Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Vegetarian Gyoza

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To Make Dipping Sauce
In a small bowl, combine all dipping sauce ingredients and set aside. Rest for 10-15 mins.

To Make Gyoza
Keeping the gyoza skins aside, combine all gyoza ingredients in a mixing bowl. Adjust the amount of salt and pepper to taste.
Separate into 8 portions, scoop each portion onto the gyoza skins.
Fold in half and pleat the edges to seal. You can secure the bottom layer with your index finger and fold the top layer in 1cm intervals with your thumb onto the bottom layer.
Heat oil in a frying pan on medium high, place the gyoza with the seal facing up. Without flipping the gyoza, pan-fry until the bottom is golden brown.
Add ⅓ cup water and cook covered until water is dry and the gyoza are cooked.
Transfer to serving plate and serve with dipping sauce.

Steamed Korean Kimchi Dumplings (Kimchi Mandu)

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To Prep
Finely chop the kimchi and squeeze out as much liquid as possible by hand.
Then using a cheesecloth, squeeze out water from tofu.
Blanch the bean sprouts in boiling water, drain, then finely chop and squeeze out water. The ingredients, especially the ones where liquid has been squeezed out, should be dry and crumbly.
Finely chop the onion and spring onions.
Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well by hand.
Place the other half of the egg in a separate bowl, to be used for sealing the dumpling wrappers in the next step.
Place one teaspoonful of the filling on a dumpling wrapper.
Wet the edges of the wrapper with the egg wash and seal tightly, pushing the air out with your fingertips, and into a half-moon shape.
Then, join the two ends together, by applying the egg wash to one end and then press tightly to create a round shape.
Repeat this process until all the fillings and wrappers are used. This recipe should make about 25 – 30 pieces of mandu.

To Cook
Line baking paper or cheesecloth on the steamer to prevent the dumplings from sticking to the base of the steamer.
Freshly made Kimchi dumplings can be steamed for about 8 minutes in a steamer. Alternatively, the dumplings can be frozen and cooked later by placing in steamer for about 12 mins or until cooked.
Combine all the sauce ingredients and mix well. Serve the mandu with the dipping sauce.

Korean Noodles in Black Bean Sauce (Jajangmyeon)

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To Prep
Prepare the pork by cutting them into 2-3cm cubes. Marinate the pork with a tablespoon of rice wine (or mirin), ginger, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cut the onion, cabbage and zucchini to 2-3cm cubes. Set aside.

To Cook
In a small saucepan, heat up 2 tbsp of oil then add the black bean paste, sugar, and oyster sauce. Fry it over medium heat for 2-3 mins, stirring constantly.
Heat a large pan over medium high heat with the remaining1 tbsp of oil. Add the pork and stir fry until cooked. Add the vegetables and cook until soft, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the black bean paste and mix everything thoroughly together until all the meat and vegetables are coated well with the paste.
Pour in the stock and bring it to a boil for 3-4 mins.
Place the potato or corn starch into a small bowl, dissolved in ¼ cup of water. Stir in to the pot of sauce and cook briefly until the sauce is thickened.
In a separate pot, heat water and add the noodles in the boiling water. Cook according to the package instructions and drain, the noodles should have a firm bite to them. Place a serving size of noodles in each bowl. Spoon the sauce over the noodles and garnish with the thinly julienned cucumber and carrot.

Green Curry With Roast Pork (Gaeng Keow Wan Mu Yang)

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To Cook
Grill or roast pork steak in an oven (medium-rare) and slice into 1cm thick. Set aside.
Heat oil in a wok or frying pan, stir-fry Valcom Green Curry Paste over low heat for 2 mins or until fragrant. Slowly add half of the Valcom Premium Coconut Milk and bring to the boil over medium heat.
Add the roast pork, Squid Brand Fish Sauce and sugar. Stir through.
Mix the remaining of Valcom Premium Coconut Milk with water and slowly add into the mixture. Bring to boil for 2 minutes.
Add eggplants, capsicum, kaffir lime leaves and red chilli. Stir well. Return to boil until the eggplants are cooked. Add basil leaves before removing from heat. Serve with steamed rice.

Miso Katsu

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To Prep
Thinly slice or shred the cabbage with a shredder into thin slices. Wash under cold running water and drain completely. Keep it cool in the fridge.
To make miso sauce, heat 1 tbsp mirin and 2 tbsp sake in a small saucepan over high heat and let the alcohol evaporate. Then lower the heat and add 2 tbsp. sugar, ½ cup dashi, and 3 tbsp Hatcho Miso.

