Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Dessert

Butternut Squash in Sweet Coconut Milk

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To Prep
Peel the butternut squash and cut into thin, bite sized pieces before letting them soak in 2 cups of water for 25 mins.

To Cook
In a pot, combine 1 cup of coconut milk with the palm sugar, sugar and Pandan leaves and cook on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Once the sugar has fully dissolved, add the butternut squash pieces in to the pot and stir to make sure that all the pieces are submerged.
Let the mixture simmer for 5-10 mins or until the pieces have softened.
Add the cup of coconut cream and the teaspoon of salt into the pot and stir. Once the soup has begun to bubble, remove from the heat and serve.

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

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To Prep
Place a metal bowl to chill in the refrigerator for 15 mins.
Spread the coconut in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake for 7 mins in a 250°C oven. Set aside to cool when ready. Using a mixer, beat thickened cream in the chilled metal bowl at medium speed for 2-3 mins until stiff peaks form.
Gently stir in coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Fold in the toasted coconut.
Pour ice cream mixture into a pan and cover with aluminium foil to freeze for 5-6 hours or overnight.
Top with coconut flakes if desired.

Japanese Dumplings with Black Sesame (Kurogoma Dango)

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To Make Japanese Dumplings
In a large mixing bowl, add shiratamako, joshinko and sugar, mix well.
Add in warm water bit by bit while kneading the dough slowly until smooth and soft.
Divide the dough into 8 equal portions, then divide each portion into 3 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball.
In a large pot of boiling water, gently add in the dumplings. After they start floating on the surface, cook for 1 more min. Remove and transfer to ice water.

To Make Coating
Wet the Japanese mortar and pestle, then grind the black sesame seeds in batches. Mix well with sugar.

To Serve
Drain the dumplings and put 3 balls into each bamboo skewer. Coat with the sweet black sesame mixture and serve.

Chinese Steamed Rice Cake (Pak Thong Koh)

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To Begin
In a large bowl, sieve in rice flour. Mix in salt until well combined. Add water into the flour mixture and stir with whisk until well combined.
Prepare the syrup by putting in sugar, pandan leaves and water into a pot. Bring to a gentle boil for 5 mins. Stir occasionally and ensure it does not get burnt. Discard the pandan leaves and slowly pour the syrup through a sieve into the rice flour mixture. Stir often to obtain a smooth mixture without lumps.
In a separate bowl, put in yeast and dissolve it with water. Set aside for 5 mins until it bubbles. Then, pour the yeast into the rice flour mixture and stir to mix well. Add oil and mix well. Cling wrap the bowl and set aside at warm temperature for at least 2 hrs until the mixture bubbles.
Lightly oil a 20cm stainless steel plate. Prepare a steamer and bring water to a rolling boil. Stir the rice flour mixture well and pour into the plate. Place the plate into the steamer and ensure it is levelled. Cover the plate with aluminium foil and steam for 20 mins. To test if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick into the centre of the cake. It is ready if the toothpick comes out clear.
Remove the plate from the steamer and remove the aluminium foil. Allow the steamed rice cake to cool before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Steamed Red Bean Buns (Dao Sha Bao)

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To Prep
Combine sugar, yeast, oil and warm water in a bowl and gently stir to mix. Allow to rest for 10 mins. Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Pour all ingredients into a mixing bowl and knead until a smooth, non-sticky dough is formed. Kneading by mixer using a hook will take about 2 mins while hand kneading will take about 10 mins. Lightly oil a bowl and place in the dough. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rest for 1 hr in warm temperature so that the dough will double up in size.
Meanwhile, split the red bean paste into 12 equal portions and shape them into balls.
Once the dough has risen, punch the dough down in order to release any air bubbles. Fold and knead the dough a few times and then reshape it back into a smooth ball. Dust some flour on your working bench. Cut the dough into 2. Keep one dough covered with damp cloth and roll the other into a log. Cut the log into 6 equal sizes and shape them into smooth balls. Store the smooth dough balls on parchment paper and keep covered with damp cloth. Repeat with the other dough.
Using a rolling pin or your palm, flatten one dough at a time. The centre of the dough should be slightly thicker while the edge should be rolled out thinner. Put one ball of red bean paste in the middle of the dough. Gather and pinch the edges to seal the bun. Repeat with remaining dough and red bean paste balls. Place all buns in a large tray and cover with damp towels. Allow to proof for 15 mins. To know if they have proofed, gently press the side of a bun. If the indentation stays, they are ready.

To Cook
Using a large, clean towel, wrap the lid of your steamer and tie with a string to secure the towel in its place. The towel helps to prevent water droplets from dripping back to the bun. If steaming with bamboo basket, the wrapping step is not required. Steam buns over boiling water for 10 mins. Remember to space the buns out a little as the buns will expand once steamed.
At the end of the steaming time, turn of the heat and allow to rest for 5 mins in the steamer without opening the lid. Serve fresh from the steamer. To store them, simply keep them in individual zip lock bags and freeze once they have cooled down. Steam them straight from the freezer.

