Category: Asian

Matty Matheson’s Sichuan Chilli Oil Smashed Cucumber with Soy-Cured Egg (Salad)

.Reading time 5 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

As Matty Matheson says it:

This is just one of the best things ever. The textures and tastes set you up for a perfect meal. Normally, smashed cucumbers are often served simply as a side to just nibble on while you’re waiting for noodles or dumplings to come out. I think this treatment takes the cucumbers to more of comprehensive dish. This is so refreshing. The soy eggs are just Banana Town. Since we’re making a cookbook, we could make something like this a main event. I’m so hyped on this salad, and I know this will be a staple for you and your family or friends, or maybe your lover

This is a sophisticated Asian salad, no doubt.

The black vinegar chilli crisp dressing is sensational and I’ve prepared it separately for different salads of rocket, avocado and poached green beans with great effect.

The soy sauce eggs are the lux element. This shows effort and it won’t go unnoticed.

Christmas is the time for salad and winding down.

This salad is worth every bit of effort.

And save that dressing on its own. Chilli crisp is brilliant.

(There are 5 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds in total here: just a pre-warning.)

(And the eggs need no less than 6 hours resting and ideally overnight.)

Ingredients

Soy Sauce Egges

6 eggs
1/2 c water
1 c soy sauce
3/4 c mirin

Cucumber Salad

2 English cucumbers, cut into 6cm strips*
Salt
1/2 red onion, sliced as thinly as possible
1/2 bunch coriander, chopped
1/2 bunch spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Black Vinegar Chilli Crisp Dressing

1/4 c chilli crisp**
2 tbsp black vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Zest and juice of 1 lime
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 small knob ginger, grated
2 tbsp grapeseed oil

Method

  1. Starting with the soy sauce eggs: bring a large pot of water to the boil and carefully lower each egg into the pot and set your timer for 6 minutes. Transfer the eggs to an ice bath until they get cold, then peel them.
  2. To marinate the eggs, place a Ziplock bag in a small bowl. Fill it with the water, soy sauce and mirin, add the eggs and squeeze out the air to ensure the eggs are fully covered by the soy mixture. Seal and store in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours and ideally a day.
  3. When you are ready to make the salad, get ready to smash the cucumbers. Lay them out on a chopping board and smash them with the bottom of a pot. Transfer them to a strainer set over a bowl, generously salt them and place them in the fridge for 30 minutes: when done, press them with paper towels to remove all the moisture you can.
  4. In a large bowl, mix the red onion, coriander and spring onions.
  5. Make the dressing by combining all of the dressing ingredients and combine/shake well.
  6. Carefully remove the soy eggs from their bath and break them up gently with your hands. Be artful.
  7. When you’re ready to serve, get a large platter out. First put down the smashed cucumber. Toss with the dressing. Top with the broken up soy eggs. Add the coriander, onion and spring onions and top with the sesame seeds.

* I used Lebanese. There are apparently 100 varieties of cucumber in the world and whilst they vary (seedless vs non-seedless, thicker vs thinner skin), I lost no sleep over this.

** I cannot – cannot – overemphasis the need to find this which isn’t hard. The substitute is not jarred chilli or chilli oil. In fact, even the best substitute suggestions on Google are lukewarm and suggest you get off your arse.

Gourmet Traveller’s Kingfish Ceviche Tostada

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 6

Leading up to Avalon’s (7 months as of today) birth, Nat and I talked of our first proper meal together. Being October, outside, put up the umbrella, Champagne and a slow afternoon of good food and baby talk.

Good times right.

I did a side of ocean trout over charcoal and a really aromatic Asian/South American salad, though we kicked it off with this tostada, a recipe I’d had in our worryingly big backlog of recipes to try.

Sure it’s simple and sure, Sydney has overdone kingfish ceviche to death the past few years, though what a great snack.

Just a lovely way to kick off a meal with a three-day-old and a glass of something French. And doesn’t it look the part!

(And 7-months later, Avalon has consistently remained the most happy, beautiful little girl and best-friend any father could ever hope for. And no, she is not named after the regional Victorian airport, and is instead a nod to the great Bryan Ferry and his greatest song of all time.)

