Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Korean Pickled Cabbage (Kimchi)

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To Prep
Cut a whole wombok/napa cabbage into quarters 8 parts and chop into rectangles.
Pour salt over cabbage in a large bowl and let it stand for at least 3 hrs or until the cabbage is wilted. Wash cabbage three times, drain well and set aside.
Mix 1½ tbsp salt to sliced mu (radish) bowl, leave for 15 mins, drain and set aside.
Make rice paste by mixing water with rice flour in a small pot. Bring the paste to a simmer, stirring constantly. This should only take a few mins. Turn off the heat a set rice paste aside to cool.

To Make
Mix gochugaru (Korean chilli powder) with rice paste. Set aside.
Blend garlic, ginger, onions, salted shrimp and fish sauce in a blender or a stick blender.
In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix all ingredients together. Towards the end, add green onions and mix briefly.
Pack kimchi into a clean glass jar to about 85% – 90% full and let it ferment for 2-3 days at room temperature. Place kimchi in the fridge when it’s fermented to your liking.

Sambal Ladies Fingers (Sambal Okra)

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To Cook
Boil water in a pot and blanch the okra for about 3 mins. Drop them into a bowl of cold water to stop these from cooking further.
When these have cooled down a bit, slit the tip of the stalk, peel off the center and remove the seeds. This can take some practice as you want to create a pocket for the sambal to sit in, Try not to mutilate the okra too much.
Mix the dressing ingredients together and leave for 15 mins to dissolve the sugar.
To serve, stuff the okra with sambal.

Top Hats (Nyonya Pie Tee)

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To Prep
Mix the rice flour, bread flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Make a “well” in the flour with your hands and add in the water, oil and egg. Mix into a smooth batter (which should thinly coat the back of a spoon), rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

To Cook
Heat up a pot of oil, drop in a little batter, when the batter floats the oil is ready.
Dip the pie tee mould into the hot oil for 10 seconds and let the oil drip off. Dip the mould into the batter (if you can hear a sizzling sound the mould is too hot, best is to let it cool down and start again). You can coat 1 time, 2 or 3 times if you want thicker pie tee’s.
Gently dip the battered mould into the hot oil (which should cover 90-95% of the mould). As the batter starts to cook, slowly lower the entire mould into the hot oil (oil will seep around the sides of the pie tee and the crispy top hat should drop off from the mould). If the top hat doesn’t drop off the mould, move it up and down in the oil a few times gently.

For the Pie Tee Filling
In pan over a medium heat, cook the shallots until they turn golden in colour.
Add in the shrimps and continue to cook until they’ve turned pink, before adding in the jicama and carrots. Season with salt, sugar and pepper and continue to cook for another 5 mins.
When the vegetables have cooked, remove from the heat and set aside.
In a non-stick pan over a medium heat, add oil and the eggs and cook the omelette. When the omelette has been cooked, transfer it on to a surface to cool before cutting in to thin strips.

To Serve
In each of the hats, place a serving of the fillings along with some of the omelette strips. Garnish with chillies or spring onions and serve!

Spicy Fried Coconut Flakes with Peanuts (Serundeng)

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To Prep
Grind the shallots, garlic, sugar, shrimp paste and tamarind juice to a smooth paste in a mortar or blender. Add 1-2 tbsp of water for the blender to blend better. Add the grated coconut and mix well.

To Cook
Dry-fry the mixture in a wok or skillet over very low heat for 15-30 mins until golden brown and flaky. Add the peanuts and salt, and mix until well blended. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Serve in small bowls or sprinkle over rice or side dishes. Serundeng keeps for 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Mixed Vegetable Pickle (Acar)

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To Prep
Soak cucumber in salt and wash away the salt after 30 mins.
Boil all other cut vegetables with vinegar and drain. Set aside to dry.
Toast sesame seeds and set aside.
Roast peanuts, remove and cool. Crush the peanuts.

To Cook
Heat oil and fry blended spices with oil until golden in colour. Set aside.
Add sugar and tamarind to taste.
Mix all pickled vegetables with fried spices well. (Squeeze cucumber dry before adding to fried spices)
Add ground peanuts and sesame seeds to complete the acar. Pack acar in tightly sealed jars it can be refrigerated for 2-4 weeks.

Massaman Curry with Beef (Gaeng Massaman Nua)

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To Cook
Mix water and ½ cup coconut milk in a saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium heat, add the meat, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins or until the meat is tender.
While simmering the meat, stir-fry Valcom Massaman Curry Paste with ½ cup coconut milk over low heat until fragrant. Turn up the heat, slowly add the remaining coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar and tamarind puree. Mix well.
Add the curry mixture to the beef, bring to the boil, add potatoes and onion and continue cooking until potatoes and onion are tender.
Garnish with roasted peanuts and remove from heat.

Chinese Vegetable Spring Rolls

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To Cook
Heat oil in a pan and sauté cucumbers, carrots and black fungus. Combine ingredients for seasoning mix and softened vermicelli. Cook until heated through. Set aside to cool.
Then, divide the cooked fillings into 10 portions and wrap with spring roll wrappers. Seal with flour and water mixture.
Deep fry the spring rolls in heated oil until golden brown. Drain. Serve with dipping sauce.

Stir Fried Beef with Tomatoes & Broccoli

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To Cook
Mix beef with 2 tbsp of Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand Oyster Sauce.
Stir-fry beef in 1 tbsp oil until half way done. Add onions and broccoli florets, sauté for 2 mins.
Stir in 1 packet of Lee Kum Kee Ready Sauce for Honey & Soy Chicken and cherry tomatoes.
Toss well, serve hot with rice or noodles.

Fried Rice with XO Sauce

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To Cook
Place diced pork into a bowl and add in marinade ingredients. Mix well.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Add pumpkin and fry until cooked. Drain. Add oil in the pan and fry eggs. Toss in rice and fry until well combined. Dish out and set aside.
Add 2 tbsp oil and stir fry pork until cooked. Then, add mushrooms, prawns, scallops, Chinese broccoli and pumpkin. Stir fry for 2 mins. Mix in sauce ingredients and heat through.
Pour over fried rice and serve.

Chinese Big Plate Chicken

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To Cook
In a pan, heat up oil over medium high heat and fry sliced lotus roots until crisp and lightly browned. Drain and set aside. Next, fry the potatoes until slightly browned. Drain and set aside.
Add 2 tbsp oil to frying pan, add garlic, ginger, star anise, dried red chillies and chicken meat. Stir fry until cooked.
Add rice wine, green & red chilli peppers, spring onions and potatoes. Stir fry until done.
Add in chilli bean sauce, chicken bouillon, dark soy sauce, water and sugar. Stir until well combined.
Transfer to a serving dish and arrange fried lotus roots on top. Serve.

Fried Chinese Thin Pancake

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To Cook
Mix flour and glutinous rice flour in a bowl, and make a hole in the centre. Add water gradually and stir well. Pour the mixture through a sieve.
Add beaten egg and 1 tbsp of oil into the mixture and mix well. Set aside.
In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil. Sauté dried shrimps, preserved radish and spring onions. Drain off oil and add into the batter mixture. Mix in chicken bouillon powder and sugar until well combined.
Heat oil in pan and add a portion of mixture and spread it evenly. Pan fry over low heat for 2 mins each side until golden brown. Repeat for the remaining mixture. Serve with dipping sauce.