Recipes Articles for the Month of August 2023

1. Bring the stock to the boil in a medium-large pot.
2. In a small bowl, add all the 'Seasonings' ingredients together and mix to dissolve the sugar and salt.
3. Rinse the dehydrated ingredients and squeeze out any excess water. Now slice them into thin strips. We cut the ends off the lily flowers and slice them vertically down the centre.
4. Crack the egg into a small bowl and lightly whisk. Set aside.
5. When the stock comes to the boil, add in char siu and rehydrated small prawns.
6. Let the stock return to the boil.
7. Add the seasoning sauce mix. Stir to combine.
8. Add the lily flowers, shitake mushrooms, black fungus mushrooms and bamboo shoots.
9. Bring the soup back to the boil.
10. Add five spice tofu, firm tofu and vinegar. Stir and bring back to the boil.
11. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
12. Mix the cornflour slurry in a small bowl. When the soup is boiling, swirl your ladle around inside the pot and slowly drizzle in the slurry.
13. Bring the soup back to the boil. Once again, swirl your ladle around inside the pot and slowly drizzle in the beaten egg.
14. Turn off the heat. Ladle soup into serving bowls and garnish.

To make the Pepper Sauce

1. Add the sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, pepper and water into a small bowl and mix to combine. Set aside.

2. Heat oil on medium heat in a small-medium sized fry pan. Add garlic and ginger and fry until fragrant.

3. Add in pepper mix. Turn heat up to high and let it bubble and reduce to thicken slightly. This will take less than a minute.

4. Add in butter and stir through. Turn off the heat when the butter has melted and is incorporated in the sauce. Serve immediately.

To make the Sweet Potato Mash

1. Peel the sweet potato and cut into 3mm slices. Add into a medium sized pot.

2. Add milk into the pot (enough to cover the potatoes).

3. Heat mix on high. When the milk reaches boiling point, reduce the heat to medium-low so that the potatoes simmer gently in the milk to cook (this takes about 25mins from a cold start).

4. When the potatoes are fully cooked through, drain the milk, leaving some behind in the pot. Add butter and mash. Season with salt to taste.

To make the Steak

1. Choose your favourite cut and cook it to your liking. (We prefer ours seasoned with salt and cooked medium rare) 

To make the Prawns 

1. Into a medium sized bowl, add prawns, salt & olive. Mix well until combined

2. Heat skillet and add in prawns (do not overcrowd)

3. Once the prawns start to colour, flip over to colour the other side). Set aside. 

Serves 12

1. Rinse then soak the beans in cold tap water overnight.

Prepare the Sago

2. Add water to a large, deep pot and bring to the boil. Add in sago and give it a stir. Immediately reduce the heat to low when it comes to the boil. Cover with a lid and gently simmer for 15mins (stirring every 5mins). Turn off the heat and keep the lid on. Let sit for 25mins.

3. Drain cooked sago through a fine sieve and rinse thoroughly with cold tap water to remove the excess starch. Place cooked sago in a large bowl filled with iced water and set aside.

For the Soup

4.Rinse the beans then add to a large pot. Add sugar, tangerine peel and fresh water, then bring to the boil.

5. Reduce heat and gently simmer for 90mins or until beans are cooked to your liking. Remove the tangerine peel.

6. I like to give this mix a light blitz so that the soup has a mix of whole cooked beans and mashed beans. Blitz or don’t blitz. Blitz as much or as little as you desire.

7. Add in the orange zest, stir and heat through.

8. Drain prepared sago and add into the soup. Stir to mix through then taste for sweetness. Adjust as needed. Serve hot or warm.

1. Place all dry crepe ingredients into a med sized bowl. Whisk. Add in water and whisk to form a batter. A few lumps are ok. Add in oil and whisk to just combine.

2. Heat a non-stick pan and spoon in a ladle of batter, or just enough to coat the pan with a thin layer of batter. Keep the heat on low.

3. When the batter just turns opaque, crack an egg onto the crepe. Using a spoon, spread the egg to cover the crepe.

4. Sprinkle on spring onions and sesame seeds.

5. Flip the crepe over. Dollop on <1T hoisin sauce and <1T sambal oelek. Smear to cover the crepe with this sauce mix.

6. Place 2 slices of ham of choice down the centre of the crepe, leaving a gap in the middle to allow for a fold.

7. Place a crispy wonton wrapper on each piece of ham.

8. Fold one edge of the crepe in to cover. Fold the opposite parallel edge of the crepe in to cover. Now fold the crepe in half, along the gap you created between your ham/wonton wrappers.

9. Remove the crepe from the pan and slice in half. Enjoy 

Serves: 2-3

Scramble the Eggs:

1. Whisk eggs in a bowl and set aside.

2. Heat a large non-stick skillet or wok on low heat. Add in a knob of butter.

3. Once the butter has almost melted, pour in the whisked egg. Scramble the eggs by allowing them to slightly set against the surface of the pan before using a spoon or spatula to gently pull the eggs from the edges of the pan back into the centre. Tilt your pan to allow the runny part of the eggs to make contact with the pan and set. Be gently to create long soft ribbons/chunks of egg. Switch off the heat before all the egg has set. (The eggs will continue to cook) Do not overcook your eggs. You want them to be soft. 

