Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Lobster Tails with Ginger Sauce & Vietnamese Noodle Salad

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To Prep
Trim lobster tails, slice in half lengthwise, brush with a little peanut oil, cook on a hot BBQ grill, cut side down until half cooked, turn over and continue to cook until just done.

Ginger Sauce
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add ginger and fry gently until fragrant, mix the potato flour with a little stock to make a paste.
Add all the remaining ingredients, except the potato flour paste, simmer for a few minutes until flavours develop, add the potato flour paste and simmer until thickened, season with a squeeze of lime juice (to taste).

Sweet Potato & Spring Onion Fritters
Mix the tempura batter according to the package instructions, stir the sweet potato and spring onion through until combined.
Heat the oil in a heavy based frying pan, fry spoonfuls of the batter until cooked through and golden, on both sides.

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad
Prepare the noodles according to the packet instructions, set aside to cool.
Slice the cucumber into thin ribbons, discarding the seeds, spiralise or julienne the carrot, slice the onion, chilli and spring onions. Toss through the noodles.
Combine the dressing ingredients, adjust the flavours to taste, toss through the salad just before serving.

To serve
Arrange Asian leaves and salad on a serving plate, sprinkle with coriander leaves, chilli and spring onion slices.
Arrange the BBQ Lobster Tails on top, drizzle with ginger sauce and garnish with fried ginger floss (finely shredded ginger, fried till crisp).

Grilled Barramundi Fish with Sambal Matah

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To Prep
Marinate the fish with fish sauce for 1 hour. After marinating, grilled the fish on each side till cooked. When the fish is almost cooked, brush the grilled fish with ABC Sweet Soy Sauce. Put aside on a serving plate.

Preparing Sambal Matah
Place the shrimp paste in a small frying pan over low-medium heat and dry fry for about 3 mins, turning a couple of times, and flattening.
While the shrimp paste is toasting, let’s get all the ingredients ready. Start by halving, then slicing the kaffir lime leaves fairly finely.
Chop up the chillies and garlic finely. Slice the lemongrass very thinly.
Place the toasted shrimp paste, the salt, sugar and lime juice in a medium-sized bowl and with the back of a spoon, mash up the shrimp paste and mix everything up until you have a paste.
Add all the ingredients that you’ve chopped into the bowl and toss everything well, making sure that all the chopped ingredients are coated with the shrimp paste and lime juice sauce. Serve on top of the grilled barramundi fillet.

Teriyaki Beef and Quinoa Bowl

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To Cook
Place the beef in a shallow dish with 1 tbsp of the teriyaki dressing. Turn the beef a couple of times to coat and place in the fridge for 30 mins to marinate.
Place the quinoa in a saucepan with a cup of water, bring to aboil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 mins. Drain and set aside to cool.
Preheat a grill pan or BBQ on high. Cook the beef for 2-3 mins each side, or until done to your liking. Allow to rest for 5 mins.
Meanwhile, chop some of the tomatoes (leaving some whole with the vines intact to decorate), slice the avocado into thin wedges, and use a peeler to peel thin strips of cucumber.
For the dressing, finely grate the ginger and add to a small bowl with remaining ingredients. Whisk to combine. Stir through the quinoa. Divide the quinoa between two bowls.
Slice the beef, then arrange the beef and vegetables on top of the quinoa.

Grilled Miso Salmon and Japanese Coleslaw in Steamed Bao

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To Prep
To make the salmon marinade, stir together the miso, vinegar, sugar and sake. Cover the salmon fillets with the marinade. Place in the fridge for at least 30 mins or better still overnight.
To make the coleslaw, place the mayonnaise, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Add to the cabbage and snow peas. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Set aside.
Heat a large steamer over a medium-high heat. Steam the buns for 5 mins or until heated through (this can be done in batches according to the size of the steamer).
While buns are steaming, heat a charcoal grill, BBQ hot plate or frying pan. Lift salmon out of marinade and grill over medium heat for 3-5 mins on each side or until the fish flakes easily and is cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil.
To assemble, place a portion of grilled miso salmon in a bao bun, top with coleslaw, garnish with nori, spring onions, cucumber and chilli. Eat while hot.

Fragrant BBQ Fish

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Vietnamese Slaw
In a bowl, combine the wombok, spring onions and carrots, roughly mix together.
Add in the Thai basil, coriander and chilli, lightly mix.
In a small bowl, combine the rice wine vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, ginger and garlic, stir thoroughly until the sugar has dissolved.
Pour dressing over salad, ensuring all salad components are covered in dressing. Top salad with the roasted peanuts. Put into the fridge to chill whilst making the fish parcels.