To Cook
Combine well with a silicone spatula. Cook for 3 mins on low heat, stir frequently to avoid burning on the bottom of the saucepan. Turn off the heat and set aside when the sauce is thickened.
To make the Tonkatsu, remove excessive fat from each pork loin and make a couple of slits on the sides where the connective tissue is between the meat and fat. This is because red meat and fat have different elasticity, and they will shrink and expand at different rates cooked. This will prevent meat from curling up and will allow the meat to stay flat when deep frying.
Pound the meat with a meat pounder, or you may prefer to use the back of the knife to pound. Using your hands, mold the extended meat back into original shape.
Season both sides of the meat with salt and pepper.
Whisk together 1 large egg and 1 tbsp water in a large bowl. Prepare panko breadcrumbs in a separate plate.
Place flour in a bowl and coat pork loin with flour. Remove excess flour.
Then dip in egg mixture, followed by coating with panko breadcrumbs. After removing excess breadcrumbs, press the loin gently.
Heat oil in a pot over medium high heat and wait till oil reaches 180°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, stick a chopstick in the oil and see if tiny bubbles start to appear around the tip of the chopstick. Alternatively, you can drop one piece of panko into the oil, and if it sinks down to the middle of oil and comes right up, then that’s around 180°C as well.
When the oil reaches to that temperature, gently lower the pork loin into the oil. Make sure that the oil does not go over 180°C or the pork katsu will look burnt.
Deep fry for 1 min on one side and flip to cook the other side for 1min. Reduce to 45 secs for each side your meat is thinner than 1cm.
Remove meat from pot and hold it vertically for a few seconds to remove excess oil. Place on top of wire rack, or paper towel and let it sit for 4 mins. There is no need to check whether the inside is cooked or not at this stage.
After resting for 4 mins, bring the oil back to 180°C and deep fry the meat for 30 secs on each side.
Poke the meat with a chopstick and if clear liquid comes out then it’s done. Drain the oil by holding the meat vertically again for a few seconds. Then leave it on top of a wire rack or paper towel for 2 mins. If you are using a paper towel, keep the meat in a vertical position so that the other side does not get soggy.
Cut the Tonkatsu into large pieces, lengthwise by pressing the knife directly down instead of moving back and forth. This way the breadcrumbs will stay intact. Plate the Tonkatsu and serve with the fresh cabbage on the side. You may like to pour the sauce just before serving or you may serve the sauce on the side.
The sauce can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or alternatively you may freeze it. You can also use this sauce for marinating other meat such as fish or use as a dipping sauce for hot pot and steamed vegetables.

Japanese Style Savoury Pancake (Monjayaki)

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To Prep
Mix the flour, water and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, prepare and mix all other solid ingredients.

To Cook
Place the solid ingredients on the pan or hot plate. Cook and cut the ingredients at the same time with two teppanyaki grill spatulas.
Once the ingredients are cooked, form the ingredients into a donut shape, creating a circle in the middle, and then pour the mixed batter in the middle of the donut and bring to a boil.
Mix everything up to form a pancake and let it cook thoroughly.
Once cooked, add mayonnaise and tonkatsu sauce on top for extra flavour. Eat by scraping off pancake mixture with a small spatula, directly from the hot plate.

Milky Japanese Salmon Hot Pot

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To Prep
Cut the salmon into bite-size pieces at an angle by holding your knife diagonally, nearly parallel to the cutting board. This method gives the ingredient more surface area so that it cooks faster and soaks up flavour quickly.
Season fish with ½ tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper.
Cut the cabbage into large pieces. Wash and peel the potatoes, cut into cubes. Then cut the onion into wedges.

To Cook
Pour 3 cups of water into a clay pot; add miso paste, heat until it boils. Add in onions, potatoes and cabbage; cover and let it boil until potatoes are soft. Then remove lid, add the salmon, cover and cook quickly.
Once all ingredients are cooked, add milk and butter and mix thoroughly. Black pepper may be added to taste.

Korean Mix Vegetables and Seafood in Mustard Sauce (Yang Jang Pi)

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To Cook
Bring a pot of water to boil and add yang jang pi noodle sheet. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the starch noodles are al dente. Drain noodles into a colander and rinse under running tap until the noodles are cool.
Season the noodles with ½ tbsp soy sauce, ½ tbsp. sugar, 2 tsp sesame oil and a pinch of salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Marinate pork using the pork marinade and set aside. Mix mustard sauce ingredients and set aside.
On a large round platter or plate, arrange squid, prawns, cucumber, capsicum, 5 shitake mushrooms and omelette in a circular arrangement and place yang jang pi noodles in the middle.
Heat up a wok with oil and add marinated pork. Saute pork over high heat and add onions, ¼ carrot and the remaining 2 shitake mushrooms and briefly saute. Add garlic chives and spring onions and quickly saute for about 15- 20 seconds.
Pour pork stir fry over the noodles in the middle. Serve yang jang pi with mustard sauce poured over.

Spring Onion Pancake (Congyoubing)

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To Prep
Thinly slice the spring onions, then mix with sesame oil and ½ tsp of salt. Set aside and refrigerate.
In a large bowl, mix the plain flour and ½ tsp of salt. Pour in the boiling water and mix together thoroughly.
Gradually add the cold water and knead the dough until you obtain a soft and smooth dough. Set aside and let stand for 45 mins.
Divide the dough into 10 even pieces. Using a rolling pin, thinly roll each piece of dough to a thickness of about 1cm.
Brush each piece of dough with oil and generously sprinkle with the sliced spring onions.
Using your palm, roll each piece of dough to form a long stick, and then twirl each stick to form a snail shell shape. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Roll each snail using a rolling pin to form thick circles, no more than 1cm in thickness.

To Cook
Heat a lightly oiled pan over medium heat and cook each pancake for about 3 to 4 mins on each side.
Slice and serve warm.

Korean Vegetable Tempura (Yache Twigim)

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To Cook
Add water to the twigim mix. Mix lightly using chopsticks.
Add the vegetable ingredients to the batter and mix.
Heat oil in a wok or saucepan and fry the battered vegetables in small batches, dropping about 2 tbsp of mixture at a time. Take twigim (Korean tempura) out of the oil when they turn pale gold or when the vegetables have started to soften. This should take about 2 mins.
Drain fried vegetables on paper towel. Leave it to cool. Re-fry twigim or tempura in moderately hot oil, until it turns golden and crisp. Drain well on paper towel before serving with dipping sauce.
Note: If not using the Korean tempura flour, substitute with ¾ cup flour, ¼ cup of cornflour, 1-2 tbsp rice flour, 1 egg and ½ tsp salt. You can substitute sweet potatoes or potatoes with other root vegetables.