4. Carefully transfer your eggs to a plate.

Assembling the rest: 

1. Wipe your pan clean with a kitchen paper towel. Add oil and heat your pan to high.

2. Add garlic and white parts of the spring onions. Saute until fragrant.

3. Add diced tomatoes and break down in the pan to create a thick sauce.

4 Add in sugar and soy sauce.

5. Add in chunks of tomato and stir to mix.

6. Taste for seasoning.

7. Add in the rest of the spring onions and take your pan off the heat.

8. Add the scrambled eggs into your tomato mix. Roughly fold through, taking care not to break up the egg too much in the stir fry.

Enjoy! 

Serves 4-6 as part of a shared meal

1. Whisk eggs in a jug. Add water, fish sauce and chicken bouillon and whisk just enough to combine. Pass the mixture through a sieve into your steaming bowl for a silky smooth result. Use a spoon to remove any air bubbles on the surface of your egg mix.

2. Cover bowl with cling wrap and place inside steamer filled with water. Place the lid on the steamer and bring the water to the boil. Immediately drop the heat to low once the water starts to boil and let steam for 12-15mins. Times will vary depending on the size of your bowl. Deep bowls with thick walls will take longer. The centre should have a slight wobble and will further set upon cooling.

3. Carefully remove the bowl from the steamer. Discard the cling film and top with soy sauce, sesame oil and sliced spring onions. Enjoy immediately.

Have a big mixing bowl ready.

You will make each component of your jap chae separately and then transfer it into the mixing bowl. 

A. Marinate the beef and mushrooms:

Into a small bowl, add:

• marinated beef bulgogi
• mushrooms

Mix together until well combined, then cover and refrigerate. 

B. Make the egg garnish:

1. Beat the egg yolks with a pinch of salt.

2. Add 1 tsp oil to a heated non-stick pan.

3. Turn off the heat and pour the egg mixture into the pan.

4. Tilt your pan so that the egg spreads thinly. Let the egg cook using the residual heat in the pan.

5. Flip over the egg and let it sit in the pan for another minute.

6. Once cool, slice the egg into very thin strips and set aside.

C. Prepare the Spinach:

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil.

2. Add spinach and blanch for 30-60 seconds.

3. Remove spinach into a colander and rinse in cold water to stop it from further cooking.

4. Squeeze the spinach with your hands to remove any excess water.

5. Cut the spinach into smaller pieces, then place in a corner of your large mixing bowl

6. Season your pile of spinach with:

• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil

D. Prepare the noodles:

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add the noodles, and cook for 7 minutes (make sure to stir the noodles so thye don't stick together)  

2. Strain noodles and cut with scissors so that the strands are not too long.

3. Place noodles in a pile in the mixing bowl next to the spinach.

4. Add to your noodles and mix:

• 4 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar

E. Prepare the vegetables

1. Heat up a skillet over med-high heat with 2 tsp of oil 

2. Add onions and a pinch of salt. Stir fry for about 2 mins until the onion looks translucent and transfer into the mixing bowl 

3. Reheat the same skillet and add oil.

4. Add carrots and capsicum and stir fry for 1 minute (or too your liking. Some people prefer softer vegetables) 

5. Transfer mix to the mixing bowl.

F. Cook the beef and mushrooms

1. Reheat the skillet and add oil.

2. Add the beef and mushroom mix and stir fry for a few minutes until the beef is cooked through.

3. Transfer mix to the mixing bowl.

G. Final assembly of the dish

Now that all you have prepared and placed all the different components of this dish into your mixing bowl, add the final seasoning and mix:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2T soy sauce
• 2T sugar
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp sesame oil

Garnish your jap chae with the egg strips and toasted sesame seeds.

This dish is best served at room temperature.

Make the Filling

1. Bring a medium pot of water to the boil.

2. Add the sweet potato noodles to the boiling water and cook for 7 mins. Drain and rinse through with cold tap water.

3. Using scissors, cut up noodles into manageable lengths.

4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the prepared noodles and all the other filling ingredients and mix through with a gloved hand.

5. Fill each dumpling wrapper with a small amount of filling. Fold the round wrapper in half to form a half moon shape. Press in the edges to seal (the more experienced you are, the more you can fill your wrapper to make a more plump dumpling).

6. Smear a small amount of water around the edges of half of the wrapper to help seal the dumpling.

7. Place dumplings on in steamer baskets lined with parchment paper. Make sure you space them apart and that they are not touching each other.

8. Steam for 8-15 minutes (depending on much you fill each dumpling).

Pan fried method

1. Heat some oil in a small pan over medium arrange 

2. Arrange 8 dumplings until the bottom turns light brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. 

3. Add 50 ml water to the pan and turn the heat to high. 

4. Cover the pan with its lid and let it steam. 

5. Turn the heat back to medium as soon as the water has completely evaporated. 

Make the Dipping Sauce

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Add spring onions, sesame seeds to chilli to taste.

Serve steamed/pan fried dumplings with dipping sauce.