Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Dessert

Blue Butterfly Pea Seri Muka

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To Prep
Grease a 20cm square or round cake tin and place in a steamer. Set over a large pan or wok filled with 5cm of water.

To Cook
In a mixing bowl, combine rice with coconut milk, water and salt. Pour into the cake tin and steam for 30 mins.
Turn off heat and leave the rice in the steamer for 10 mins. Drizzle blue butterfly pea flower extract onto the rice to create a marbled effect. Remove from the steamer and press the rice firmly to create a compressed rice base layer.
Combine all custard topping ingredients and stir over medium heat until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat.
Spread custard topping onto compressed rice base. Immediately steam for 30 minutes or until set.
Cool completely before slicing the Seri Muka to serve.

Blue Butterfly Pea Flower Chiffon Cake

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To Prep
Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
Dissolve blue butterfly pea flower powder in hot milk and set aside to cool completely.

To Cook
Sift together 100g caster sugar, flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, vegetable oil and cooled blue milk together.
In a clean bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks. Gradually add in remaining caster sugar tablespoon by tablespoon, whisking well each time. Continue to beat the whites until you achieve glossy, stiff peaks.
Combine flour and blue mixture, being careful not to overmix.
Incorporate ⅓ of the egg whites into the mixture, and mix well to loosen the batter. Add in the remainder of the egg whites and gently fold through.
Pour batter into an ungreased 25cm tube pan.
Place on bottom rack of the oven, lower temperature to 160°C and bake for 1 hr.
Turn off the heat and let the cake sit in the hot oven for another 30 mins.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before turning out of the cake tin.
Slice cake and serve.

Pulut Tai Tai

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To Prep
Grease a 20cm square baking tin. Sit it in a bamboo steamer on a pan or wok filled with 5cm of water.

To Cook
Mix rice with 150ml coconut milk, water and salt in a large bowl, and pour into the baking tin. Steam for 30 mins.
Using a pair of chopsticks to loosen the rice, stir in remaining coconut milk.
Turn off heat and leave the rice in the steamer for another 10 mins.
Drizzle butterfly pea flower extract onto the rice to create a marbled effect. Remove from the steamer and press the rice firmly to create a compressed rice base layer.
Set it aside to cool completely before cutting into pieces. Serve with kaya.

Japanese Dumplings with Sweet Soy Flour (Kinako 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
In a plate, mix the soybean flour and sugar until well combined.

To Serve
Drain the dumplings and put 3 balls into each bamboo skewer. Coat with the sweet soy flour and serve.

Red Rubies in Coconut Milk (Thab Thim Grob)

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To Prep
Peel and cut the water chestnuts in to small, bite-sized pieces.
Add enough water just to cover the chestnuts.
Drop in around 15 drops of red food colouring, or depending on how red you would like to red rubies to be. Stir, and allow to sit for 10-15 mins.
Drain the water chestnuts and place them in a bowl.
Spoon in about 1/4 cup of tapioca flour, and toss until all the chestnuts are well coated.
Continue this process a couple more times. For a thin coating, this will require about 3/4 cup tapioca flour, and for a thicker coating, use about 1 cup tapioca flour to fully coat the chestnuts.
Remove from the bowl and shake off the extra flour using a sieve.

To Cook
Bring a large pot of water to boil and carefully place the water chestnuts into the pot to cook for roughly 2-3 min.
Once cooked, strain off into a large bowl of cold or ice water. Once cooled, drain out red rubies for serving.
In another small saucepan, combine the coconut milk syrup ingredients and heat through until all of the sugar has dissolved.
Once the sugar has dissolved, take off the heat and allow to cool down before serving.
To serve the dessert, pour some of the coconut syrup into a bowl before placing some of the drained red rubies and crushed ice. Optionally, add slices of jackfruit and coconut flesh to serve.

Spiral Yam Mooncake

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To Prep Water Dough
Mix ingredients in a large bowl and knead until well combined.
Divide into 3 equal portions and allow to rest for 20 mins.

To Prep Oil Dough
Mix ingredients in a large bowl and knead until well combined.
Divide into 3 equal portions and allow to rest for 20 mins.

For the Filling
Place egg yolks in a steamer on medium-low heat for 10-15 mins. Set aside to cool when finished.
Sprinkle salt onto yam before steaming for 20 mins on medium heat. Once finished, mash with a fork or in food processor.
Mix the yam paste with half of the cooking oil (40ml) in a non-stick pan on low heat until oil is fully absorbed. Turn off the heat while yam paste is still hot, add caster sugar, wheat starch and remaining oil to combine. Allow to cool and divide into 70g portions.
Flatten out yam portions and place steamed yolk in the middle. Wrap and gently use hands to shape into a ball. Repeat for the rest.

