Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Vegetables

Minced Pork Noodles (Zha Jiang Mian)

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To Prep
In a small bowl, combine water, sweet bean paste and soybean paste well and set aside.

To Cook
Heat up around ½ tbsp cooking oil in wok, stir fry finely chopped ginger, green onion, pork, mushroom and scallion until almost cooked(when the pork starts to change colour). Transfer out.
Heat up 1 tbsp of oil again; pour the sauce prepared in step 1. Bring all the content to a boiling. Return stir fried pork.
Slow down the fire to simmer for around 10 mins. Turn up the fire to thicken the sauce. Stir occasionally during the process.
Cook carrot shreds in boiling water for around 1 min. Transfer out;
Cook fresh noodles in boiled water for 5 mins or follow the instruction on the package.
Transfer the noodles to serving bowls and lay side vegetables firstly and then the sauce. Garnish with some green onions and serve immediately.
Mix well with the gravy before enjoying.

Dan Dan Noodles

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To Cook
Toast peppercorns in a small frying pan over low heat for about 1 min or until fragrant. Be careful not to let them burn. Using a mortar and pestle, grind until crushed. Using your hands, mix pork with crushed peppercorns, mustard greens and 1 tbsp light soy until combined.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok over high heat. Add chillies and cook, stirring, for 30 secs or until fragrant. Add pork (and 1 tbsp soy sauce) mixture and brown, breaking up lumps, for 4 mins or until slightly crisp. Transfer to a bowl. Keep warm.
Clean the wok and heat remaining 1 tbsp oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook for 1 min or until fragrant. Add sesame paste, remaining 1 tbsp light soy, dark soy, chilli oil and 250ml water. Cook and keep stirring for another 2 mins or until sauce thickens.
Meanwhile, cook noodles according to the instructions on the packet and drain. Divide among bowls and spoon over sauce and pork mixture. Scatter with extra spring onions to serve.

Braised Beef Short Ribs (Galbijjim)

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To Cook
Boil the short ribs in boiling water for 7-8 mins, drain and rinse the meat, set aside.
Mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl.
Take a large pot, put the clean beef ribs and add in the sauce mix. Boil it over medium heat for 20 mins.
Add in onions, potatoes, carrots and jujubes and simmer for about 50 mins. Stir the beef and vegetables in between.
Add the remaining ingredients, ground pepper and sesame oil, add in salt if you want saltier. Cook for another 10 mins.
Serve with plain rice.

Korean Fried Rice (Kimchi Kibokum Bap)

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To Cook
Add 1 tbsp oil and butter (or sesame oil) to a heated pan. Add kimchi and carrots and cook until kimchi starts to soften, about 5 mins.
Push cooked kimchi to one side of the pan and add meat and cook quickly until meat is cooked, seasoning the meat with salt and pepper, should take about 2 mins. Stir kimchi and meat together to combine.
Add rice to the meat and kimchee mixture and fry quickly over high heat until rice is well combined with fish sauce and spring onions, continuously stirring with a wooden spoon. Season the rice with salt and pepper.
Pour 1 tbsp oil to another heated frying pan and fry eggs sunny side up.
Serve eggs on top of kimchi fried rice.

Korean Noodle Soup (Guksu)

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To Cook
Put the water, radish, onions, green onion roots, anchovies, and kelp in a large pot, cover, and cook over medium-high heat for 30 mins.
Turn down the heat to low and boil another 20 mins.
Turn off the heat and strain. You will get about 8 cups of soup. Stir in the salt and pepper.
Beat 2 eggs in a bowl, once mixed well, pour in a hot non-stick pan, cook one side for 1 min and flip over continue to cook for another minute, once done, remove from pan, let it cool down, and cut the egg in thin strips.
In another pot, bring water to boil, add the noodles cover and cook over medium heat for 5 mins or follow the instructions on noodle pack.
Test the noodle and make sure it is not hard.
Strain and rinse the noodles under cold water a couple of times. Divide the noodles into 2 portions and put each portion into a serving bowl.
Pour in the anchovy soup, top the noodles with zucchini, carrots, egg, seaweed and spring onions.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes

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To Cook
Dissolve salt in hot water.
Prepare a large mixing bowl. Stir water slowly to flour. And wait to cool down and then knead to get smooth dough. Continue kneading around 3-5 mins. Place the dough aside to rest for at least 10-20 mins.
Knead the dough for around 2 mins and roll out to a large circle.
Brush some cooking oil on the surface circle and then sprinkle chopped scallions and five spicy powders.
Roll up the circle into a cylinder. And further roll into the shape of a snail. Roll the snail out to another thin circle.
Brush some cooking oil on the pan and move the circle into the pan. Use middle fire to pan-fry until the surface becomes brown around 2-3 mins. And turn over to fry for another 1-2 mins. Use a spatula to press the circle from time and time especially the central part to ensure the circle is evenly fried.
Remove the circle out and cut into wedges.

