To Cook
Season prawns with a pinch of salt.
Place all sauce ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil. Set aside.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix eggs with iced water and sake then, pour into flour mixture. Stir the bowl 10 times lightly in circular motion.
Heat enough oil for deep frying and sesame oil in a wok over medium high heat. Meanwhile, place prawns and vegetables into a bowl and dust with corn starch, coating ingredients well. Pour batter over the ingredients and mix gently. Ladle a scoop of ingredients into a wire sieve and drain off excess batter. Carefully place the battered ingredients into the hot oil and work quickly to collect pieces of stray ingredients into a big piece using chopsticks. Once the fritter is golden browned, dish out and drain off excess oil by placing the fritter on paper towels. Repeat with remaining battered ingredients.
To serve, reheat sauce. Meanwhile, divide rice into individual serving bowls. Pour some sauce over the rice. Top each bowl with a fritter and drizzle with more sauce. Serve immediately.
Vegetables
Korean Beef Japchae
To Begin
Add noodles to boiling water and cook for 8 mins. Rinse with cold water and drain. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine marinade ingredients then add beef and mix well. Leave to marinate in the fridge.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan and stir-fry the vegetables with beef, until beef is cooked. Remove from heat, set aside.
Heat another 1 tbsp oil and stir-fry noodles with soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil for 2-3 mins.
Add vegetables and beef. Serve hot.
Yam Rice
To Prep
Place pork belly slices into a bowl and mix well with all pork marinade ingredients. Set aside.
To Cook
Heat up oil in a wok or large pan. Sauté shallots until aromatic. Dish out and set aside. Toss dried shrimps into the remaining oil and fry until fragrant. Add marinated pork belly slices and stir fry for about 2 mins. Then, place in mushrooms and yam and stir fry for another 2 mins.
Add in rice and rice seasonings. Turn the heat to medium-low and gently stir fry to mix well.
Carefully pour in rice mixture into a rice cooker and pour in water. Cook the rice in the rice cooker and allow to rest for at least 5 mins once ready. Gently mix the rice to loosen the grains.
Serve yam rice with sprinkles of spring onions and fried shallots.
Hanoi Sweet Potato and Prawn Fritters
To Prep
Combine flour, 1½ tsp salt, turmeric, cayenne, spring onions, egg, soda water and iced water in a bowl and mix until just blended. Do not overmix. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Add 1 tbsp iced water at a time if the batter is too thick.
Place prawns in a separate bowl and season with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add 120ml batter over the prawns and mix well to coat evenly. Then, add sweet potatoes to the bowl of remaining batter and mix well.
To Cook
Heat enough oil for deep frying in a wok or deep-frying pan over high heat. Place round metal rings into the oil and pour in the sweet potato batter into each metal ring and top with a battered prawn each. Fry until golden browned and cooked through. Drain off excess oil. Repeat with remaining batter.
Serve with lettuce leaves and sweet chilli sauce.
Braised Barramundi with Tomatoes and Pickled Mustard Greens
To Prep
Season both sides of the fish fillets with salt and pepper. Dust both sides with flour and dust off the excess.
To Cook
Heat 3 tbsp oil over high heat in a large non-stick pan. Carefully place fish fillets into hot oil and fry until lightly browned on both sides. Dish out and set aside.
Add in 1 tbsp oil, turn the flame to medium heat and sauté shallots and spring onions until softened, about 3 mins. Stir in garlic and chillies and cook for another 1 min until fragrant.
Toss in tomatoes and cook for about 5 mins until softened. Stir in mustard greens and pour in chicken stock. Carefully place fish fillets into the broth and increase the heat to medium high heat. Cook and baste the fish fillets for about 8 mins until the fish fillets are just cooked through.
Mix in fish sauce until well combined. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with fresh coriander and fried shallots. Serve with steamed rice.
Korean Fist Rice (Jumeok-bap)
To Begin
Cook rice according to packaging instructions.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry luncheon meat until crispy and browned. Set aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in the same pan. Sauté garlic, toss in carrots and kimchi and season with a pinch of salt. Cook until carrots soften. Set aside.
Place cooked rice into a large bowl. Top with luncheon meat, fish roe, kimchi-carrot mix, sesame oil, sesame seeds, Japanese mayonnaise and toasted laver strips.
