San Choy Bow

This is an easy and tasty South-East Asian dish that can be a meal in itself or accompaniment to a larger meal. This variation was served with dumplings and a spicy dipping sauce.

Ingredients

• 100-150g vermicelli noodles
• 400g pork, chicken, turkey or beef mince (vegetarian version: firm tofu and  mushrooms)
• 1/4 cup San Choy Bow sauce (can be made with Soy Sauce, garlic, ginger and little sugar)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup onion - finely chopped
• 4-8 lettuce or cabbage leaves
• 1/4 cup finely sliced spring onion
• 1/2 cup water chestnuts - finely chopped 
• 1/4 cup crushed roasted peanuts
• 1 finely sliced chili - optional

Method

1. Place vermicelli rice noodles in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for 5 minutes until soft.
2. Drain noodles and rinse with cold water. Cut into short strips using scissors or a knife. Set aside for later.
3. Heat oil over medium heat and fry mince until evenly browned.
4. Pour in San Choy Bow sauce and mix through mince. Simmer for a couple of minutes to let the mince absorb that tasty sauce.
5. Add the water chestnuts into the pan, toss to combine, then remove from heat.
6. Place some softened noodles into the lettuce or cabbage leaves.
7. Spoon mince mixture over the noodles and sprinkle with the crushed roasted peanuts and sliced spring onion.

Serves 4

BBQ Chicken & Gado Gado

This is one of our favourites and a popular dish based on the traditional Indonesian dish Gado Gado.
It consists of:

BBQ chicken
Chicken thigh fillets marinated in a mixture of garlic, ginger and soy sauce, then slowly BBQ'd.

Vegetables
Stir-fried seasonal Asian vegetables, served with quartered boiled eggs and a spicy peanut sauce.

Accompaniments
Steamed rice

Spicy Peanut Sauce Recipe

The traditional recipe uses crushed peanuts, massaman curry paste, coconut milk, breadcrumbs, salt, sugar and warm water.

An easier version that still tastes quite good is provided below:

Ingredients

• 100g crunchy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon massaman curry paste (1 teaspoon of soy sauce can be substituted)
• 50ml warm water
• Dried chili flakes or chopped fresh chili can be added for extra hotness.

Method

1. Mix all of the ingredients together, adding as much of the warm water as required to make a thick, but runny sauce.

Fish with Dukkah, Spicy Beans and Chinese Cabbage

This is predominantly a Chinese style meal with some Middle-Eastern touches.  It consists of:

BBQ Fish
BBQ Fish dressed with a Dukkah seasoning. For a more Asian style, the fish can be dressed with a chili-oil mix while barbequeing.

Spicy Beans
String or snake beans cooked slowly with onions, tomato and a little chili.

Vegetables
Braised Chinese cabbage and zucchini, with onions, garlic and a little chicken stock.

Accompaniment
Steamed rice.

BBQ Pork, Omelet, Pancakes & Vegetables

This meal is a variation on popular Chinese dishes. It consists of:

BBQ Pork
BBQ Pork purchased form a local Chinese BBQ restaurant.
Alternatives are BBQ chicken or fried pork chops.

Omelet
Simple omelet with sliced mushrooms and diced spring onions (shallots).

Pancakes
Spring onion pancakes, made with flour, water and spring onions.
There are many online recipes for these pancakes.

Vegetables
Stir-fried seasonal Asian vegetables.

Accompaniments
Steamed rice
Fresh chili &soy sauce

Gan Su style pasta

This dish is based on the Gan Su style food of western China. Traditionally freshly made noodles are used, but thick spaghetti is an acceptable compromise.

Ingredients

• 400g fat spaghetti - or ideally fresh Hokien noodles
• 1 can peeled tomatoes - sliced length-ways into quarters
• 100g string beans
• 400g beef - sliced for stir-fry and marinated in red wine, soy sauce, garlic & pepper - for vegetarian option, substitute meat with tofu, TVP and/or mushrooms.
• Bunch fresh Asian greens
• 1 long Asian style eggplant - cut into 7mm slices
• 2 cloves garlic
• Mixed herbs

Method

1. Fry garlic and beans until about half-cooked and then add tomatoes and mixed herbs, salt & pepper to taste, continue until cooked.
2. Start boiling the pasta which should take about 15 mins.
3. Grill eggplant slices until cooked and set aside.
4. Stir-fry Asian greens until just softened and set aside.
5. Stir-fry marinated beef slices or vegetarian options and set aside.
6. When the pasta is ready, drain and combine all ingredients into a large serving bowl.

Serves: 4

Fried Rice with BBQ Pork

This is a fairly easy dish to make and tastes good too. You can use any combination of vegetables to make the dish, the main thing is to have a good variety and cut them into small bite-size pieces.