Ingredients

400gm sashimi-grade kingfish, cut across the grain into 5mm slices
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1/2 jalapeño, thinly sliced
Juice of 1/2 orange
1 tbsp olive oil (note: not extra virgin olive oil)
Juice of 2 limes
Vegetable oil for shallow-frying
6 – 8 small tortillas
1 large avocado, coarsely chopped
40gm sour cream
2 radishes, cut into julienne
1 c (loosely packed) coriander

Method

  1. Combine kingfish, onion, jalapeño, orange juice, olive oil and half the lime juice in a bowl, season to taste and refrigerate for 15 minutes to marinate.
  2. Meanwhile, heat vegetable oil (about 2cm deep) in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry tortillas one at a time, turning once, until golden and crisp (1 – 2 minutes each side). Transfer to a tray lined with paper towels. Season to taste with sea salt.
  3. Process avocado, sour cream and remaining lime juice in a blender or food processor until smooth and season to taste. Spread tostadas with avocado cream, top with ceviche, radish and coriander, season to taste and serve.

Adam Liaw’s Lions’ Heads

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

I almost didn’t cook this dish on account of – wait for it – the photo of the recipe in Adam Liaw’s book Asian After Work though my goodness, I’m glad I did.

Nat and I had a late Sunday lunch on Sydney’s Spit and wanted something easy and yummy for a later supper.

Talk about just god damn moorish. The stock becomes slightly oily and is filled with such a wonderful Chinese flavour. Add in those shiitake muchrooms.

And then the fried and then poached pork balls.

With some rice at the side, this is absolutely Chinese comfort. Curled up on the couch with a beer watching Yellowstone (yes, we are late to the series though how bloody good!), this was the perfect way to end the weekend.

Add this recipe to your backlog. Tick tick tick. It’s brilliant.

Ingredients

8 dried shiitake mushrooms
2 tbsp cornflour
1/2 Chinese cabbage, cut into 5cm lengths
Vegetable oil for shallow frying
500ml quality white chicken stock
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1/4 tsp caster sugar
2 spring onions, white and green parts, trimmed and sliced, to serve
Cooked Jasmine rice, to serve

Lions’ Head Meatballs

750gm pork mince
2 – 3 spring onions, white and light green partsm trimmed and minced
1 tsp grated sugar
1 eg yolk
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp Shaoxing wine
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
A pinch of white pepper
A pinch of caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Method

  1. Rinse the shiitake mushrooms quickly under running water and soak in 1 1/2 c boiling water for at least 20 minutes until softened. Trim and discard the strems, slice the caps, and reserve the liquid.
  2. For the meatballs, mix together all the ingredients and shape into 4 large balls. Sprinkle with the additional 2 tbsp of cornflour to coat, and set aside.
  3. Place the cabbage and shiitake mushrooms in the base of a large casserole dish. Deep or shallow-fry the meatballs in plenty of oil until well browned all over. Place the meatballs on top if the cabbage and pour over the stock, soy sauce, wine, sugar and reserved shiitake steeping liquid. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through and the cabbage is very soft. Scatter with spring onions and serve with rice.

Adam Liaw’s Master Stock Poached Chicken Breast

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 2

This is an absolutely wonderful way to prepare chicken breast in such a favourful way, ready for pairing with rice maybe some Asian greens.

Make the masterstock the nighr before and it’s set and forget.

And the ginger and spring onion oil? So simple, so beautiful.

For a casual, Asian feast (is casual and feast mutually exclusive?), this is a must.

Our boys kept taking leftovers from the fridge all the next day, a sure sign you’ve nailed it.

Ingredients

Faster Master (Stock) – 2 litres

1 1/2 ltrs quality white chicken stock
250ml dark soy sauce (or substitute light soy sauce if you prefer)
250ml Shaoxing wine
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled but bruised
1 small brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped
5 thick slices, ginger, unpeeled
1 cinnamon quill
3 star anise
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 c caster sugar

Chicken

2 ltrs Faster Master
2 chicken breasts, skinless
A handful of coriander to serve
Cooked rice to serve
Steamed greens to serve

Ginger & Spring Onion Oil

2 tbsp grated ginger
4 medium spring onions, white and light green parts, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp peanut oil

Method

Faster Master (Stock)

  1. Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool, then strain out all the solids.
  2. When you use this liquid for poaching meat or fish, bring it to the boil for a minute or two after you have removed the meat or fish to kill bacteria, strain it, allow to cool, transfer to a freezer-proof container and freeze until you need to use it again.