Wearing gloves, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Season with salt accordingly. Then, form the rice mixture into bite-sized balls. Enjoy!
Bean Sprouts with Salted Fish
To Cook
Heat oil in a pan or wok and sauté garlic until fragrant. Add salted fish pieces and fry until aromatic.
Toss in bean sprouts and add soy sauce, oyster sauce and spring onions. Stir fry for 1 min and serve hot.
Japanese Pork and Vegetables Miso Soup (Tonjiru)
To Cook
Heat 1 tsp oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat and sauté pork belly slices until the surface of the pork is slightly browned. Toss in onions and sauté until fragrant and softened. Add in all the vegetables and fry until well mixed, about 5 mins.
Add in konnyaku cubes and stir gently until combined. Pour in dashi stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 mins until vegetables are cooked through.
Once ready, stir in miso paste until dissolved. Gently place in tofu cubes and stir to mix. Sprinkle in spring onions and give a quick stir to combine.
Serve hot. Garnish with more fresh spring onions and Japanese spice mixture if desired.
Fragrant Preserved Mustard
To Cook
Heat cooking oil on low, sauté garlic, ginger and shallots until aromatic.
Add preserved Chinese mustard and stir fry until aromatic.
Add in the Seasonings and mix well.
Dish out, let cool and store in an airtight container.
Northern Vietnam Spring Rolls (Nem Ran)
To Prep
Combine all the ingredients for the dipping sauce and mix until the sugar has dissolved.
Set it aside for serving later.
To Cook
Combine the minced pork and shrimp in a mixing bowl.
Season with salt, pepper and sugar before adding the shallots and garlic.
Next, add the shredded vegetables, mushrooms, and glass noodles and mix well.
Mix in the egg white and let the spring roll filling sit for 10 mins.
Soften the rice paper wrapper with a damp cloth. Then, scoop a spoonful of the filling on one edge of the rice paper wrapper.
Roll up the wrapper like you would roll a burrito but with the ends of the wrapper tucked in.
Heat up some oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry the spring rolls until they are golden brown.
Remove the excess oil from the cooked spring rolls using a paper towel.
Serve the spring tolls hot with the dipping sauce.
Fish, Prawns and Zucchini Pan-fried in Egg Batter (Modeumjean)
To Cook
Prepare all the ingredients.
Sprinkle salt on both sides of the zucchini slices and leave to the side for 20 mins. Dry the slices after.
Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the shrimp and leave to the side for 15 mins. Do the same for the fish fillet slices.
Dip the zucchini slices, shrimp and fish in flour to prepare.
Heat a skillet with 1 tbsp of oil at low-medium heat. Dip each piece in the beaten egg before and place in the skillet.
Pan fry for 1-2 mins on each side. It is ready when it is slightly golden in colour.
Repeat for all the ingredients, adding oil as needed.
Combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar and pepper to taste.
Serve warm with the combined sauce.
Sencha Daifuku
To Prep
Steep 3 tea bags in 150ml hot water for 4 mins. Remove bags and allow tea to cool completely.
On a baking tray, sprinkle potato starch liberally. Set aside.
On a 10cm piece of cling wrap, place 3 tsp red bean paste and slightly flatten. Place a strawberry on the paste and using the cling wrap, gently move the paste to wrap around the fruit. Unwrap and set aside. Repeat with remaining strawberries and red bean paste.
To Cook
In a medium-sized, microwaveable bowl, mix glutinous rice flour, 80ml of sencha tea and sugar until well combined.
Cover the bowl with cling wrap, leaving a small gap on the side to allow steam to escape. Microwave for 2 mins.
Carefully fold over cling wrap and with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, quickly stir the dough to loosen. Cover the bowl again and microwave for 1 min.
Tip hot dough onto the tray with potato starch. Gently roll the mochi dough over to cover entire surface with starch. Cut dough into 3 equal portions.
Cover hands liberally with starch, then flatten 1 piece of mochi dough to approximately 6 cm across. Place dough on one palm and brush off excess starch on the top surface. Place red bean coated strawberry on the dough. Pinch opposite sides of the dough to seal in the red bean and strawberry. Roll in between your palms to form a ball and place mochi on the starched tray.
Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Once completed, brush off access starch on the surface and place mochi on a serving dish. Serve with a cup of Japanese tea.