To Cook
Combine coconut milk and Valcom Tom Yum Paste in a bowl. Set aside.
Stir-fry prawns in heated oil until cooked. Set 2 prawns aside for plating and the rest to be fried into the rice.
Add onion and green peas and stir-fry until cooked. Stir in tom yum mixture, sugar, prawns, cherry tomatoes and Valcom Kaffir Lime Leaves. Add rice and stir until well mixed and heated through.
Garnish with coriander before serving.
Hint: chicken fillet can be used in place of prawns.
Vegetables
Sour and Spicy Eggplant Stew (Asam Terong)
To Cook
In a large saucepan, bring the sliced chillies, shallots, garlic and water to a boil over medium heat, then simmer uncovered for 3-5 mins.
Add the eggplants and tamarind and simmer for about 2 mins until half-cooked.
Add the tomato, sugar and simmer for another 2-4 mins till the tomatoes are soft. Season with salt and remove from heat.
Transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot. Garnish it with crispy fried shallots, celery leaves and spring onions. Serve with steamed rice.
Saikoro Steak
To Prep
To prepare the steak, trim off fat and tendons and cut into mini cubes of 2-3cm. Season steak cubes with salt and pepper. Lay each steak cube on paper towel to remove excess water.
In the meantime, prepare daikon for garnishing. Cut off 4cm of daikon and grate finely with an oroshi daikon or a fine grater. Drain excess liquid and set aside.
To Cook
In a frying pan or a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and fry till golden brown and crispy. Transfer garlic slices onto paper towel to soak up excess oil.
Using the remaining garlic infused oil, heat pan over high heat until it begins to smoke. Add steak cubes to pan in a single layer and cook for about a minute until browned. Then flip the steak over to continue cooking until the other side is browned.
Add white wine to pan and shake to evenly distribute the wine. At this point, the steak cubes should be cooked to medium rare. Continue cooking if you prefer it medium or well done.
To serve, transfer saikoro steak onto serving plates then top with garlic slices, grated daikon, sliced green onion and chilli thread. Drizzle ponzu sauce over before serving.
Mixed Vegetable Curry
To Prep
Grind spice paste A ingredients together. Add in water to ⅓ of the height of the paste.
Add spice mix B ingredients in and mix well with a spoon. Adding powder to the wet paste will help to dry it out.
Mix 20ml coconut cream with 270ml water to make light coconut milk. Set aside 70ml of coconut cream.
To Cook
Heat the cooking oil and saute the spice paste, add more oil to the paste so it does not bubble. 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, tofu and the remaining 70ml of light coconut milk. Bring this to a boil and add prawns. Boil for about 2 mins and serve hot.
Penang Nyonya Lam Mee
To Cook
To prepare the stock, rinse the pork bones with water. Transfer the bones in to a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 mins while scooping out any scum that floats to the surface.
After boiling, drain, rinse again and return to the empty pot. Fill the pot with 4L of water and the crushed peppercorns. Add soaked dried scallop into the stock pot and continue boiling for another 1 ½ hours.
Add the chicken breast and pork belly in to the stockpot and boil till cooked. Once done, remove both from the pot, shred chicken meat and sliced up pork belly. Set aside.
Boil prawns with shell on in the pot until cooked. When the prawns are cooked, remove them from the pot and peel the shells.
Put the prawn’s shells back into the boiling prawn water and boil for another 5 mins before removing them.
Season the stock with salt, pepper and rock sugar and continue to cook for another 30 mins.
While the stock finishes cooking, whisk the eggs to make a thin omelette and then cut it in to strips. Set aside.
To Prep the Sambal Belacan
Using a pestle and mortar, grind all of the chillies and the belacan into a thick paste. Add in the calamansi lime juice and mix well. Adjust according to taste.
To Serve
Blanch the yellow egg noodles and bean sprouts in boiling water for 1 min. Transfer the cooked noodles in to a serving bowl.
Place a serving of the chicken, prawn, pork belly, dried scallop, egg omelette and bean sprouts on to the noodles. Ladle in hot stock and a few pieces of pork ribs.
Garnish with some garlic, oil, fried shallots, spring onions, chives and coriander.
Enjoy the lam mee with sambal belacan!
Mustard Leaves Leftover Soup (Choy Geok)
To Prep
Squeeze the tamarind repeatedly in the water. Strain water through your fingers into a blender to remove the pulp. Place the tamarind water in a pot.
Add all the ingredients to the pot bring to a boil and simmer for 1½ hours. When the mustard cabbage leaves and pork are tender, add in the seasoning and serve hot with steamed rice.
Five-spice Meat Rolls (Ngoh Hiang Lobak)
To Prep
In a big bowl mix all the seasoning with 2 tbsp of water. The mixture should be sticky and not runny.
Add in the pork and blanched fat and mix thoroughly. Rest for 15 mins, or preferably overnight before wrapping.
Once ready to assemble, add the spring onions, water chestnuts and garlic to the mixture and a few tablespoons of water if the mixture is dried out.
