Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Soft Shell Crab Hand Roll

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To Prep
Add the sushi vinegar to the cooked sushi rice and gentle fold in to the rice until well incorporated.
Combine 125 g of tempura flour and ice water together in a mixing bowl and lightly stir them together. Don’t over mix as pockets of flour will make the batter airy. Pour the remaining 50 g of flour in to a separate bowl.

To Cook
Heat the oil to about 180°C, then dredge the crab halves one by one in the tempura flour, then into the batter and fry till golden brown. Let cool on paper towels to drain the excess oil.

To Make the Roll
Halve the seaweed sheets. Place sushi rice and then the lettuce, cucumber and half a crab onto one side of nori.
Fold the nearest corner of the nori over the filling and start to shape.
The hand roll should be shaped cone shaped to stop any rice from falling out.

Kabocha Hobakjuk

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To Cook
Peel and cut kabocha into 3cm cubes. Place the kabocha in a steamer for about 15-20 mins, or until soft. Set aside to cool.
While the kabocha is cooking, prepare the dough for the rice dumplings. In a bowl, mix together ½ cup of sweet rice flour and 3 tbsp hot water. Gradually add more water, 1 tsp at a time until the dough reaches a smooth and tender consistency. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces, then use your palm to roll each of them into small balls. Cover with a kitchen towel to prevent dough from drying. Set aside.
Once your steamed kabocha has cooled, place in a blender with water, ¼ cup sweet rice flour, brown sugar and salt and blend until smooth. Then transfer to a large pot, and cook over medium heat for 5 mins, stirring frequently. Sugar or salt may be added to your preferred taste.
Meanwhile, in a separate pot, bring half a pot of water to boil. Cook rice dumplings until they float to the top. Drain and remove rice dumplings from pot.
To serve, pour porridge into a bowl. Add 3 cooked rice dumplings to each bowl and garnish with cooked pomegranate seeds, black sesame seeds and spring onions.

Kabocha Tempura

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To Prep
Discard seeds and pith of the Kabocha, leaving the skin on. Slice into 10 thin pieces, about 6mm in thickness. Set aside.
Sift plain flour and add potato starch in a small mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, add ice-cold water and egg, whisk vigorously. Slowly pour egg mixture into the flour, mix the batter for about a minute with chopsticks in a ‘figure 8’ motion. Don’t overmix the batter, leave a few lumps in the mixture.

To Cook
In a deep pan, heat oil over high heat to 180 degrees Celsius.
Dip kabocha slices into the tempura batter one at a time, letting it cook for approximately 2 mins or until batter is light golden brown and kabocha is tender. Avoid deep frying more than 3-4 pieces of kabocha in the pot at any time.
Serve immediately with tempura dipping sauce.

Kabocha Pork Stir Fry

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To Prep
In a medium-sized bowl, combine 250g minced pork with the Minced Pork Seasoning. Mix well and set aside.10
Combine Kabocha seasoning in a small bowl and set aside.
Discard the kabocha seeds with a spoon, and then cut into thin slices. Place sliced kabocha in a bowl and add 1 tbsp water over, cover bowl with a lid and microwave for approximately 2 mins. Set aside.

To Cook
Heat oil on medium heat in a fry pan or wok, and sauté garlic until fragrant. Add in the marinated minced pork and stir fry until cooked through. Add and stir through the gochujang and the microwaved kabocha.
When kabocha is fully cooked (firm, but not too hard or mushy), add in the prepared Kabocha seasoning and stir through. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

Vegetarian Pho

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For the Soup Base
To make a more flavourful soup, charring the onion and ginger goes a long way. Do this by simply grilling the onion and ginger until their surface is slightly blackened – take care not to overdo this and actually burn them. Once they are nicely charred, remove from the heat and set them aside.
Dry fry the cinnamon, white peppercorns, star anise, cloves, and coriander seeds over low heat in a stockpot. Fry the herbs until fragrant.
Once the oils in the herbs have been released, add the vegetable stock, charred onion and ginger, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and soy sauce. Turn the heat up to high until the stock begins to boil.
Once the stock begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium low and cover with a lid. Allow to simmer for 60-90 mins.
When the soup is done, strain it through a wire-mesh strainer and season with salt. Keep the soup warm for later.

For the Noodles
Prepare the rice noodles according to packet instructions. Once cooked, drain the noodles through a sieve and rinse under running water to stop the cooking.
Heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat. Pan fry the brocollini until tender and lightly browned. You can add some salt to season the vegetables. Do the same for the button mushrooms and baby bok choy. Set aside the toppings.
Add the portions of noodles into their own separate bowls. Top with the pan fried vegetables, five spice tofu, and bean sprouts, then, pour over with the warm soup.
Garnish with lime wedges and Vietnamese mint and serve hot.

Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad (Bun Bo Xao)

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To Prep
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce and water and mix well.
Then, add the lime juice, garlic and chilli. Mix and set aside for later.
Combine the sliced beef, oyster sauce, ½ tbsp minced garlic, lemongrass, salt, pepper, chicken stock and 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a mixing bowl. Mix well, making sure that the beef in evenly coated in the marinade. Let the beef marinade for 20 mins.

To Cook
Heat up a wok and add the remainder of the vegetable oil. When the oil has heated up, sauté the rest of the garlic until fragrant.
Next add the beef to the wok and fry until the beef is no longer pink.
Cook the rice vermicelli according to packet instructions. Drain the noodles when they are done and portion into individual bowls.
Add the mixed greens and cucumber on top the vermicelli and top with the stir fried beef. Garnish with the do chu, fried shallots, and crushed peanuts.
Use the dipping fish sauce as a salad dressing. Mix the salad with the dressing and serve.

Cantonese Fried Flat Noodles in Egg Gravy (Wa Tan Hor)

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To Cook the Noodles
Lightly blanch the noodles in some boiling water to avoid them sticking together.
Heat up the oil in a wok over medium high heat. Add the noodles, dark soy sauce and light soy sauce.
Stir fry and toss until the noodles are evenly coated with the soy sauce. Continue until the noodles are cooked. Set aside.

To Cook the Gravy
Heat up some oil in the wok and fry the garlic until golden brown.
Next add the chicken, fish cake and prawns. Fry until the prawns and chicken are cooked and pour in the chicken stock
Season the chicken stock with the light soy sauce, oyster sauce and salt to taste. Once seasoned, bring the stock up to a boil.
Prepare a cornstarch mixture by adding the cornflour to water and mixing well, making sure there are no lumps.
Pour the cornstarch mixture into the chicken stock and simmer until the gravy thickens.
Add the choy sum into the gravy and crack the eggs in as well.
Turn the heat off as soon as you crack the eggs in and stir vigorously to break up the eggs and mix them into the gravy.
Pour the gravy over the prepared noodles and serve immediately.

Mixed Vegetable Curry (Sayur Lodeh)

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To Cook
Grind spice paste A ingredients together. Add in water to ⅓ of the height of the paste.
Heat the cooking oil and saute the paste A. Big bubbles will start to appear as the moisture evaporates. Keep stirring to prevent the paste from sticking to the sides of the wok or pan.
When the bubbles become smaller, add in all the vegetables, stir fry for 5 minutes.
Add in water and coconut milk. Bring this to a boil and add prawns, tofu, tempe and vermicelli bean thread. Boil for about 3 mins and serve hot.

Anchovies Sambal with Sator (Sambal Petai with Ikan Bilis)

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To Cook
Wash the dried anchovies and allow it to dry on a kitchen towel.
Heat oil in the pan and fry the dried anchovies until crispy. Put aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Then add the chili paste stir-fry briefly for 10 minutes.
Add the tamarind juice, sugar & salt. Let it cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the fried anchovies and petai and cook for another 2 minutes. Serve with hot rice.

Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish

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To Prep
First combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Make sure all the ingredients are properly combined and there are no lumps.
Add the pork belly to the marinade and mix well, making sure all the pork has a coating of the marinade. Leave to marinade for at least 15 minutes.
In a pan, heat up 3 tbsp of oil and pan fry the cubes of salted fish until golden and crispy. It is important not to use the dried variety of salted fish.
Remove the salted fish from the oil and set aside. Reserve about 2 tbsp of the frying oil for cooking the main dish.

To Cook
In a clay pot, heat up the reserved oil from frying the salted fish over medium heat.
Add the ginger and onions and stir fry. Once fragrant add in the pork belly and sear on all sides.
Add in the dried chillies, and salted fish. Stir well and immediately add in the sweetened dark soy sauce, shao tsing wine and chicken stock.
Mix the ingredients well and cover the clay pot for a couple of minutes.
Remove the lid and stir in the spring onions.
Serve hot with a bowl of steamed white rice.

Nyonya Chicken with Potato Stew (Ayam Pongteh)

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To Cook
Pound onions and garlic until fine. Add in fermented soy bean sauce and mash well.
Fry potato cubes in hot oil until lightly browned. Drain and leave about 50ml oil in wok. Add in the pounded ingredients and stir-fry until fragrant.
Put in the chicken and stir-fry for another 5 mins.
Add in 250ml water, palm sugar and thick soy sauce and bring to boil. Lower the heat and continue to cook until chicken is tender. Stir in potatoes, boil until tender and add in salt to taste.
Serve hot with rice.