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This is similar to the Fisherman’s pie, but much simpler and faster. The mashed potato has also been replaced by a rosti-like topping for a different texture. Note: I have not seen Chris consume so much fish in a long time.
6 servings
- 600 g potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 500 g salmon steak/salmon belly
- 90 ml milk
- 200 ml vegetable or fish stock
- 40 g salted butter
- 40 g plain flour
- 1 small leek, sliced
- 1 tsp english mustard
- 1 tsp dried or fresh parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- Add the potatoes to a pot of salted water and bring to boil. Remove the pot from heat but leave the potatoes in the water for another 5-10 minutes before draining the water. The water can be used to make the vegetable stock if desired.
- Put the salmon, stock and milk in another saucepan and bring to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the salmon and flake it, taking care to remove any bones. Leave the liquid to cool.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan, fry the leeks till soft and stir in the flour. Stir in the liquid slowly to incorporate the flour mixture. More stock can be added to achieve a pouring consistency. The final mixture should be a very thick liquid, but not a solid lump.
- Add the mustard, parsley and fish flakes, stir well. Add pepper and salt to taste.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Place the fish mixture in a baking dish and grate the potato coarsely over the mixture. Bake for 20 minutes or till the tips of the potatoes are brown.
For a non-dairy version, the butter and milk can be replaced by soy margarine and soy milk respectively as in The SOY for Health cookbook. I, however, am a big fan of butter.
The potatoes should be cooked and drained early to ensure that they are dry before grating.
Salmon bellies are cheaper but oilier than salmon fillet steaks. Some people love the smoother texture and stronger taste of the bellies, some prefer the drier and flakier texture of the fillets. Experiment!
This is supposed to be Vietnamese style. But after more than 10 years of abuse in my mother’s hands, I doubt the Vietnamese can recognise this.
80 spring rolls/ 20 servings
- 1 kg minced pork/chicken
- 800 g prawn, peeled, cleaned and diced
- 6 egg yolks (Singapore eggs sized)
- 6 egg whites
- 3 turnip, peeled and julianned
- 2 large carrots, peeled and julianned
- 300 g glass noodle, soaked and cut into 5 cm pieces
- 8 jew’s ears, soaked and julianned
- 80 Spring Roll Pastry
- 3 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp ground white pepper
- 80 leaves lettuce
- 80 stalks corriander
- Mix the minced pork, egg yolks and prawns, followed by the salt, pepper and sesame oil.
- Add the vegetables and glass noodle into the meat mixture one at a time, mix well after each addition with your hands.
- Place about 2 heaped table spoon of filling on each pastry skin.
- Wrap the springrolls according to instructions here. Use the egg white to seal the pastry skin.
- Heat vegetable oil in a wok/deepfryer and deep fry the springrolls till golden brown.
- Drain and pat with paper towel to absorb excess oil.
- Serve with the (Vietnamese Chilli Dipping Sauce), lettuce and corriander
Try to ensure that all the ingredients are as dry as possible to avoid the pastry skin from tearing during and after the wrapping. Allow all the cut vegetables and glass noodle to drain well and pat dry with a tea towel. Do not add any soy sauce into the meat mixture.
To test if the oil is sufficiently hot before frying, drop a small piece of pastry skin into the oil. It should float immediately.
This flourless dessert is similar to our Chocolate Pudding, but firmer and creamier. The taste and texture improves drastically if left in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours.
8 servings
- 20-24 lady fingers, halved crosswise
- 2 cups whole milk
- 6 egg yolks (Singapore eggs sized)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp gelatin powder
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 175 g bitter sweet chocolate, finely chopped
- chocolate curls for decoration
- 1 cake pan greased with butter
- Line the bottom of the pan with baking paper and grease the baking paper with butter lightly.
- Arrange the lady fingers around the side of the pan, sugar side out and flat side down.
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a heat resistant bowl till the mixture is almost white.
- Bring the milk to a simmer over low heat, then whisk the milk into the egg and sugar mixture.
- Return the mixture to the sauce pan and stir in the chocolate. Heat over medium heat, stiring frequently, till the chocolate melts and the custard is thickened enought to coat the spoon. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, soak the gelatin in about 5 tbsp of water for at least 5 minutes, then place the bowl in very hot water and stir till the gelatin dissolves.
