To Cook
In a bowl, season shrimps with a dash of salt. Mince the shrimps using a knife or blender. Add shiitake mushrooms and seasoning mix. Stir the mixture until it forms a paste. Wrap the bowl with cling wrap and chill in refrigerator.
Use a round mould to cut the radish pieces into preferred sizes. Make a hole in the centre of each piece. Sprinkle a dash of salt on the surface of the radish. Steam until cooked and set aside to cool.
Arrange the radish pieces on a plate. Stuff shrimp paste into each piece. Steam for 8–10 mins.
Mince the crab roe. Boil the broth and carrot juice and add the minced crab roe. Add a dash of corn starch to thicken the sauce. Drizzle the sauce over the steamed radish pieces with stuffed shrimp paste. Top with XO Sauce. Serve.
Vegetables
Steamed Chicken with Fine Shrimp Sauce
To Cook
Mix all ingredients with marinade. Steam on high heat for 10 mins or until cooked through.
Remove and serve.
Deep Fried Lotus Roots with Meat Patties
To Cook
Place fish meat, pork, spring onions, Chinese parsley and rehydrated mushrooms into a bowl. Mix in seasoning mix ingredients. Combine well. Filling is ready.
Dust a sliced lotus root with corn starch and top with a thick spread of filling. Cover with another lotus root slice to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining lotus root slices and filling.
Heat up enough oil to semi deep fry the lotus root patties over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, dust all the lotus root patties with corn starch.
Semi deep fry both sides of lotus root patties until golden brown. Dish out and place on kitchen paper to drain off excess oil. Serve.
Thai Style Pan Fried Fish Patties
To Cook
Mash the mackerel fillet, blending with a little salt and water in a mixing bowl until it turns sticky. Add in green beans and seasoning mix. Combine thoroughly.
Divide mixture into 8-10 balls and flatten to form patties.
Heat 4 tbsp oil in a skillet. Pan fry the patties over medium heat until both sides are golden brown and thoroughly cooked. Serve with dipping sauce.
Nyonya Fried Rice
To Cook
In a wok, heat 1-2 tbsp cooking oil over medium-high heat. Pour in the egg mixture and stir constantly with a spatula. Keep stirring until eggs are cooked then dish out to set aside.
Heat 3-6 tbsp cooking oil and fry the prawns. When cooked, set aside.
Use the balance of the oil to saute the garlic, dried prawns, shallots and sambal belachan. Add the rice and fry at high heat, keep stirring to avoid burning the rice.
Add the salt, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce.
Add in the prawns, stir in, then dish.
Garnish with sliced omelette, diced spring onions and chilli.
Korean Taro Soup (Toran Guk)
To Prep
Prepare a little more than 450g of taro to get 450g of peeled taro.
In a medium pot, bring 4-5 cups of water to boil, add taro and cover.
Cook for 10 mins over medium-high heat. Then, drain the taro and immerse in cold water to cool down the taro before peeling. Peel and rinse the taro. Cut taro into bit-sized pieces and set aside.
To Cook
In a pot, boil 6 cups of water over medium-high heat. Add garlic and beef to the pot when the water starts to boil. Cover and cook for about 10 mins.
Add the peeled taro, salt and fish sauce. Cover and continue to cook for another 20 mins.
Using a fine strainer, add perilla seed powder to the strainer and immerse partially into the pot of soup. Stir perilla seed powder with a spoon until it gets absorbed into the broth but be careful to keep the sludge in the strainer. Once the soup turns milky, remove and discard leftover sludge in the strainer.
Add the green onions and cover. Continue cooking for 1-2 mins.
To Serve
Serve toran guk with steamed rice and your favourite side dishes.
Spicy Korean Radish (Mu Saengchae Namul)
To Prep
Thoroughly clean the radish by scrubbing with a brush or, scrape off dirt with a small knife. Peel skin only if necessary. Cut radish into matchsticks of about 0.3cm thick.
Place radish in a large bowl, and sprinkle salt all over. Toss to coat evenly. Set aside for 20 mins until the radish sticks soften and some liquid is released.
Drain and gently squeeze out excess liquid from the radish sticks but do not rinse. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Mix well using your hand. Do a taste test and add more salted shrimp, or fish sauce if necessary.
Seasoned Mung Bean Sprouts (Sukju Namul Muchim)
To Cook
In a pot, boil water and add 1 tsp of salt. When the water beings to boil, add the mung bean sprouts and blanch for 2 mins or until the sprouts have lightly wilted.
Drain the water and immediately rinse the sprouts in cold water to stop the cooking. When the sprouts have cooled, squeeze lightly to remove the excess water and then transfer in to a bowl.
Add the seasoning sauce in the bowl and mix well before setting aside.
To Serve
Serve them on a plate and enjoy sukju namul muchim on its own, or as a side with rice and other dishes.
Braised Stuffed Bitter Melon in Black Bean Sauce
To Prep
Combine all stuffing ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, marinade for 15 mins.
Add salt liberally to bitter melon and rest for 15 mins. Wash and drain, set aside.
Put stuffing mixture into bitter melon with a teaspoon, flat at the bottom and domed on the top. Repeat for all bitter melon slices.
To Cook
In a frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil over medium heat. Pan-fry the bottom of bitter melons until browned, about 3 mins. Remove and set aside.
Increase the heat to high, sauté garlic and chilli for about 2 mins or until fragrant. Other than the cornflour mixture, add the remaining sauce ingredients and bring to boil.
Place the bitter melons back into the pan and simmer covered until they are slightly translucent and stuffing is done, about 15 mins.
Add the cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce and turn off the heat. Serve immediately.
Green Curry Beef with Coconut Water (Kang Khiew Wan Beef)
To Cook
In a pot, stir-fry the green curry paste with oil on medium heat until fragrant.
Add 100ml coconut milk, keep on medium heat until the oil splits then put the beef in.
Add all remaining ingredients except fish sauce and basil leave; bring to boil.
Continue cooking for 3-4 mins, add fish sauce and mix through.
Garnish with basil leave, served with steamed rice.
Crispy Pork Belly (Moo Krob Nam Ma Prow)
To Cook
In a large pot, stir-fry the coriander roots, garlic and white pepper with oil on medium heat until fragrant.
Add pork belly and all the remaining ingredients except baby carrot, hard-boiled egg and broccolini and bring to a boil; lower the heat and let it simmer.
In the meantime, pre-heat oven to 230°C fan forced.
Then place pork belly in cente of baking dish, skin side up and gently pour liquid from the pot into base with pork skin above liquid. Cook for 10 mins, until skin starts to dry and liquid is hot.
Remove from oven, cover with 1 layer of baking paper and seal tightly with aluminium foil. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C and cook for 35-40 mins.
Remove from oven, uncover pork and increase oven temperature back to 230°C.
Return pork to oven for a further 20-25 mins until pork skin is crispy and slice into 3-4cm pieces.
Blanch carrot and broccolini, place in bowl along with the sliced crispy pork and halved hard-boiled egg.
Serve with steamed rice.
Slow-cooked Pork Belly (Moo Sam Chun Tom Khem)
To Cook
In a large pot, stir-fry the coriander roots, garlic and white pepper with oil on medium heat until fragrant.
Add all the remaining ingredients except baby carrot and broccolini and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat, put a lid on and continue to cook for 25 mins.
Add carrot and broccolini, and continue to cook with the lid off for another 25 mins.
Serve with steamed rice.