Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Dessert

Vietnamese Iced Coffee Popsicles

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To Prep
Add Vietnamese ground coffee into a large Vietnamese coffee filter. Push down with press. Pour a splash of hot water over coffee grounds. Sit for 30 secs.
Pour remaining water over coffee (you may have to do this in stages). All to drip through to make about ¾ cups of brewed coffee.

To Cook
Add 200g condensed milk to a measuring cup/jug. Pour in hot coffee and ½ cup cream, and stir well to combine. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until chilled.
In a separate measuring cup/jug, add remaining condensed milk and cream, and stir to combine. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until chilled.
Pour in Vietnamese coffee mixture to fill popsicle mould three quarters of the way. Set in freezer for 1-2 hrs or until almost frozen.
Insert popsicle stick and top up with cream mixture. Set in freezer until completely frozen.
To serve, run popsicle mould under hot water for several seconds. Gently pull on popsicle stick to remove. Serve immediately.

Indonesian Glutinous Rice Balls in Ginger Syrup (Wedang Ronde)

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To Make the Ginger Syrup
Combine the ginger, lemongrass, pandan leaves, sugar and 500ml of water in to a saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
After 15 mins of simmering, remove the saucepan from the heat and strain the syrup to remove the larger ingredients.
Set the syrup aside.

To Make the Rice Balls
In a food processor or blender, mix the roasted peanuts and sugar together.
In a separate mixing bowl, place the glutinous flour and slowly pour in the water while kneading the flour.
Continue to pour the water until the dough has a started to take a play dough like consistency.
Divide the dough in to about 20 small balls. If you want to add colours to the dough, do it now while dividing the dough.
Roll out one of the balls in to a flat disc and place about a teaspoon of the peanut filling in to the centre.
Curl up the sides around the filling and roll the dough to return it to a ball shape and then repeat with the rest of the dough.
To avoid the rice balls from drying out, cover them with a damp towel.

To Cook the Rice Balls
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then gently drop each ball in to it.
Cook the rice balls until they begin to float and then remove them from the pot.
To serve, place a few of the rice balls in to a bowl and ladle over some of the ginger syrup.

Indonesian Honeycomb Cake (Bika Ambon)

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To Cook
In a small pot, pour in coconut milk and add turmeric powder, kaffir lime leaves and sugar. Simmer on low heat for 3 mins, stirring to mix. Allow to heat up but do not boil. Remove and allow to cool down till warm. Put in yeast and allow to sit for 15 mins until the mixture starts to foam. Remove the kaffir lime leaves and discard.
In a large mixing bowl, put in tapioca flour, salt and eggs. Gently stir to combine well. Slowly add in coconut milk and yeast mixture and gently whisk until batter is smooth. Cover with a cling wrap and allow to sit for 3 hrs in room temperature. If it is cold where you are, preheat the oven to 35°C. Turn off and allow the batter to sit inside the preheated oven. Once ready, there will be bubbles all over the batter to indicate that the yeast is active.
Preheat oven to 165°C. Using a loaf pan, brush the pan with some oil and line the entire pan with parchment paper. Gently stir the batter to mix the ingredients well again then pour the batter into the pan. Place pan on the 3rd rack from top and bake for 50 mins–1 hr. To test if the cake is ready, the cake should not jiggle when you shake the pan. You can also place a clean toothpick into the centre of the cake. The toothpick should come out clean.
Place the cake at the lowest rack and broil on low to slightly brown the top. Watch the process carefully to ensure the top does not get burnt.
Carefully remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 mins before removing the cake from the pan. Slice the cake once cooled and enjoy with a cup of tea!

Creamy Coconut and Pandan Jelly

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To Prepare
Boil the pandan leaves in a pot of water for about 10 minutes to draw out the flavour. Add 2-3 drops of green food colouring into the pot and stir. Transfer the water to a bowl and set aside.
Boil the coconut water over high heat in a pot. When the coconut water starts to boil, add the 1 tbsp of gelatin powder and stir until the gelatin powder has dissolved fully.
Add 2 tbsp of the boiled pandan water and 1⁄2 cup of white sugar and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Pour the mixture into a jelly mold or any container and fill ¾ of the selected mold/container. Place the mold into the fridge.
Add a cup of water to a pot on high heat, then add 1 tbsp of gelatin powder and stir until fully dissolved. Add 1 tbsp of corn flour, 1 tsp of salt and ¼ cup of coconut milk. Stir until the mixture has combined well.
Add ½ cup of sugar and stir until it is dissolved. Add ¾ cup of coconut milk and stir. Wait until the mixture has cooled down before taking out the green pandan jelly from the fridge. Pour the new mixture onto the previous container of pandan jelly. Return the mold/container to the fridge to set.
After the jelly has fully set, it is ready to be served.