Chicken and Ginger & Spring Onion Oil

  1. Bring the Faster Master to a simmer in a medium-sized saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the chicken breasts and cover tightly. Allow to stand for 10 minutes and test the internal temperature, and either continuing poaching (possibly over a low heat depending on where you are in cooking terms) or rest for 2 minutes.
  2. Pound the ginger, spring onion and salt in a heatproof mortar to a rough paste. Heat the oil in a pan over a high heat until smoking hot, then pour onto the mixture. Once the sizzling stops, mix the sauce and allow to stand until ready to serve.
  3. Slice the chicken, scatter with coriander and serve with the ginger and spring onion oil, rice and greens.

Sylvia Fountaine’s Lemongrass Chicken

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

I don’t cook or eat a lot of stir fries.

In fact, this is the first I have ever typed up.

Which means it must be good, and it is.

It’s also simple. Mid-week dinner simple. Vietnamese hump-day stuff.

Perhaps closer to a larb than a stir fry and maybe that it why it is soo good, though stir fry it is and worth typing up, very much.

Ingredients

1 – 2 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
2 fat shallots, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 c lemongrass, finely chopped
4 – 5 dried Thai chillies (or 1/2 tsp of chilli flakes)
500g chicken mince
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Chinese Five Spice
1 tsp cracked pepper
1 bell red or yellow bell pepper, sliced
2 baby bok choy sliced
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp honey
1/4 c mint leaves or Thai basil
Lime wedges
Jasmine rice to serve

Method

  1. Cook your rice.
  2. In an extra large skillet, heat oil over a medium-high heat and one hot, add shallots and stir fry until tender, about 2 – 3 minutes. Add garlic, lemongrass and dried chillies, stir frying until fragrant. Scoop all into a bowl and set aside.
  3. In the same pan, add a splash of oil, increase heat to high and add the ground chicken, season with salt and pepper, breaking it apart and browning once all the liquid has evaporated.
  4. Add the five spice, peppers and bok choi, lower heat and stir fry until peppers are just tender, about 3 minutes.
  5. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and honey alone with the cook shallot mixture, removing the Thai chillies. Taste, adjust and add some fresh herbs to serve.

Aun Koh’s Char Siu using Sous-vide

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 8 depending on serving size

Nat and I cooked this 6 years ago and neither of us has forgotten it.

It’s by a blogger Aun Koh who clearly loves his food and travel. Great photography and attention to detail.

He is a total sous-vide snob and whilst he loves pork belly, pork neck is his go-to for being a leaner cut.

Essentially, marinate for 36 hours and then sous-vide for 24 hours. Glaze and cook in the oven on a temperature high enough that the door falls off.

And that’s it. Just add rice.

And OMG. After that sous-vide, this is a meal you’re going to remember.

A few years back, Nat and I did a bonkers 5-star trip to Hong Kong sans kids. We ate like kings and a meal that we often reference was at Tin Lung Heen. Two Michelin stars, 102nd floor of The Ritz Carlton.

Excellent.
Nat: even more excellent.
The char-siu was very good.

Very unassuming as I am sure you can imagine.

Anyway, they have a char siu that must be preordered; which of course I did, having reviewed the menu weeks out.

And look, the whole experience was pretty amazing. The walk through the black and golden wine cellar on the way to the bathroom is dazzling just in-and-of itself.

And sure, the char siu was excellent. Amazing. Though not as good as this recipe.

Ingredients

1kg Berkshire or Kurobuta pork neck
Rice to serve

Marinade

6 spring onions, sliced into 4cm lengths and smashed
8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
3 tbsp regular soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
3 tbsp sugar
2.5 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp rich chicken stock
1 tsp sesame oil

Finishing sauce (enough for 2 strips)

