To Cook
Slice lotus roots into 0.6cm thick discs. Soak them in cold water for 30 mins.
In a pot, boil some water. Add 1 tsp vinegar and blanch the lotus root slices for 5 mins, uncovered. Rinse in cold water and strain.
In a non-stick pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Stir-fry the sliced lotus roots for a few minutes until slightly softened.
Add 2¼ cups of water, chopped garlic and soy sauce. Stir and leave to cook covered. Turn the heat to low and cook for 40 mins. Occasionally open the lid and turn them over to brown evenly. Add more water if necessary.
Add rice syrup or sugar and stir through. Cover and let it simmer for another 20 mins.
Remove cover and turn the heat up to medium-high. Carefully stir and leave to braise for 10-12 mins, until each slice is shiny and most of the liquid is evaporated.
Remove from the heat and stir in sesame oil, then serve with a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Enjoy as a dish with rice and other dishes. Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated up to 2 weeks.
Vegetables
Preserved Radish
To Cook
Heat cooking oil on high, sauté chopped garlic until aromatic.
Add preserved radish and stir-fry until fragrant.
Add in chilli and the Seasonings, mix well.
Dish up, let cool and store in an airtight container.
Thai Mango Chicken
To Prep
In a blender or food processor, blend all ingredients for ‘Mango Sauce’ until smooth.
Taste-test to see if sauce is to your liking. Add more chilli if it’s not spicy enough. If it’s not salty enough, add fish sauce. If the sauce is too sour, add a little sugar or, if it’s too salty or sweet, add more lime juice.
In a mixing bowl, stir the flour and salt together. Then add the chicken pieces and mix to coat evenly.
To Cook
Heat a wok or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and fry the chicken pieces a few at a time for 1-2 mins until cooked through or lightly browned. Remove chicken from pan with and drain on paper towel.
Briefly saute the sliced scallions and capsicums, and set aside. Pour out remaining oil.
Set wok or pan over medium-high heat and add the mango sauce. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and then add the capsicums and scallions. Continue to simmer for 3-4 mins. If sauce becomes too thick, add 3-4 tbsp water or coconut milk.
Add the fried chicken pieces, and stir to coat with sauce. Add about 1 tbsp fresh coriander and ½-1 mango cubes (optional), and briefly simmer to heat up entire dish.
Taste-test again and add fish sauce or chilli if desired.
Dish out and transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with the rest of the chopped coriander and serve with steamed rice.
Salmon Sushi Rolls
To Cook
In a large bowl, cover and rinse rice with cool water. Swirl rice around, drain water and then repeat until the water is clear.
In a medium saucepan, place equal parts rice and water over high heat. Leave uncovered and bring to boil. Once boiling, turn heat down and cover for 15 mins.
Remove from heat, but leave covered for another 10 mins.
Combine rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
Transfer rice into the big glass bowl. Using a wooden spoon or rice paddle, gently fold in the vinegar mix so that every grain of rice is covered. Be careful not to get the rice too wet.
Allow rice to cool before assembling sushi.
On a sushi mat, take a piece of nori and place it shiny side down, about 2 cm away from the edge nearest to you.
Wet your hands and gently spread about ¾ cup of rice over seaweed, being careful to leave about 2.5 cm borders around all sides.
Line two pieces of finely sliced salmon end-to-end on the rice.
Holding the filling in place, carefully roll the mat over itself, away from you, making sure the nori folds over and seals itself.
Continue with the rest of the nori sheets and filling. Cut rolls into 2.5cm thick pieces and serve with soy sauce, beni shoga (pickled ginger) and wasabi.
Slow Cook Braised Beef Shank (Sataejjim)
To Cook
Clean and cut the meat into about 4 cm chunks.
Place meat, root vegetables, celery, carrots, onions, spring onions, garlic and dried chilli peppers in the slow cooker.
Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl, and pour over the meat and vegetables and toss evenly. Cover and cook for about 4 hours on high, flipping the meat over every hour.
Taste test and adjust to preferred taste. Stir in the spring onions and sesame oil before turning the slow cooker off.
Remove the meat and vegetables from the slow cooker to a large serving bowl. Pour the sauce over the meat to serve.
Fruit in Coconut Milk (Es Kolak)
To Cook
Add the sweet potato, palm sugar, pandan leaf and water into a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then lower heat and simmer until sweet potato becomes tender.
Add the coconut milk, sliced banana and jackfruit. Add salt to taste.
Bring heat up to medium until mixture begins to boil, stirring occasionally.
Serve while warm, or cool and serve cold with ice.
Bulgogi Stew (Ttukbaegi Bulgogi)
To Prep
Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl.
Mix well until the sugar has dissolved before adding in the beef and stirring to coat before covering and leaving to marinate in a refrigerator for a minimum of 30 mins or overnight.
To Cook
Bring to a boil the water in a clay or earthenware pot before adding in the salt and fish sauce.
When the broth returns to the boil, add in the marinated beef, carrot, onion and spring onions.
Cover the pot and let the ingredients cook for 10 mins. Occasionally open the pot to stir and remove the foam from soup.
After 10 mins, add the noodles in to the pot to cook. After the noodles soften, add in the mushrooms and radish and continue to cook until the radish has cooked through.
To Serve
While still over the stove, crack an egg and put it in to the centre of the bubbling stew. Let simmer briefly before garnishing with the chrysanthemum greens, spring onions and the red chillies.
Remove the pot from the heat and serve with a side of rice, kimchi and other side dishes.
Tom Yum Fried Rice with Prawns (Kao Pad Tom Yum Goong)
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.
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!