- Pass the custard through a wire sieve into a clean bowl.
- Stir the gelatin into the hot custard and place the bowl of custard in ice cold water. Stir often.
- Beat the cream with an electric beater till soft peaks form, then fold the cream into the custard gently when the custard is almost set.
- Spoon the mixture into the cake pan and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
- Decorate with the chocolate curls before serving.
Do not worry if the lady fingers do not stand up right on the cake pan before the custard is poured in. As long as the incline from the base of the pan is more than 45 degrees, the custard will push the lady fingers outwards, towards the side of the pan.
This incredibly sinful thing is just great stuff. We have a recommended baking tie, but depending on your oven and size of the ramekins, some experimentation might be required to achieve the perfect balance between gooey and firmness.
8 servings
- 3 tbsp butter,softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 250 g unsweetened chocolate
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 large egg
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 8 ramekins sprayed with vegetable cooking spray or thinly coated with oil/butter
- Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 390°F (200°C).
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler
- Beat the sugar and butter together at high speed with an electric beater for at least 5 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs one by one. make sure that each egg is well mixed in after each addition.
- Also whisk in the vanilla using the electric beater.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the shifted flour and salt, followed by the melted choclate.
- Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins.
- Bake for 12 minutes.
- Dig in while warm!
The batter can be left at room temperature for up to 2 hours before baking. Do not refrigerate as the batter solidifies easily.
This is a recipe sketch, implying that either we haven’t found the right proportion of ingredients, or that we’re too lazy to measure, or that it’s easy (and almost nothing can go wrong!). You’ve been warned! Now enjoy…
This dessert consists of sliced (or diced) avocado and bandung, a sweet, sometime sickeningly too sweet, pink drink that regaled the streets of Malaysia and Singapore. It is extremely simple to make, requiring almost no preparation time (okay, we took 5 minutes to prepare 4 glorious bowl, not too bad right?).  Avocado bandung, with the evaporated milk and rose syrup cordial at the background. Instructions
To make this dessert, you simply need a few ripe avocados, rose syrup, evaporated milk, crushed ice, and some warm water. For each serving, you would want half to two thirds of an avocado, and about half a cup of bandung. To prepare the bandung, mixed rose syrup and warm water well in a large bowl. Then add some evaporated milk to obtain an opaque pink color mixture (this is the basic of bandung drink). Taste it and adjust the amount of rose syrup and milk in the mixture. It should taste fairly sweet (in fact, it should be too sweet, since the crushed ice will melt and mix with the bandung and dilute the flavor). If the rose flavor gets too strong but the mixture is not sweet enough, you can try adding a tablespoon or two of sugar, dissolved in a third cup of hot water.
Prepare the avocado by slicing it lengthwise around the core seed. Then scoop out the meat using a spoon and slice it lengthwise to thin slices with width of about 0.5 cm. To prepare a single serving of avocado bandung, place about half or two thirds of an avocado in a small serving bowl. Top it up with some crushed ice and then about half a cup of bandung. (If, at this point, you realized that you didn’t make the bandung sweet enough—we told you so :p —you can add a tablespoon or two of rose syrup and mix it well.)
Acknowledgment: This is an original sketch inspired by es teler, a sweet avocado drink found in the streets of Jakarta.
We can’t afford saffron, hence this is..saffronless. Have fun cooking the rice on a stovetop!
Serves 5-6 people
- 2 chicken thigh/breast, skinned and deboned
- 12-15 mussels, soaked in salt water and scrubbed
- 250 g prawns
- 2 large tomato, diced
- 2 cup japonica rice (or jasmine white rice)
- 5 cups fish/dashi stock
- Some spring onions and corriander, chopped thinly (for garnish)
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lemon, cup into 8 wedges
- Ensure that the mussels are well cleaned, remove any mussels which are opened after soaking in the salt water.
- The shrimp can be shelled and deveined or left intact with just the legs and feelers trimmed.
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and fry the prawnsfor about 2 minutes. Remove the prawns onto a plate. Heat 1 tbsp of oil and add the mussels into the pan with ¼ cup of water. Cover the pan and cook for about 4 minutes, till the mussels are open. Transfer the mussels and all the juices onto the plate with the prawns.
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry the tomato (and a pinch of saffron at this point if using any) for 1 minute.