Ingredients

• 500g of steamed rice
• 1/2 onion - sliced
• 2 cloves garlic - crushed or chopped
• 1 bunch of Asian greens or some Chinese cabbage
• 1 carrot
• Handfull of string beans
• Handful of mushrooms
• 12 peeled raw or cooked prawns
• 4 eggs
• 300g of BBQ Pork, Chicken or Tofu
• Stir fry sauce or Chinese spices

Preparation

1. Steam the rice
2. Slice up all of the vegetables.
3. Make a thin omelet with the eggs. When cooked slice it into 2cm squares and set aside.
4. If using raw prawns fry them separately in a little oil and chili and set aside.

Method

1. Fry the harder vegetables with the onion and garlic until about half-cooked.
2. Add the remainder of the vegetables complete the cooking.
3. Add the steamed rice, omelet pieces and prawns and stir-fry everything in a large pan for a few minutes adding the stir fry sauce or chinese spices to taste.
4. Heat the BBQ Pork, Chicken or Tofu and serve separately 

BBQ Chicken with Chinese style vegetables

This is one of our favourites and a simple dish based on the traditional Chinese style of home cooking. It consists of:

BBQ chicken
Chicken thigh fillets marinated in a mixture of garlic, ginger and soy sauce, then slow BBQ'd.

Vegetables

• Beans & Carrots: Stir-fried slowly in sesame oil and garlic
• Cabbage & Mushrooms: Stir-fired Chinese cabbage, mushrooms in garlic and a little chicken stock.

Accompaniments
Steamed rice, pickled vegetables.

Soba, Sushi, Pancake, Dumplings

This is an ideal summer meal based on Japanese ingredients - cool and refreshing.

Soba
Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat. It is a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour. it is cooked for a short time in hot water then rinsed incold water and eaten cold. The plates have bamboo mats to allow excess water to drain through. the noodles are dipped into a very light sauce made by mixing soy sauce and broth.

Sushi
The sushi show here are actually called Maki, which are sushi rolls sliced into rounds. They can contain raw fish, vegetables or cooked meat.

Pancake
A simple pancake of flour and eggs with chopped shallots and red capsicum.

Dumplings
Japanese dumplings are called gyoza and are first steamed and then lightly fried to crisp the outside.

Bi Bim Bap

Photo courtesy: www.theprimalist.com

Bi Bim Bap is a traditional Korean meal that is great for warm summer evenings.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups short grain rice - Aborio is OK.
• 1 Carrot, shredded
• Pickled vegetables - generally mushrooms, cabbage, leafy greens, bean sprouts. Alternatively just prepare same small quantities of stir-fried vegetables.
• 4 eggs
• 400g thinly sliced marinated beef - marinade is mainly soy sauce, dash of sugar and garlic.

Method

1. Boil or steam the rice
2. Hot stir-fry the beef in a little oil until just cooked - 30-60 seconds.
3. Lightly fry the eggs, sunny-side up.
4. Arrange each bowl with rice at the bottom, and the vegetables and meat around the edge.
5. Place an egg on top and serve with a chili dipping sauce - the Korean one is best if you can get it.

Long and Short Soup

This is a common Cantonese (Guandong) dish, which can be eaten either an entree or main course.

Ingredients

• Dried Chinese wheat noodles - can be instant noodles or short pasta noodles
• 800g Chinese frozen dumplings or dim sims
• 2 chicken stock cubes
• 400g fresh mixed diced vegetables - can use frozen for convenience

Method

• Bring 2 litres of water to the boil
• Add the noodles and frozen dumplings. 
• If using pasta noodles, add them first.
• If the dumplings are small add them when the noodles have partially cooked. 
• If using are instant noodles, add the dumplings first and add the noodles when the dumplings are almost cooked. 
• When the dumplings and noodles are almost cooked, add the diced firm vegetables, mushrooms, etc.
• When almost ready, add the soft vegetables - Chinese cabbage, bok choy, sprouts, etc.

Accompaniments

Sauce for dipping the dumplings into - can be soy, soy with chili or Chinese vinegar.

Serve: 4

BBQ Tofu

Ingredients

• 3 x 320g pkts TLY Nigari Hard Stir Fry Tofu, cut into 1cm-thick slices
• 125ml (1/2 cup) tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)
• 60g (1/4 cup) white sugar
• 2 teaspoons mustard powder
• 2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 2 shallots, trimmed, thinly sliced diagonally

Preparation

1. Place the tofu, in a single layer, in a large glass or ceramic dish. Whisk the tamari, sugar, mustard powder, onion flakes and garlic powder in a jug. pour over the tofu. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight to marinate.
2. Preheat a barbecue flat plate on medium-high. Brush the barbecue with the oil. cook the tofu for 3 minutes each side or until caramelised. Transfer the tofu to a serving platter and top with shallot. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and dried chilli flakes.

Source: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/26911/barbecued+tofu