To Assemble
Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper
Shape and roll/flatten out one portion of water dough. Then wrap the water dough over a portion of rounded oil dough on. Seal and shape into circles. Repeat process as needed.
Using a rolling pin, roll the ball into even and thin rectangular shapes. With the shorter side pointing at you, roll the dough away from you like a Swiss roll. Flatten with rolling pin and repeat again.
Cut rolled dough into 4 equal portions. Repeat with remain dough.
Flatten dough slices thinly with a rolling pin into a disk. Place yam filling in the centre, and cover with dough. Trim off any excess dough. Repeat with rest of dough and filling, and bake for 30 mins or until golden brown.
Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Japanese Dumplings with Red Bean Paste (Anko 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.
Drain the dumplings and put 3 balls into each bamboo skewer. Top with red bean paste and serve with green tea.

Mochi with Sweet Soy Flour (Kinako Mochi)

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To Prep
Mix the soybean flour and sugar evenly.

To Cook
Place the mochi in a pot of water, heat on high until slow boil. Move the mochi to prevent the bottom sticking to the pot.
Lower the heat to simmer for 2 mins then turn off the heat. Leave the mochi in the hot water for 1 min.
Remove from water and coat in the sweet soy flour mixture. Serve.

Lotus Seed Dessert (Leng Chee Kang)

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To Prep
Soak lotus seeds overnight. Split in half and remove the bitter, green sprouts. Boil for about 1 hr or until tender. Drain and set aside.
Soak lily bulbs for 30 mins. Boil for 15 mins. Remove and rinse under cold water. Set aside.
Boil the ginkgo nuts over medium heat for 3 mins. Drain and set aside.
Rinse the basil seeds under cold running water, then soak in cold water for at least 10 mins or until they swell. Drain and set aside.
Soak malva nuts in warm water and soak for 30 mins or until they expand. Then remove the seeds and stem by hand. Rinse in cold water. Remove as much liquid by squeezing and set aside.
Soak snow fungus for 15 mins or until soft. Rinse and remove dirty particles, cut off hard stem and tear into small florets. Drain and set aside.

To Make Dessert Soup
Combine all the syrup ingredients and the snow fungus in a medium sized saucepan. Boil over medium low heat for about 20 mins or until snow fungus are cooked. Remove from heat and set aside.

To Serve
In a bowl, add some of each prepared ingredient. Ladle over the sweet soup together with some of the dried longans and snow fungus.
Serve warm, or cold with some ice cubes.

Egg-Free Durian Ice Cream

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To Begin
Mix or blend fresh durian with fresh milk.
Once that is smooth (or to your liking) add in caster sugar and continue to mix/blend until sugar is dissolved.
Beat the heavy cream until stiff, and then transfer batch by batch into the durian mixture. Fold the whipped cream until it is well mixed.
Transfer into a container; make sure it can be properly sealed to avoid crystallization on top of mixture once it is frozen. Leave it in the freezer for at least 5 hours.

Red Bean Paste Pancake

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To Prep
Mix milk, egg, sugar and oil in a bowl until well combined using a hand whisk. Pour in flour and whisk to mix thoroughly. Sift the batter and allow to rest for 30 mins.
While waiting, place a portion of red bean paste on a cling film. Wrap and lightly roll into a rectangular shape.

To Cook
In a flat pan, heat up about ½ tsp oil over medium flame. Ladle about 1½ scoops of batter into the pan. Off heat, quickly tilt the pan to evenly spread out the batter, forming a thin layer of pancake. Back to the heat, cook the pancake for about 1 min until it has set.
Allow the pancake to cool down slightly. Then, transfer the red bean paste and wrap into a rectangular parcel. Lightly dab the edges with flour thickening to seal the pancake. Repeat with remaining batter and red bean paste.
Sprinkle some white sesame seeds on one side of the pancakes. Heat up a pan with 2 tbsp oil. Place in the pancakes, sesame seeds side down first. Fry until golden brown over medium heat. Turn to the other side and continue to fry for another 2 mins.
Transfer the pancakes to a serving plate and cut into slices. Serve.

Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake (Ma Lai Koh)

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To Prep
Crack eggs into a large mixing bowl and add sugar. Whisk until light and fluffy. Pour in oil and milk and continue whisking until smooth. Slowly add in flour and custard powder while whisking until smooth batter is formed. Also, gradually add in baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk until smooth, ensuring there are no lumps. Cover the mixing bowl with cling wrap and allow the batter to rest for at least 30 mins.

To Cook
Prepare a steamer and bring water to a rolling boil. Place a 9-inch round pan into the steamer for about 3 mins to warm it up. Then, pour the batter into the pan and steam for 40 mins. To check if it’s ready, insert a tooth pick into the centre of the cake and remove it. The tooth pick should come out clean.
Take the cake out from the steamer and set aside to cool down slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.