1 tsp salt
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp honey

Method

  1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together.
  2. Cut the pork lengthways into strips around 5 – 6cm wide and 1 – 2cm thick. Cut strips crosswise if needed into pieces 12 inches long. (Photo below to illustrate.) Place into a large baking dish that can accommodate all the pork in one layer. Pout the marinade over the pork. Seal with dish with cling wrap overnight, at least 12 hours and up to 36 hours. Turn the pork a few times during the marinating process. Keep in the fridge.
  3. Prepare your sous-vide and bring the water to 58c.
  4. Place each piece of pork, with some marinade, into a vacuum-sealable bag and seal at high pressure.
  5. Drop the bags into the water bath and cook for 24 hours. Once done, prepare an ice water bath and plunge the bags of pork directly into the ice water. Once cool, dry off the bags and liberate (love this word!) your pork, and move to the final stage of finishing off the pork.
  6. Mix the finishing sauce. (From experience, you cannot have too much.) Taste, it should be salty-sweet.
  7. Preheat your oven to the highest temperature it can go. Pour some water into a roasting pan. Over the pan, place a large wire rack that fits over the top of the pan.
  8. Brush as much of the finishing sauce onto the strips of pork. You want it thick. Lay the pork on the wire rack (and over the water in the roasting pan). Pop this in the oven for 10 minutes or until the surface of the char siu is nicely charred.

    (Use a blow torch instead.)
Here you go. Achieve this and you’ve won.

Gary Mehigan’s Karaage Chicken Burgers with Onion Slaw and Wasabi Mayo

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Makes: 4

When it comes to burgers, we absolutely love it when we stumble on a burger that breaks into our top burgers of all time.* We can’t stop smiling.

And so here is one of those burgers, plated by my mother at a recent American-themed lunch. (And yes, I get that this burger, other than the bun and the fried chicken is the antithesis of an American burger!)

In his book, Gary references a time on Masterchef with Gordon Ramsay where Gordon was unimpressed by a challenge where contenstants plated up all manner of burgers; though where none of them were conventional or centered around a traditional patty.

As Gary says, Gordon might be right, though he hasn’t had this burger.

(Gordon is wrong. This is an excellent, excellent burger.)

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs
1/2 c katakuriko potato starch
1 c panko breadcrumbs
Peanut or sunflower oil for shallow-frying
4 soft brioche-style burger buns
1 ripe avacado, sliced
2 c mizuna or rocket leaves

Chicken marinade

2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
2 tsp finely grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, grated

Onion slaw

1 white onion, thinly sliced
1 c shredded daikon
1 tbsp pickled ginger, finely chopped
1/4 c rice vinegar

Wasabi mayonaise

1/3 c Kewpie mayonnaise
2 – 3 tsp wasabi paste (depending on taste)

Method

  1. To make the marinade, combine the ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the chicken and stir through to coat. Cover and marinade in the fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours.
  2. Meanwhile, for the onion slaw. combine all the ingredients and set aside. For the mayo, combine the ingredients and refridgerate until using.
  3. Combine the potato startch and panko crumbs in a bowl, then add the chicken pieces and mix thoroughly with your hands to coat.
  4. Prepare a tray with a wire rack and tongs and set to one side in preparation to fry the chicken, Pour oil into a deep frying pan to a depth of 1.5cm, then heat over a medium-high heat until the oil reaches 160c. Adjust the heat as necessary to maintain the temperature.
  5. Gently lower the chicken pieces into the hot oil with the tongs ad cook for 6 – 8 minutes, turning halfway, until evenly cooked through and crispy. You can check to see if the chicken is cooked using a thermometer – it should read above 65c. Lift the chicken from the oil with the tongs and place on a wire rack to drain. (If you feel that the chicken still needs a cooking nudge though you have already have a dark crunchy outside, place in an oven on 180c for a few minutes).
  6. Cut the buns in haf and cook under a grill until golden. Smear the cut side of the top half with a generous dollop of the wasabi mayonnaise. Place a little avacado and slaw on the base, add the crispy chicken, then the greens and sandwich together.

* Those burgers that Nat and I reckon have made that list – that have been absolute homeruns – are:

Anjum Anand’s Best Ever Burger with Spiced Onions
Gordon Ramsay 1-million Subscriber Burger (ironic I know)
Jamie Oliver’s Insanity Burger
Neil Perry’s ‘Hamburger’ (my favourite)

Nigel Slater’s Pork Belly with Peach Salsa

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

Cudos where cudos are due.

My mother strongly suggested we cook this recipe, what with the narrow window where beautiful, ripe peaches are in season.

And we almost didn’t do it.

