To Cook
Stir-fry coconut milk over low heat until oil appears. Stir in Valcom Green Curry Paste until fragrant. Turn up the heat. Add chicken fillet and stir-fry until well cooked.
Add fish sauce and sugar, and stir-fry until the sauce reduces. Stir in eggplant and pea eggplant and cook until tender, then add rice and mix through. Add Valcom Kaffir Lime Leaves, basil leaves and red chilli, then remove from heat.
Vegetables
Green Papaya Salad with Grilled Chicken (Som Tum Gai Yang)
To Prepare
Prepare the paste by pounding coriander roots, garlic and white pepper in a mortar.
Marinate the chicken with the paste, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, palm sugar and oil for about an hour.
To Cook
Grill chicken in an oven or charcoal grill.
Peel the green papaya (can be substituted with apples, jicama or carrots), and shred into strips using a grater.
In the mortar, pound the garlic and chilli, then add papaya, lime juice, fish sauce and toss with green beans and cherry tomatoes. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with peanuts.
Serve grilled chicken with papaya salad on the side.
Thai Chicken Green Curry (Gaeng Kiew Wan Gai)
To Cook
Clean the chicken and pat dry with paper towel. Slice vertically into thin slices. Add 1 cup light coconut milk into a pot and bring to boil. Add chicken and reduce the heat to simmer the chicken until meat is tender. Dish out the chicken and set aside.
Add the vegetable oil into a pan and heat over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the curry paste and stir-fry until fragrant. Slowly add 1⁄2 cup of thick coconut milk and stir-fry until fragrant. Add chicken to the pan and stir-fry to evenly coat chicken in the curry paste. Remove pan from heat.
Transfer curry and chicken into a large pot and heat over medium heat. Add in 3 1⁄2 cups light coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves. Bring to boil then add fish sauce and sugar.
Add pea eggplant and make sure they are submerged in the curry. Continue cooking until eggplant is cooked through, then add the remaining 1⁄2 cup thick coconut milk. Bring to boil and add Thai basil leaves and red spur chillies.
Taste the curry and adjust the spiciness to your liking. If the curry is too spicy, add some coconut milk to bring down the heat level. Turn off the heat and remove from the stove. Dish out the curry into a bowl and garnish with Thai basil leaves. Enjoy with steamed rice or rice noodles.
Tips: When cooking the chicken, make sure the thin coconut milk is boiling before adding the chicken meat. This will tenderise the meat and remove any foul smell. The thin coconut milk that was used to boil the chicken should be discarded as it will contain a foul smell.
Thai Crispy Fish with Mango Salad (Yum Pla Duk Fu)
To Cook
Cut the fish into chunks, season with soy sauce or salt, then steam for 5 mins until the meat is fully cooked. Set the fish aside to cool.
In the meantime, prepare the mango salad. In a mortar, pound 2-3 bird’s eye chillies until there are no big chunks, then add palm sugar and mash to a paste. Add fish sauce and lime juice and mix until sugar is completely dissolved. Transfer paste to a bowl and add the shallots, dried shrimp, and julienned mango. Set aside to sit while you fry the fish.
Once the fish is cool, transfer it to a bowl lined with muslin cloth. Wrap the cloth around the fish, twist, and squeeze as hard as you can to remove as much liquid as possible.
Then, transfer the fish to a mortar and pestle and pound it until it’s fluffy with no chunks left.
In a wok or a large pot, heat about 3 cm of oil over high heat. Now to put the fu (fluffiness) in the fish, the oil has to be heated to about 200℃.
Once the oil is hot enough, sprinkle half of the fish into the oil. Be careful as the oil will bubble aggressively. While the fish cooks, try to tuck the edges of the fish and push the fish down to submerge in oil to fry and brown evenly. Once fish is golden brown, remove from oil with a slotted skimmer and set it on paper towels to drain.
Place the fish on a serving plate and sprinkle with roasted peanuts. Garnish mango salad with chopped coriander (optional) and serve beside the fish. Serve the yum pla duk foo as a snack or as a main dish with steamed rice.
Sichuan Hot Garlic with Shredded Pork (Yu Xiang Rou Si)
To Prep
Mix pork with the marinade ingredients and set aside.