Thai Milk Tea Pudding

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To Prepare
Put the gelatin papers into the cold water for 5-7 mins. If using gelatin powder, mix it with water, then stir until well mixed. Set aside for approximately 5 mins (until the gelatin mixture looks like jelly).
Boil the Thai Black Tea in 2 cups of water (leaving it to boil for about 5 mins).
Filter the Thai Black tea using the tea filter/teabag/filter cloth. Make sure that you get 1½ cups of filtered Thai tea.
Mix the condensed milk and evaporated milk with the prepared Thai tea.
Add the gelatin and stir until the mixture is properly mixed.
Transfer the Thai tea gelatin mixture into the serving glass (to fill only ¾ of the glass).
Put the glasses into the fridge for 2-3 hours for the pudding to form.
Lastly, add the whipping cream on top of the Thai tea pudding and garnish with mint leaves.

Thai Milk Tea Blondie

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To Prepare
Boil the Thai Black Tea by adding it into the boiling hot water (leaving it to boil for around 5 minutes). Filter the Thai Black Tea using the tea filter/teabag/filter cloth. Mix well and sift all the ingredients for coating and set aside.
Melt the white chocolate, salted butter and sugar by putting them into the microwaveable container. Then microwave them using the highest heat for 1-2 minutes, making sure they are fully melted. Note that the three ingredients might not properly combine but should be properly combined after the next step.
Add 2 eggs into the mixture and mix well using the egg whisk.
Add the all-purpose flour, milk powder, baking soda and baking powder into the mixture and mix well (slowly add one ingredient then continually mix).
Add the prepared Thai Milk Tea and mix properly. The mixture will turn light orange in colour.
Add the macadamia or chosen nuts on top of the blondie (optional).
Preheat the oven and ensure that both upper and lower heat settings are on.
Prepare the baking tray by cutting the parchment paper in the shape of the baking tray. Rub the butter inside the baking tray, then place the parchment paper on top. Place the parchment paper firmly against the bottom of the baking tray to ensure that it sticks.
Add the Thai Milk Tea blondie mixture into the baking tray.
Place the baking tray in the oven and bake it at 180℃. Place the lid or another baking tray to cover the baking tray with blondie mixture (in order to prevent the blondie surface from burning). Bake for 20-30 mins. Note: Try 20 mins first and if the blondie is not well-cooked, leave it in for an additional 5-10 mins.
Serve with vanilla ice-cream (optional).
Note: The blondie colour may vary based on the tea brand.

Sweet Potato Onde Onde

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To Prepare
Steam until soft and mash the orange and purple sweet potatoes separately.
Add half of the glutinous rice flour to the purple potatoes and the other half to the orange potatoes.
Add 1-2 tbsp water to each potato mixture.
Roll the dough into small balls and make a hole in each one. Add the palm sugar, seal the sugar in and roll into smooth balls.
Heat up water in a pot and cook once the water is simmering. The onde onde are cooked after approximately 3 mins or when they rise to the surface.
Cover the onde onde in grated coconut and prepare to serve.

Thai Fried Banana Fritters (Kluay Kaek)

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To Prep
In a large mixing bowl, combine the rice flour, potato starch, sugar, coconut, bicarbonate soda and salt, mix well.
Pour the water into the mixture, whisk until you make smooth batter that coats the banana evenly when dipped. If the batter is too thick, add 1 tbsp of water at a time until you reach the right consistency.

To Cook
Pour oil into pan for deep frying, heat until oil is hot. Dip the bananas into the batter and coat well, place into the oil.
When the batter turns golden brown, remove from oil and drain on paper towel. Serve.

Rice Balls in Sweet Coconut Milk (Bua-Loy)

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To Make the Dough
Mix the glutinous rice flour and mashed pumpkin using your fingers until well mixed. Add water, a little at a time, and knead until a dough is formed. The dough should be soft but not sticky or tacky. Add a little more flour if it gets too sticky, knead until it no longer sticks to your fingers.
Place the dough onto a cutting board and pat it down into a rectangle slightly under 1cm thick. Cut the dough into 1cm-thick strips and separate the strips so they don’t fuse back together. Take each strip and cut them into 1cm-long pieces so that all your pieces are now roughly 1 cm cubes. Roll each piece into little balls.
If you are not ready to cook them immediately, wrap them tightly with plastic wrap to avoid drying out.

For the Sweet Coconut Milk
Add all the Sweet Coconut Milk ingredients (except the young coconut flesh) into a pot and cook on medium, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add young coconut flesh and cook until boil.
Taste and add more sugar as needed. Turn off the heat and remove the pandan leaf.

To Cook the Bua Loy
Boil a pot of water and have a large bowl of cold water ready at the side.
Drop the rice balls into the boiling water in batches without crowding the pot. They should float within 1 min. As soon as they float, fish them out using a slotted spoon and put them directly in the bowl of cold water (they will sink in cold water). Repeat for the remaining rice balls.

To Assemble
Drain the rice balls well and add into the coconut milk. Heat the coconut milk until it comes back to a simmer so that the rice balls can absorb the flavour of the coconut milk, and turn the heat off immediately. Serve warm or room temperature.

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.