Lay out a bean curd sheet and spoon 3 tbsp of the marinated meat mixture onto the sheet. Keep mixture in one line and close to the baseline but keeping it 2 cm away from both ends. Roll gently and cut off the bean curd sheet with a knife where the overlap meets. Try to avoid a large overlap as the double layer will cause the meat to cook unevenly. The moisture of the sheet will seal the two ends naturally. Repeat until all the marinated meat is used up.
To Cook
In a wok, heat oil for deep frying. When the oil is hot add in 3 to 4 rolls to the wok at one time. Turn these over after 3 mins or so. The rolls are cooked when they turn golden brown and when the sizzling stops.
Remove the rolls and allow them to cool.
Prepare the dipping sauce by mixing all ingredients till the sugar dissolves, check the flavour and adjust accordingly. Just before serving, sprinkle on the toasted sesame seeds.
To serve, cut each roll into 6 slanted bite-sized pieces and serve with dipping sauce and cucumber slices.
Mabo Tofu Japanese Style (Mabo Don)
To Prep
Wash and cook the Japanese rice.
Place the tofu slices on a work surface and lay a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth over them, then place weight on top of the tofu such as a heavy plate to press out any excess liquid. Set aside for about 30 mins. Then, cut tofu into 3 cm cubes and set aside.
In a bowl, mix together the ginger, garlic, and white parts of the scallion. Set aside.
In another bowl, mix together the torigara stock, sake, sugar, soy sauce and miso. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl, mix together 1 tbsp of the sesame oil, water, katakuriko and vinegar. Set aside.
To Cook
Heat the remaining 1 tbsp sesame oil in a large frying pan or wok over high heat. Fry ginger and garlic until aromatic, then add the pork, scallion mixture and the tobanjan. Cook for about 2 mins. Use a fork to break up the minced pork and stir the ingredients. Add the liquid mixture. When the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium.
Add the tofu and cook for 3 mins. Add the katakuriko mixture and stir through to thicken the dish. Cook for another 30 secs.
Divide the cooked rice among 4 bowls and spoon the tofu over. Garnish with the chopped coriander and season with sansho to taste.
Tip: Omit the tobanjan (spicy bean paste) so kids can enjoy this dish too!
Korean Stir-Fried Rice Cake (Gunjung-Tteokbokki)
To Prep
If using frozen tteokbokki, set aside to defrost, and marinade with sesame oil.
Slice beef into 5 cm long, 0.3 cm wide/thick pieces. Soak the shiitake mushrooms and dried for 1 hour. Slice them the same size as the beef.
Slice the onion, green and red capsicum into thin slices.
Remove the head and tail of mung bean sprouts and rinse thoroughly.
Prepare seasoning sauce A and B in separate bowls.
To Cook
Preheat the oil in wok, and then stir-fry the onion and pumpkin for about 2 min on medium heat. Add green and red capsicum and stir-fry for another 15-20 mins.
Season the beef and mushrooms with seasoning sauce A, and add to the wok to stir-fry for 2 mins on medium heat. Dish out and set aside.
Heat up the wok again, and stir-fry the rice cake sticks with seasoning sauce B on medium heat until tteokbokki softens to the required texture.
Return the beef, mushrooms, pumpkin, onions, green and red capsicum and mung bean sprouts to the wok, then stir-fry for another 30 secs.
Turn the heat off, and in the thinly sliced egg omelette and mix thoroughly.
Dish out and serve immediately while it’s hot.
Cashew Nut Chicken
To Cook
In a bowl, mix all ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
Mix chicken well in the seasoning.
In a frying pan, heat oil and fry the chicken until cooked through. Drain and set aside.
With the leftover oil, add in Chinese rice wine, ginger juice, ginger slices and mushrooms. Fry until fragrant then add in the green capsicum and continue cooking for another 2 mins or so on high heat.
Add in the chicken cubes and mix well. Add in the sauce and stir-fry until it thickens.
Finally, fold in the toasted cashew nuts and garnish with spring onions and thinly sliced red chilli. Serve hot with rice.
Calamari Salad
To Cook
Clean the squid, score the inside in a criss-cross pattern and cut into bite size pieces. Boil in water with a little vinegar added (this enhances the whiteness) until tender – approx. 30 secs.
Pound the chilli and the garlic in a mortar and stir in the fish sauce and lime juice. Pour this mixture over the squid.
Add the sliced lemon grass, spring onions, celery, mint and coriander leaves and mix lightly.
Line a serving dish with the lettuce leaves and spoon the salad on top. Garnish this Calamari salad with extra chillies.
Beef in Black Bean Sauce
To Prep
In a mixing bowl, combine the marinade ingredients together and add in the beef. Mix and set aside for at least 10 minutes to marinate.
To Cook
In a wok, cook the beef without oil for about a minute before transferring on to another plate to cool.
Add oil to the wok and heat over a high heat before frying the onions and the green peppers for 30 seconds.
After this, add in the garlic and the fermented black beans and continue to fry for another 30 seconds.
Return the beef strips back in to the wok and fry for 30 more seconds before adding in 2 tbsp of water, the sugar and salt and mix in.
Finally, mix together the cornflour mixture ingredients and slowly pour it in a little at a time. Mix the sauce well before adding soy sauce and simmering for until the sauce thickens.
Once the sauce has thickened, remove the wok from the heat and serve!