An easy, different and quick way to enjoy the bone-in beef short ribs. Different from the time-consuming braising method, the flavourful Asian recipe requires little effort in both cooking and after-cooking cleaning. The key to the dish, is to marinade the beef ribs long enough to help tenderize the meat and allow the flavour to infuse. The fat is largely rendered while the flavour and moisture of the meat is retained.

Serves 3-4

• 3 to 4  pounds (1.5 to 1.8 kilograms)  bone-in beef short ribs
• 1 teaspoon     sea salt
• 1 teaspoon       freshly ground black pepper

Marinade

• ½                      medium-size yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon      ginger, thinly sliced
• 2                       garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon    light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon    dark soy sauce (optional)
• 1 tablespoon    sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon   Japanese sake or high-quality Chinese cooking wine
• 1                       large Asia pear, core and chopped into cubes (optional)

Dipping sauce (optional)

• 2                      Spring onions, minced
• 1 tablespoon    Korean chili powder
• 1 tablespoon    rice vinegar

Method

1. Pat dry the ribs with kitchen towel. Generously season the short ribs with salt and ground black peppercorn and let is stand for about 10-15 minutes. Place the beef ribs in a large bowl.
2. Place the ingredients of the Marinade into a separate bowl. Mix well. Pour them into the large short ribs bowl. Make sure each piece of short ribs is coated with marinade ingredients/sauce. Leave the ribs rest for at least 2 hours to allow flavours to permeate and tenderize the meat.
3. When ready to cook, remove the marinade ingredients from the ribs. Broil the ribs in the oven (use double aluminium foil lined baking tray) or grill them in a barbeque grill. Cook two sides of the beef ribs respective 6 and 5 minutes for medium rare, or 8 and 6 minutes if you prefer medium/well done.

 

An easy cucumber salad or an appetizer that’s a little spicy, slightly sweet and tangy. It’ll be an excellent complement to any of your barbeque dishes. You’ll need to lightly salt the cucumber slices first and let them stand for a while to draw out water. This process gives the cucumbers an extra crunch.

Serves 3-4

• 4-5 Aka Kirby Cucumbers (about 400g)    remove both ends and thinly sliced (use any Persian, English, Chinese or Japanese cucumbers. These varieties are less seedy, very crispy and tasty.)
• 1/2 teaspoon     table salt食盐
• 150g                   Kimchi韩国辣白菜, minced， for better taste, try homemade kimchi
• ½ tablespoon     garlic, minced (optional）
• 1 tablespoon      spring onions, minced葱花
• 1 teaspoon          rice vinegar 米醋
• 1 teaspoon           sesame oil 香油
• 1 teaspoon            caster sugar白糖
• 1 teaspoon         white sesame seeds, toasted ideally

Method

1. Thinly slice the cucumber (1/8 to 1/4-inch thick). Place slices in a salad bowl. Toss gently with salt and set aside for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, toast the white sesame seeds over medium heat for about 10 minutes. 
   

   
2. Drain excess liquid from the salad bowl. Avoid squeezing them because they will bruise. Mix well with all of the remaining ingredients. It is ready to serve.
3. Or you can place the salad bowl in the fridge and let the salad sit for about 30 mins.

 

The spicy, rich and creamy Indonesia beef stew is known for an insane amount of flavour because of its generous use of a myriad of spices and herbs cooking for a few hours until meat fork-tender.

The flavours of Beef Rendang unfolds in layers. First there’s the zingy flavours of lemongrass and ginger, then comes the savoury beef along with a torrent of chili, finally, as you continue to chew you start tasting the creamy coconut milk towards the back of your tongue.

Rendang always tastes better the second day.