In a bowl, mix all sauce ingredients and set aside.
To Cook
In a wok, heat 2 tbsp of oil, stir-fry pork strips until they turn white. Remove.
With 1 tbsp of oil in the wok, stir-fry garlic, ginger and onion. Add vegetables and stir-fry for about 1 min, then add in the pork strips.
Pour in the sauce and stir-fry until ingredients are evenly coated.
Transfer to serving plate and garnish with spring onions.
Japanese Omelette Rice (Omurice)
To Cook
Heat up some oil in a wok. When the wok is hot, add the onions and mushrooms. Saute until softened.
Add the beef and cook until the meat has browned. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the rice, 1 tbsp of ketchup and soy sauce. Stir until well-combined. Take off of the heat and leave to the side.
Scoop half of the rice into a bowl and cover with a plate. Put one hand on top of the plate and one hand at the bottom of the bowl. Turn it upside down so that the plate is now at the bottom. Remove the bowl to reveal the mound of rice.
Heat up a large pan on medium-high heat. Add some cooking oil and pour in half of the whisked eggs. Stir the eggs with chopsticks to form small egg curds but do not scramble the eggs.
Once cooked, take the egg and gently place it over your rice.
Cook the remaining half of the eggs.
In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp ketchup, Worcester sauce, tonkatsu sauce and honey. Cover the omelette with this sauce. Serve while hot.
Korean Spicy, Sweet and Vinegary Noodles (Bibim Guksu)
To Prep
Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
To Cook
Boil noodles for 2-3 mins and rinse under cold running water to cool. Drain well.
To Serve
In a bowl, place noodles and vegetables and add sauce on top. Serve mixed or un-mix.
Spinach Soup with Fried Anchovies and Salted Eggs
To Cook
Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a pot, add dried anchovies and garlic, stir-fry until fragrant. Then pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil.
Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 15 mins.
Add spinach and salted egg yolks, simmer for a further 5 mins.
Finally, add in the beaten egg and also salted eggs whites, while gently stirring. Bring the soup to a boil, then turn heat off. Serve immediately.
Fresh Spring Roll (Popiah)
To Make Popiah Skin
In a food processor, add flour, water and salt. Process on medium speed for 6 mins, at 2 mins intervals. The batter should be glossy and elastic. Let the batter rest for an hour.
After an hour’s rest, the dough should look slimy yet elastic.
Heat a heavy-based non-stick pan over low heat to warm the pan.
With gloves on, scoop a ‘ball’ of dough onto your hand, enough to fit your hand that it doesn’t overflow. Using a motion as if you are wiping the dough onto the pan, press and spread the dough onto the warm pan in a circular motion until a thin layer forms a circle. Lift your hand, and in doing so, the uncooked extra dough will lift from the pan. (Note: If pan is too hot, the dough will not stick to the pan. Turn off the heat and let the pan cool off before spreading the dough on the pan again.)
Once a thin layer is formed on the pan, use the rest of the dough ball to dab on thicker parts of the popiah skin to lift unwanted bits of dough and to ‘thin’ parts of the popiah skin.
As the popiah skin cooks, the outer parts will curl up from the pan. Use your other hand to gently peel it off the pan set aside to cool on a cooling rack.
Repeat until all the dough is used. Makes about 25 popiah skins.
To Make Filling
Heat up 1 tbsp of canola in a pan medium heat. Add in the prawns and cook until they are cooked through. Remove the prawns from the pan and set aside.
Add the remaining oil in to the pan and heat over a medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic, and cook until soft.
Add in the jicama, oyster sauce, and sugar (optional), and toss evenly. Add water to the pan and turn the heat to low. Let it cook for 15 mins or until the jicama is soft.
Return the prawns to the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Strain the jicama filling and set aside to cool.
Reserve the remaining sauce from the strained jicama filling.
To Assemble Popiah
Lay a sheet of popiah skin on a clean surface and put a piece of lettuce on top.
Spread the hoisin and chilli sauce onto the lettuce.
Scoop jicama filling with prawns, and any optional ingredients of your choice. Top with a teaspoon of fried shallots and gently fold the extra skin over to form a roll.