- Stir in the rice, chicken and the boiling hot stock.
- Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, then return the shrimps and juices to the pan and cook till the rice is just tender. Add more stock/water if the pan is dry before the rice softens to the desired texture.
- Press each mussel into the rice, remove the pan from heat and cover with aluminium foil for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with the lemon and coriander.
The chicken can be replaced with squid rings for a seafood version.
The first time we made this moist, strongly-rummy chocolate cake was as a base for a black forest cake. The supposedly healthy (we are speaking in comparative sense of course) tastes great, but we found that it tastes even better after refrigerating for one or two days. It goes great alone and with sweet creamy sauce (wait up for our “fusion” creation that involves creamy banana-flavored sauce).
Make 1 10″ tube or Bundt cake (16 servings)
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 4 large egg whites
- 1¾ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2/3 cup corn syrup
- 2/3 cup rum
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 10″ tube or Bundt pan, sprayed with vegetable cooking spray or thinly coated with oil/butter
- Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C).
- Stir flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt together thoroughly. Sift once.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg whites and buttermilk just to mix. Whisk in the brown sugar, applesauce, cornsyrup, vanilla and rum, one at a time.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake the cake for about an hour, or until it is well risen and firm, and a satay stick inserted halfway at the centre of the pan comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold it to a rack to cool completely.
For advance preparation, double-wrap the cake in plastic and freeze for up to a month. Bring to room temperature before serving.
We have no idea what is a Bundt pan too. We used a disposable aluminium tray and it works too!
To make the apple sauce, cut two large apples into small pieces and place in a saucepan with just enough water to cover. Bring to boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. If the apples get very dry before that, add some water. Use a potato masher or fork to break any large pieces.
Acknowledgment: This is a slightly simplified recipe from Perfect Light Desserts by Nick Malgieri & David Joachim. 
This sambal is a traditional Javanese sambal that goes really well with fragrant steamed rice such as nasi uduk or nasi lemak. Sometime, you will find this sambal in the supermarket with its older Dutch spelling “sambal oelek”.
Serves 4-10 people
- 10 chili padi
- 1 Holland/Fresno chili
- 2-3 medium shallots
- 1 tsp dried shrimp paste/belacan
- ½ cooking (green) tomato
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Heat oil in a skillet in medium heat.
- Cut the Holland chili into 1-inch length. Peel and half each shallots. press the belacan into a disk.
- Place all ingredients on the skillet. Place the flat side of the tomato down. Cover the skillet.
- When you start to hear the ingredients sizzling, shake the skillet gently. Do this for 3-4 minutes, checking once a minute to make sure that the ingredients are not burnt.
- Flip the tomato, Holland chili, belacan, and shallots. Stir the chili padi. Cover for another 2-3 minutes.
- Place the ingredients into a mortar and crush them with the mortar until there are no large chunks. Make sure that the chilis are well pounded.
- Serve with fragrant rice (such as nasi uduk or nasi lemak).
Instead of pestle-and-mortar, a food processor with a small bowl can be used too. Pulse repeatedly until there are no large chunks left.
If you can’t find a cooking tomato, a fruit tomato will do too. However, the chili might become too watery.
A peanut oil is supposed to produce better flavor, though we have not tried it. (It is also very unhealthy.)
Acknowledgment: This recipe comes from Ying’s housemaid, Neng Neng, who is an Indonesian.
In Indonesia, “nasi” means steamed rice (and so far, I still have no idea what “uduk” means). In Java, cooking steamed rice with coconut milk is pretty common to produce a velvety-textured steamed rice. Typically, aromatics are added to add allure to the rice dish. In this dish, the two all-important aromatics are lemongrass and daun salam (Indonesian bay leaves). A version more popular in Malaysia and Singapore replaces daun salam with a large-ish piece of ginger and is called nasi lemak (roughly “fat rice”—due to the velvety texture introduced by the fat in the coconut milk). Nasi uduk (and nasi lemak) is eaten with almost anything that is usually eaten with steamed white rice. However, I feel that it best fit curry dishes, including rendang. In Jakarta, it is typically served with fried chicken, fried tempe, a slice of cucumber or two, fresh lemon basil, fried shallots, and sambal (the chinese version may also include pieces of char siew or roasted pork).