Fish parcels
Using a large bowl, combine the lemongrass, shallots, turmeric, garlic, pepper and salt, mix well. Then add in the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, mix again to combine.
Heat the BBQ to medium heat. Place banana leaf onto the bbq to soften (about 15-20 secs). Remove banana leaf from heat.
Lay out banana leaf, then place a piece of fish in the middle along with half of the lemongrass mixture. Fold the banana leaf over the fish covering all sides and secure with toothpicks to ensure it remains closed while cooking.
Place banana leaf parcel onto the grill at medium heat, close lid and cook for 8-10 mins.
Remove parcel from the grill and let it rest for 1 minute.
Serve the fish parcels with the fresh Vietnamese slaw.

Chicken Red Curry

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To Cook
Heat up cooking oil in a pan on high and add half a jar of Valcom Red Curry Paste. Keep stirring for 2 mins until fragrant.
Add one can of coconut milk and mix in with the paste.
Once hot, add the chicken thighs and let simmer for 5 mins.
Add the other can of coconut milk.
Get the broccoli and beans and add to the mix. Let it simmer under a lid for another 5 mins, or until the chicken is cooked.
When ready, remove from heat and serve on top of rice. Add sugar snaps, chilli, lime, coriander and fried shallots to garnish.

Noodle with Meatball (Mie Bakso)

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Handmade meatball recipe
Finely chop all the garlic and put it in a big bowl, mixing it together with the mince, tapioca flour, baking powder, 1 egg white, salt, sugar and white pepper.
Using your hands and gloves, mix it properly for 3-5 mins.
Boil 2 eggs until well-cooked, peel the skin off and leave it cold. Wrap it with batter/mix.
Make small/medium round meatballs with the batter until it’s all used up.
Boil the meatballs in a pot of boiling water for 5 mins. You can use this boiling water for the soup base or, use bones to boil a soup base.

Method for Noodle Soup
Boil the egg noodles and vermicelli for 3 mins in boiling water.
Put 1 tsp fish sauce, 1 tsp of soy sauce in the bowl with egg noodle and vermicelli then pour in the soup base (adjust to your taste – add more or less fish sauce and soy sauce or, maybe a bit of vinegar)

Note
You might put additional ABC Sweet Soy Sauce and Sambal Bakso for extra sweetness and spiciness. You can also add bok choy, coriander or pork crackling to your bakso.

Pumpkin and Chickpea Curry

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To Cook
Prep all vegetables.
In a heated pan, add coconut oil and fry garlic, onion and shallots.
Add the curry powder, tomatoes, coconut milk and bay leaves – bring to a boil.
Add the pumpkin and chickpeas – reduce to a low heat and cover with a lid for 20-30 mins.
Serve with white rice and some fresh coriander for presentation.

Harajuku Brunch Bowl

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To Cook
Place the egg in a small saucepan of hot water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 4 mins. Then using a slotted spoon, remove the egg from the water and place in a bowl of iced water to cool. Once cooled, peel and slice in half.
Add the soba noodles to the simmering water. Simmer for 4 mins, then refresh under cold water.
Chop the broccoli into small florets. Spiralise the zucchini and slice the radish into thin discs.
Refill the saucepan with water, bring to a boil, then cook the broccoli for 2-3 mins until bright green and tender. Add the peas to the saucepan during the last minute to cook through. Drain and refresh under cold water.
Chop the avocado in half and scoop out the flesh. Paint half the cut side of avocado in Kewpie Mayonnaise. Combine the seeds in a small dish and press the cut side of the avocado into the seeds so they adhere to the mayonnaise.
To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a small glass and whisk to combine.
Combine the noodles and zucchini, then arrange all the ingredients into a bowl. Scatter with micro herbs and serve with the dressing on the side.

Beef Pad See Ew

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To Prep
Peel, then mince 2 cloves of garlic. Slice the beef into small bite sized pieces and slice the broccoli into small strips

To Cook
Heat the wok on medium heat and add the peanut oil. Wait until the oil is hot and then fry the garlic for about 10 sec, making sure it sizzles in the hot oil.
Add the chopped beef to the wok and stir fry until browned and almost cooked through.
Turn down the heat and toss in the rice noodles, the Chinese broccoli, the carrot, the light soy sauce, the dark soy sauce and the sugar.
Cook the noodles for 1-2 mins folding them gently.
After the noodles are well mixed, move them to one side of the wok and proceed to crack an egg into the empty side. Crank up the heat and scramble the egg.
Fold the noodles onto the egg and cook for thirty more seconds then turn off the heat and serve it out!

Pomelo, Prawn & Green Mango Salad Bowl

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To Cook
Marinate prawns in mixture for 1 hour.
Assemble salad in 4 bowls and stir through salad dressing.
Stir fry prawns for 2-3 mins in batches in a hot wok with peanut oil. Place on top of each bowl.
Garnish with some toasted coconut flakes, sliced red chilli (optional) and remaining mixed herbs.
Enjoy with cold beer!

Cantonese Stir-fry Chicken

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To Cook
Heat oil in a wok on high heat, add chicken and stir-fry until cooked through for 3-4 mins.
Add vegetables and sauce to pan and stir-fry until sauce thickens for 1-2 mins.
Garnish with sesame seeds, green onions and serve with steamed jasmine rice.