The fact that you’re reading it here would hopefully indicate that is was a win.

The spice rub and the salsa work so well together, especially if you get the crackling, really crackling. Leaving the belly in the fridge overnight, uncovered is a great way to achieve this, before adding the rub.

With a simple bowl of steamed rice and some Asian greens on the side, this was a wonderful, wonderful dinner and one which you should definitely try this summer.

While you can!

(Note: I did the salsa in a food processor and I am not sure why you wouldn’t.)

Ingredients

Pork belly, skin finely scored*
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp peanut oil
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp Chinese five spice
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped with seeds
3 peaches, peeled and finely chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 small bunch coriander, chopped
Juice of 2 limes
3 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Method

  1. Crush the garlic to a paste and combine with the soy sauce, peanut oil, salt, chilli flakes and five spice and spread over the skin and flesh of the pork and allow to marinate for at least 4 hours or ovenight.
  2. Preheat the over to 220c and roast the poek, skin-side up, for 20 minutes.
  3. Reduce the heat to 200c and continue roasting for another 40 – 50 minutes, or until the skin is dark and crisp.
  4. Toss together the spring onions, chilli, peaches, tomatoes, coriander, lime juice and olive oil, season and serve with the pork.

* Leave the belly in the freezer until it is starting to freeze and at this point, scoring is a much easier task.

Neil Perry’s Prawn Scrambled Eggs

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 2 as a starter

Neil Perry is famous for his Asian omelettes and my first experience was in 1997 when I graduated from school (boarding school no-less) and in a surprise, my old-man picked me up and we drove into the Sydney CBD and had lunch at the original Rockpool.

We had Neil’s famous blue swimmer crap omelette and it was just awesome.

This particular dish is simpler – incredibly simple in fact – though it is that simplicity that makes it just such a wonderful treat.

What a cracking starter by Nat for a long afternoon of Chinese grazing.

Ingredients

300gm green king prawns, peeled and deveined
2 large eggs
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 spring onion, sliced

Sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
A few drops of sesame oil

Method

  1. To make the sauce, combine the soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil with 2 tbsp water in a small pot and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.
  2. Break the eggs into a bowl and lightly break up with a fork.
  3. Heat a wok until it is almost smoking, Add half the oil and, when hot, stir-fry the prawns in two batches until almost cooked through. Remove the prawns and wipe the wok clean.
  4. Heat the remaining oil and stir fry the eggs until just beginning to set, then add the prawns and spring onion and gently toss together. Remove from the heat, spoon onto a plate and pour the warm sauce over the eggs to serve.

Neil Perry’s Stir-Fried Blue Eye with Snake Beans

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

Another cracking dried curry – which I love – and one from Neil Perry’s book Balance and Harmony: cooked by Nat no less as part of a long Covid lockdown lunch.

I appreciate that pastes can be painful on first inspection though take the time. This is how we make the food that we love, right?

Dried shrimp and shrimp paste are easily gettable and the rest is mainstream.

Enjoy. (I certainly did with a side-bowl of steamed white rice.)

Ingredients

300gm blue eye fillet, cut into bite sized pieces
8 snake beans, cut into 3cm pieces
100ml vegetable oil
2 tbsp grated palm sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp dried shrimp, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes

Spice Paste

1/2 tsp white peppercorns
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 dried long red chillies, deseeded, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes and chopped
1 tsp sea salt
3 red shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp finely chopped galangal
1 lemongrass stalk, tough outer leaves removed, chopped
6 coriander roots, scraped and chopped
1 tsp Thai shrimp paste, wrapped in foil and roasted until fragrant

Method

  1. To make the spice paste, lightly roast the peppercorns, fennel and cumin seeds in a dry heavy-based pan until very fragrant and dark, then grind to a powder in a spice grinder. The pound all the past ingredients in a mortar and pestle until you have a fine paste. (Or use a blender, adding a little water if necessary.)
  2. Boil the beans until tender, then drain and refresh in iced water.
  3. Heat a wok until smoking. Add half the oil and, when hot, stir-fry the blue eye in batches until golden, then remove. Add the remaining oil to the pan and stir fry the spice paste until fragrant, then add the palm sugar, fish sauce, beans and shrimp and toss together. Return the blue eye to the wok and stir-fry for 1 minute.