicken the sauce with corn flour slurry if necessary.
Using rice bowls or small soup bowls, place pieces of chicken, mushrooms and Chinese sausages into each bowl and spoon in some gravy. Fill up each bowl with glutinous rice. Cover the bowls with aluminium foil and place them back into the steamer. Steam for another 30 mins. Remove and serve hot.