Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Braised Stuffed Bitter Melon in Black Bean Sauce

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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.

Claypot Seafood Tofu and Vegetable

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To Cook
In a bowl, mix all the gravy ingredients until well combined. Separately, mix the corn starch with 3 tbsp of water, making sure there are no lumps in the mixture. Set both aside for later.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a clay pot. Add the garlic and fry until fragrant.
Fry the tofu in the clay pot for 2 minutes. Then add the prawns and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the gravy mixture, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, and baby corn. Mix well and allow to simmer on low heat for a few minutes.
Stir in the corn starch mixture and bring the contents up to a boil.
Remove the claypot from the heat and serve in the claypot with cooked white rice.

Pad Thai with Prawns (Pad Thai Goong)

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To Cook
Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat and stir-fry prawns until just cooked. Add Valcom Pad Thai Paste and mix well. Stir in fish sauce, tamarind puree, sugar and chilli powder.
Rinse rice noodles then add to pan and stir through. Push the mixture to one side of pan, heat 1 tbsp oil, then add beaten egg and allow to cook.
Stir-fry the egg with the noodles. Toss with beansprouts and chives, then garnish with peanuts.

Chicken Katsu Hand Roll

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To Prep
Cut the cucumber in to thin horizontal strips before removing the seeds. This should leave strips of just the flesh that should be trimmed to fit the hand roll.
Add the sushi vinegar to the cooked sushi rice and gentle fold in to the rice until well incorporated.
Pound the chicken using a meat tenderiser to make it thinner and flat.
Dip into the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs.

To Cook
In a pan with enough oil to fry, cook the chicken until golden and then drain on paper towels.
When the chicken has cooled slightly, cut it in to sections that are small enough to fit on to the hand roll.

To Make the Roll
Cut nori sheets in half. Place sushi rice and then the lettuce, cucumber and chicken slices onto one side of nori.
Fold the nearest corner of the nori over the filling and start to shape.
The finished hand roll should be shaped conically to prevent any rice from falling out from the bottom.
Sprinkle some tonkatsu sauce over the top and serve!

Stir-Fried Chicken & Vegetables with Green Curry

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To Cook
Heat 1 tbsp oil in the wok, add vegetables and stir-fry for 1 min, coating well with oil.
Add water, cover and boil for 1 min. Remove and set aside.
Add 1 tbsp oil and fry curry paste until fragrant; add chicken and stir-fry for 4 mins; add coconut milk and simmer for a further 3 mins.
Return the vegetables to the wok and combine well.

Pan-fried Chicken Thigh in Yakitori Sauce

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To Cook
Combine ingredients C in a pot. Add lotus roots and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and gently cook until tender.
Put carrots in a pot and add enough water to cover the carrots. Bring to boil and continue cooking until carrots are tender. Take the carrots out, then blanch the beans.
Preheat pan with small amount of oil and pan fry the chicken until ¾ of the way cooked. Add remaining ingredients and Yakitori Simmer Sauce. Cover lid.
Gently simmer until the liquid is reduced to half.
Share the ingredients and sauce evenly into a bowl and sprinkle some sichimi pepper over the top. Serve hot.

Ponzu Stir-fried Pork with Vegetables

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To Cook
Partially freeze pork scotch fillet. Cut pork into thin slices and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cut garlic chives and julienne carrot to 3-4cm length. Set aside
Heat wok over high heat. Add sesame oil and stir-fry pork scotch fillet slices to almost cooked, add cut vegetables, bean sprouts and Obento Ponzu sauce. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Serve hot.

Japanese Chicken Curry from Scratch

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To Cook
Season chicken with salt, pepper and S&B Curry powder.
Heat oil in a saucepan and add the grated garlic, the grated ginger and the onion stir-fry until lightly browned.
Add chicken and other vegetables into the saucepan except for tomatoes. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes, then add the green peas, tomatoes, water, soup stock cube and simmer until vegetables are tender.
To make the curry roux: Melt butter in a frying pan and pan-fry the wheat flour or corn starch over medium heat, making sure that it does not burn. Add curry powder and mix well.
Now, gradually combine the curry roux (step 4) into the saucepan (step 3). Add sugar and simmer. Remember to keep stirring to avoid curry from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Add more salt and pepper to taste (optional).
To serve, fill half of each individual plate with rice and scoop curry to fill the other half. Serve with hard-boiled eggs and fukijinzuke (radish pickle).