Serve whole or slice up rolls into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Serve with extra hoisin or chilli sauce on the side.
Note
Besides the must-have jicama filling in the popiah, there are not set rules to what you can add in the wrap. Pack your very own version of popiah with any meat or vegetables of your choice.
Black Pepper Beef Stir- Fry
To Prep
Cut beef into slices 3-4mm thickness. If you find it difficult to slice thinly, freeze beef for 15-20mins before slicing. If you’re using frozen beef, slice it when it’s partially thawed. Place sliced beef in a bowl and wait until completely thawed.
Add vinegar, light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and corn starch. Gently mix beef and other ingredients by hand until the beef is completely coated in the mixture. Cover bowl with cling film and place in fridge to marinate for 15 mins.
Combine all the ingredients for Sauce in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.
To Cook
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan/wok over medium high heat. When oil is hot, spread beef in the pan and let it sear for 1 min. Using a spatula, flip beef slices over to cook both sides until slightly charred but still pink inside. Lower the heat and transfer beef to a plate.
Add 1 tsp oil in the same pan and turn to medium high heat. Add chopped onions and capsicum and saute for about 2 mins until half-cooked. Lower the heat and transfer vegetables to a plate.
Add remaining oil into the same pan and turn to medium heat. Add ginger and garlic. Saute until fragrant. Stir the Sauce mixture until corn starch is dissolved completely. Add Sauce into the pan and keep stirring until it boils and thickens. Add beef, onion and capsicum into the pan again and give it a quick stir. Turn off heat. Dish out and serve immediately with steamed rice.
Sichuan Green Beans
To Prep
Combine all seasoning and minced pork in a small bowl to marinate for about 15 mins.
To Cook
In a wok, heat oil over high heat until you see light smoke rising from the surface. Add drained green beans to fry for about 3 mins over low to medium heat. Stir the beans occasionally during the process.
Transfer green beans to a plate and discard oil leaving only a remaining of 1 tbsp of cooking oil in the wok.
Add minced pork and saute for 1 min until fragrant, then add ginger, garlic, Sichuan pepper, Ya Cai and dried red chillies. Saute for another 1 to 2 min.
Return green beans to the wok and add salt, sugar and light soy sauce and saute until everything is well combined. Dish out and serve with steamed rice.
Note: Ya Cai is a popular ingredient in Sichuan cuisine. It is a kind of pickled vegetable and is usually quite salty. Remember to reduce salt if Ya Cai is added to a dish
Fried Carrot Cake (Chai Tow Kway)
To Prep
Grease an 8in square or round pan and set aside. Prepare the steamer.
Take the grated radish and squeeze out as much juice as you can into a separate large bowl. Add additional water to the daikon juice to make up to 900ml of liquid.
Mix rice flour, wheat starch, cornflour, salt, pepper and sugar into the liquid. Stir until batter is smooth.
To Cook
Place radish in a large pot, and heat over medium heat. Continue stirring for a few minutes to let any excess liquid evaporate. Add the batter and continue stirring to mix evenly. Continue cooking and stirring until batter thickens and turns starchy. Turn off the heat and continue stirring to mix well. Pour into the greased pan and level the top.
Steam for about 45 mins until cooked. The cake firms up when cooled. Refrigerate the cake so that it’s easier to cut into cubes for frying.
In a non-stick wok or pan, add the oil and place over high heat. When heated up, carefully add cubed carrot cake into the pan. Spread them out and be careful of oil splattering. Leave to cook on one side for 1-2 mins before turning them over to fry the other side.
When both sides are crisp and golden brown, push the cubes aside with a spatula. Using the spatula, bring the oil to the centre and add garlic and preserved radish. Saute for ½ min and using the spatula, combine with the carrot cake. Drizzle in the soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar and sambal. Mix it thoroughly.
Arrange the carrot cake in the centre of the pan in one layer. Slowly pour the beaten egg mixture over the entire surface. Use your spatula to gently move the carrot cake so that the egg settles in between the pieces. Leave it for a minute to crisp up.
Then using the spatula, cut into and flip each carrot cake cube over to cook the other side for ½ min. Flip over again for a few seconds, then flip back. Turn off the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle with chopped scallions and serve immediately.