Serves 4-6 people
- 2 cups (400 g) jasmine rice
- 3 thick stalks fresh lemongrass, knotted
- 10 whole dried daun salam leaves
- 1¾ cups water
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 tsp salt
 Cooking nasi uduk
- Place the rice in a medium saucepan (2-liter saucepan). Fill the pot halfway with cold water and stir the rice around gently with your hand to wash away the starch. If any hulls or small twigs float to the surface, discard them. Drain the water away. Repeat the rinsing another 3 times. It does not matter if the water is not completely clear by the final rinse; slight cloudiness is fine. Leave the rinsed rice in the pot.
- Cut the bottom 2 cm of the lemongrass stalk (the brown part) away. Also cut the top 5 cm (the green part) off. Smash the remaining lemongrass with the side of a chef’s knife. If the lemongrass is long enough, tie them into a knot for easy removal later on.
- Add the lemongrass, daun salam, cooking water, coconut milk, and salt to the rinsed rice. Stir well to combine.
- Place the pot over high heat and bring the liquid to boil, stirring constantly with spatula to prevent the rice at the bottom of the pan from scorching. Allow the rice to boil for half a minute and reduce the fire to the low. Cover the pot and leave it cooking for another 15 minutes. Do not be tempted to remove the lid during this time so that the cooking steam will not escape.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let stand for another 10 minutes, still covered.
- Open the pot and discared the lemongrass and daun salam. Gently mix the rice a little bit to distribute the aromatic flavors.
- Transfer the rice to a deep serving bowl and fluff it with fork, lifting it into a peaked mound. Serve hot or warm. If the rice is not served immediately, keep it covered with aluminium foil to keep the heat trapped.
Make sure that the daun salam is dried. A fresh daun salam does not produce as much aromatic as the dried ones.
To make nasi lemak, replace daun salam with a peeled 5 cm length of fresh ginger.
Acknowledgment: This recipe is a fluffier version of the one found in Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland. Contrary to his recipe, daun salam is not optional! 
When Chris went to the US for a few months in 2008, he found a small restaurant called Chef Chu’s that sells this amazing dish called General’s Chicken. He went on searching for the same flavors back in Singapore, to no avail. This is one of his attempt, an improvement over a recipe found in a recipe book (which we kinda forgot the title; we found it in the library). While not similar to Chef Chu’s version, this version is flavorful in its own ways.
Serves 5-6 people
- 5 chicken thigh, skinned and deboned
- 6-10 dried red chillies
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cm ginger, peeled and minced
- vegetable oil for deep frying
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- Some spring onions, chopped thinly (for garnish)
Marinade
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- ½ tsp dark soya sauce
- ½ tsp rice wine
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp potato flour
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
Sauce
- ¾ tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp potato flour/starch
- ½ tsp dark soy sauce
- 1½ tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp clear rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- ½ tsp rice wine
- 5 tbsp water
- Remove any visible fat from the chicken, dice into bite-sized pieces.
- Marinate the chicken with the soy sauces, rice wine and egg yolk. then stir potato flour and oil. Let stand while preparing other ingredients.
- Soak the dried chillies for at least 10 minutes. Then deseed and cut into 2 cm pieces.
- Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl.
- Heat the oil until about 180 to 200 degrees Celsius (you can test the heat of the oil by dropping one piece of chicken, the oil should start bubbling in a few seconds), then deep-fry the chicken in batches for 3-4 minutes till golden brown. Pat dry with kitchen towels.
- Return 2-3 tbsp of the oil into a wok and heat with high flame. Stir fry the chillies till fragrant (about 30 seconds; do not burn them). Add the ginger and stir-fry for about 15 seconds. Then add garlic and a pinch of salt and stir-fry for another few seconds. Add in the sauce (the sauce may bubble vigorously, keep pouring all the sauce into the center of the wok) and stir until the mixture thickens slightly.
- Return the chicken to the wok, stir-fry the pieces vigorously to coat them with the sauce. Remove from heat, stir in the sesame oil and mix well.
- Transfer to a serving bowl, then sprinkle artistically with green onions. Serve while still warm.
Acknowledgment: This recipe is based on a recipe we found in the book The Flavors of Asia. I have modified the recipe so that it is closer to the Chef Chu’s version than the one in the book. 
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