Red Rubies in Coconut Milk (Tab Tim Grob)

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To Begin
Add 2 tbsp water into red food colouring and mix well. In a bowl, add red food colouring mixture with water chestnuts, mixing well to ensure each cube of water chestnuts are coated with colouring. Allow to sit for a while until they are evenly coloured.
Stir in half the tapioca flour and combine well until each piece of water chestnut is well coated. Scoop them out and lightly spray with water before coating them with the other half of tapioca flour. Place coated water chestnuts into a colander and lightly shake off excess flour.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Carefully ladle in coated water chestnuts and cook for 1 min. Remove them once they float to the surface and transfer them to a bowl of cold, iced water.
In a small saucepan, pour in water, sugar and coconut milk and heat through over medium flame until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow the syrup to cool down.
To serve, pour some syrup into a serving cup or bowl. Add crushed ice and cooked water chestnuts.

Indonesian Sweet Thick Pancake (Martabak Manis)

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To Prep
Add sugar into a bowl of warm milk and stir until dissolved. Pour in yeast and allow to stand for 10 mins until mixture begins to foam.
In a large mixing bowl, stir in flour, salt and baking powder until combined. Create a well in the centre and crack in eggs. Gently whisk the eggs and stir into the flour. Gradually pour in milk-yeast mixture while stirring to combine until a smooth and thick batter is achieved. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and set aside in a warm area for 30 mins. The batter will have air bubbles all over at the end of the stand time.

To Cook
Brush some melted butter over a non-stick pan (12-inch) and heat over medium fire. Pour in the batter and swirl the pan to evenly spread out the batter across the base of the pan and also to the sides. Leave to cook on medium-low heat until bubbles begin to form on the pancake’s surface. This will take around 10 mins. Carefully lift the bottom of the pancake to check the colour. It should be golden brown.
Sprinkle sugar evenly across the pancake and cover the pan. Leave to cook for another 15 mins over low heat.
The pancake should be all puffed up once ready. Transfer the pancake to a large plate and brush about ¼ cup of melted butter across the pancake’s surface. Top with hazelnut spread, chocolate chips or sprinkles (or a combination!). Sprinkle some roasted peanuts and cheese. Drizzle some condensed milk across the pancake. Fold the pancake into half and brush more melted butter on the browned surface of the pancake. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut and serve warm.

Orange Lapis Surabaya Cake

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To Begin
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Place egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat for 10 mins on high speed. Meanwhile, whisk butter until light and fluffy. Set aside. Once the eggs are ready, turn the speed down and sift in flour and milk powder. Add vanilla extract and orange zest. Then, fold in butter. Divide the mixture into 3 equal portions. Mix in cocoa powder into one of the mixture portions. Stir to mix well.
Pour each mixture portions into 3 different trays lined with baking paper. You can use an 8” or 6” round trays, 8” or 6” square trays or 7.9” x 4.3” loaf pans. Bake them at 180°C for 35 mins.
Once ready, leave to cool. Then, spread a layer of blueberry jam over the top of the cocoa cake and a layer over one of the orange cakes. Setting the orange cake with blueberry jam as your base, place the cocoa cake on top and finally, stack on the orange cake that’s without any jam.
Trim the edges and serve.

Sweet Sticky Corn in Coconut Milk (Kaow-Pod Piek)

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To Cook
Boil a pot of water over medium heat, add the corn kernels. Continually stir until they are cooked.
Add sugar into the pot and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
In a small mixing bowl, mix the tapioca flour and 2 cups of water. Stir until the mixture is well combined.
Slowly add the flour mixture into the pot and then stir until the flour mixture turns thick and clear. Remove from heat and set aside to cool down.
Boil coconut milk and salt in another pot over low heat and stir continuously. When the mixture starts to boil, remove from heat.
When everything is well mixed, transfer the corn kernels to serving bowl. Top the corn kernels with coconut milk. Serve.

Chinese Steamed Egg Custard

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To Cook
Combine the water and rock sugar in to a saucepan and cook under medium heat until the sugar has dissolved before letting it cool.
Beat the eggs before adding in the milk and the cooled syrup and mixing.
Pour the custard mixture through a fine sieve and in to ramekins or bowls that can be used to steam with.
Wrap each individual serving in cling film and place in to a steamer to steam for about 8 mins.
Once the custard has cooked, remove it from the steamer and let it cool and set for at least 15 mins.

Matcha and Red Bean Mochi

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To Prep
On a baking tray, sprinkle potato starch liberally. Set aside.
Measure 2 tsp of red bean paste and gently roll into a ball. You will need 6 balls in total. Set aside.

To Cook
In a medium-sized, microwaveable bowl, mix glutinous rice flour, water and sugar until well combined.
Cover the bowl with cling wrap, leaving a small gap on the side to allow steam to escape. Microwave for 2 mins.
Carefully fold over cling wrap and with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, quickly stir the dough to loosen. Cover the bowl again and microwave for 1 min.
Remove cling wrap, pour in the matcha paste and quickly stir into the dough until distributed evenly.
Tip hot dough onto the tray with potato starch. Gently roll the mochi dough over to cover entire surface with starch. Cut dough into 6 equal portions.
Cover hands liberally with starch, then flatten 1 piece of mochi dough to approximately 4 cm across. Place dough on one palm and brush off excess starch on the top surface. Place ball of red bean paste on the dough. Pinch opposite sides of the dough to seal in the red bean. Roll in between your palms to form a ball and place mochi on the starched tray.
Repeat with remaining dough and red bean paste.
Once completed, brush off access starch on the surface and place mochi on a serving dish. Serve with a cup of Japanese tea.