Serve 4

Ingredients:

• 700g boneless beef. Choose any tough cuts ideally for pot roast, such as chuck, brisket, round and shank. Cut into large cubes
• 3 tablespoons  cooking oil
• 1 cinnamon stick, about 2-inch length
• 3 cloves
• 3 star anise
• 3 cardamom pods
• 1 lemongrass, cut into 4-inch length and pounded
• 1 cup  thick coconut milk
• 1/2 cup  water, optional
• 2 teaspoons tamarind pulp, soaked in some warm water for the juice and discard the seeds
• 6 kaffir lime leaves
• 4 tablespoons kerisik, toasted coconut
• 1 tablespoon sugar or palm sugar to taste
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt to taste

Spice Paste:

• 5 shallots
• 1 inch  galangal
• 3 lemongrass, white part only
• 5 cloves  garlic
• 1 inch  ginger
• 10-12 dried chilies, soaked in warm water and seeded

 Method

1. Chop the spice paste ingredients and then blend it in a food processor until fine. Add 1 cup of water to make the blending easier.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed stew pot, add the spice paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom and stir-fry until aromatic. Add the beef and the pounded lemongrass and stir for 1 minute. Add the coconut milk, tamarind juice, water, and simmer on medium heat, stirring frequently until the meat is well coated. Add the kaffir lime leaves, kerisik (toasted coconut), sugar or palm sugar, stirring to blend well with the meat.
3. Lower the heat to low, cover the lid, and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is really tender and the gravy has dried up. Add more salt and sugar to taste. Serve immediately with steamed rice and save some for overnight.

Recipe Notes

To prepare the kerisik or toasted coconut, just add the grated coconut to a dry wok and stir continuously until they turn golden brown.

 

Nothing is more Singaporean than the chicken rice, the country’s unofficial national dish. Ask any foodie expats, adults or children, which dish they love the most from their time in Singapore. This poached chicken and seasoned rice is clearly the winner in their hearts.  The dish looks deceptively simple, but there are many components to a good plate of Chicken Rice, the fragrant rice, succulent meat and flavourful dipping sauces over it.

For the chicken

• 1 whole chicken (about 1.3kg), preferably free-range chicken
• 1 small thumb of ginger, smashed
• 5 to 6 sprigs, spring onions
• 1500ml chicken stock adjust accordingly
• 4 blades of pandan leaves 斑兰叶
• 1 carrot， roughly chopped
• 2+1 teaspoons  salt
• 1 cucumber peeled, halved and sliced diagonally

 For the rice

• 3 cups uncooked washed rice, Thai Jasmine rice preferred
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 shallots, minced
• 2 and half, chicken stock
• 4-6 blades of pandan leaves, tied into knots
• 1 small thumb of ginger, smashed
• 1 tablespoon garlic and shallot oil (fry 3 cloves and 2 shallots in the cooking oil over low heat until fragrant.)
• 1 teaspoon, salt to taste

Dipping sauce 1

• 2 tablespoons  light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons  chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon  sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon   garlic and shallot oil, (fry 3 cloves and 2 shallots in the cooking oil over low heat until fragrant.)

Mix all the ingredients together.

 Dipping sauce 2 – the ginger sauce

• 50 g peeled ginger for best results, use young ginger
• 2 tablespoons of shallots and garlic oil
• 1 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons  chicken stock
• 2 tsp sugarto taste
• 1/8 tsp saltto taste

 Place all the ingredients in a blender. Blender the mixture into a smooth paste.

Method

For the chicken

1. Wash chicken, drain well, stuff ginger and spring onions into the chicken’s cavity. Using 2 teaspoons of salt as scrub, rub the salt all over the chicken for smooth looking skin.
2. In a not too large stock pot which fits the chicken perfectly, boil the chicken stock (enough to cover the whole chicken) together with pandan leaves, carrot and 1 teaspoon of salt. Submerge the whole chicken, breast side down in the boiling water for 35-45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Lower the heat to gentle simmer immediately.
3. When chicken is cooked, remove chicken and plunge it into prepared iced water at once for 10 minutes. Keep the chicken stock for later use.
4. Drain the chicken, discard ginger and scallion from the cavity and set it aside to cool before chopping it neatly into desired serving size.

For the rice

1. Heat oil in wok, fry minced shallots and garlic till fragrant and golden in colour. Add rice and stir well. Transfer the rice mixture to rice cooker.
2. Once transferred, add chicken stock, pandan leaves, ginger, garlic and shallot oil and salt into rice mixture. Cook according to rice cooker’s manual instruction.