Osaka Style Japanese Pancake (Osaka Style Okonomiyaki)

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To Prep
Mix 100g okonomiyaki flour with 100ml water together and set aside.
Finely chop cabbage and spring onion and add to batter mix. You could add in your chosen fillings.
Add egg and mix the ingredients together. Do not over mix.

To Cook
Heat up a frying pan, add in 1 tsp oil and spread evenly. Pour okonomiyaki mixture into a round pancake shape in the centre of the pan. If using meat, cook the meat separately so it is ready to add into the pancake.
Once the underside of the pancake is brown in colour, add the cooked meat to the top, flip over and cook the other side. Press down on pancake with a spatula to make it an even thickness.
When both sides of the okonomiyaki are golden brown, flip on to a plate and cut into slices like a pizza.
Lashing the pancake with okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise, sprinkle with bonito flakes, aonori seaweed, tenkasu tempura flakes and server with a portion of pickled ginger.

Tips
If you do not find Okonomiyaki Flour, use 100g of plain flour mixed with 75ml of dashi or water and 1 tsp of baking powder.
While the first side is cooking, try frying up some yakisoba noodles and flipping the pancake on to these when cooking the other side.
Try laying streaks of bacon on the top before flipping sides.

Fish-Flavoured Eggplant

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To Prep
Place the eggplant strips in a colander set over a plate and sprinkle lightly with salt. Leave for 30 mins to draw out moisture.
Rinse and pat dry with paper towel.

To Prep Batter
To make the batter, whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth.

To Prep Fish-fragrant Dressing:
Gently fry the chilli bean, pickled chilli, garlic and ginger in vegetable oil until the oil is red and fragrant.
Add sugar and fry for 20 secs and then add both vinegar.
Reduce gently until sauce thickens enough to coat the eggplant.
Taste and add sugar if too salty/sour or add vinegar if too sweet.

Garnish
Gently toast the Sichuan pepper in a pan until fragrant and grind to a fine powder (save for garnish later).

To Cook the Eggplant
Heat the deep-frying oil to 180°C.
Working in batches, lightly coat the eggplant strips in corn flour then the tempura-like batter.
Place one at a time, in the hot oil and deep-fry for 4 mins, or until golden and crispy.
Drain oil on paper towel.

To Serve
Transfer the deep-fried eggplant to a bowl and gently toss with dressing.
Arrange on a serving plate. Sprinkle spring onion and Sichuan pepper to taste and serve.

Ramen Noodles with Spiced Tofu and Chilli Lemon Sauce

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To Cook
In a small saucepan combine the sweet chilli sauce, lemon rind and juice. Bring to the boil and then remove from heat. Set aside.
Cook noodles according to packet instructions. Drain, then refresh under cold running water. Drain well, set aside.
In a bowl, combine five-spice powder with the flour. Add the tofu cubes and toss to coat. Heat half the oil in a wok. Add the coated tofu (in small batches) and cook until browned on all sides. Set aside.
Heat the remaining oil in the wok. Add chopped onion, garlic and capsicum and stir-fry until onion softens. Add peas and half the chilli lemon sauce and stir-fry until peas are tender-crisp. Add noodles and gently toss to combine. Remove from heat.
Divide stir-fry between 4 deep serving bowls. Top with spiced tofu and a sprinkling of spring onion. Drizzle with the remaining chilli lemon sauce. Serve immediately.

Bun Cha Hanoi with Light Fish Sauce and Pickled Carrot and Papaya

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To Cook
Grilled Slice Pork
Slice the pork shoulder into slices about 5cm lengths, 4cm width, and about ½cm thickness. Place into a zip-lock bag with the rest of the ingredients to marinate for at least 2 hrs in room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.
Grilled Pork Patties
Mix ground pork with the rest of the ingredients and leave to marinate in room temperature or fridge for the same amount of time as the sliced pork.
To make the minced pork into patties, first shape the ground pork mixture into round balls of approximately 5cm diameter and flatten patties to 1cm in thickness.
Use a grill rack or charcoal BBQ griller to cook the pork. If cooking in an oven, set oven to 200°C to broil until golden brown.
Grill the patties and the sliced pork until both sides are golden brown, roughly 10 mins per side.

To Prep Sauce
In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients above and cook over low heat until the broth is lukewarm (not boil).

To Prep Pickle
Make enough pickling vinegar to immerse the sliced carrots and papaya. Let it sit at room temperature for at least 2 hrs.

To Serve
When meats are done, place in a covered medium sized sauce pan containing the dipping sauce. The juices of the meat will darken and meld with the fish sauce.
Transfer to large serving bowl and serve with rice vermicelli topped with fresh herbs, lettuce, pickled carrot and papaya, and minced garlic.

Thai Laksa with Prawns (Laksa Goong)

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To Cook
Prepare the noodle as per packet instruction. Drain and divide between 2 serving bowls.
Heat oil then add Valcom Laksa Paste and stir-fry over low heat until fragrant. Add the prawns and stir well until cooked.
Add light coconut milk and bring to the boil. Spoon soup over noodles in bowls, then garnish with beansprouts and coriander.
Hint: chicken fillet can be used in place of prawns.