Father's Day Gift Voucher- Asian Cooking Class, Melbourne

Thinking about giving a wonderful gift voucher for Father's Day? Take advantage of this special gift voucher* offer ($10 off of the original price) for Father's Day Gift Voucher. Use voucher code: Father 2013

Condition* - this offer is not conjunction with other offers. Offer end 2 September 2013.

Asian Cooking Class

Stir-fried chicken mince with eggplant

This is just a perfect dish for lunch or dinner with steamed rice.

 450g (1lb) eggplant

200g (7oz) chicken mince

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved with left over water from the fry-pan or wok (or 1/4 cup of water if you don’t have left over water)

Soy Mixture:

1½ tablespoons oyster sauce

1½ tablespoons light soy sauce

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce (optional)
salt to taste (optional)

Garnish: diagonally-sliced spring onion

Marinate the chicken mince with soy mixture and set aside.

Cook the eggplant soft, follow our method posted a week ago, keep the water from the fry-pan or wok. Cut the eggplant into bite-size pieces.

Heat the oil in a clean fry-pan and stir-fry garlic until lightly brown, add the chicken mince and stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Add the eggplant and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Add dissolved cornstarch, mix well and cook for about one minute. Serve it hot and garnish it with spring onion.

Note: Standard spoon measurement is level

1 tablespoon = 15 ml

1 teaspoon = 5 ml

Vietnamese Cooking Class- Melbourne

Authentic Vietnamese Cooking

Vietnamese Salad

Chinese Cooking Class, Melbourne

A secret of cooking eggplant soft in 5 minutes

                                                       

Ingredients:

1 eggplant (450g)

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Cut the eggplant into length pieces. Bring 1 cup of water to the boil in a fry-pan or wok with 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, put the eggplant and cover it with a lid. Turn the fire into medium and let it cook for 5 minutes. The eggplant will cook until soft. Use it to prepare other dishes such as stir-fry, pan fry or salad (if you want it softer for salad, you can cook it for an extra 1 to 2 minutes).

Have a try, you will be surprised.

Enjoy cooking!

Thai Cooking Class, Melbourne

Use the left over green curry paste to cook green curry fried rice with baby eggplants, yumm!

Green Curry Fried Rice

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 ½ - 2 tablespoons green curry paste

100 g chicken breast/pork/prawns, diced

2 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced

2 cups cooked rice (cold rice)

1 teaspoon palm sugar

1 ½ tablespoons fish sauce

½ cup green peas or Thai baby eggplants 

A handful of sweet basil leaves (optional)

Heat the oil in a fry-pan or wok over medium-high. Add the green curry paste, stir fry until fragrant. Add meat or prawns and stir fry for 1-2 minutes or nearly cook. 

Pour in kaffir lime leaves, rice, palm sugar, fish sauce and green peas, stir fry for 2-3 minutes or until the rice is heated through.  Add sweet basil leaves and quickly mix through and serve hot.

Note: I used my own made fresh green curry paste

Thai Cooking Class- Melbourne

Baby Thai Eggplants or Pea Eggplants

The egglants are  small, slightly bitter, grow in bunches and are used in curries and stir-fries.

Asian Cooking Class, Melbourne

What do I need in my pantry to begin my Asian Cooking journey?

For a beginner, I suggest to buy at least three important ingredients to keep in your pantry. They are soy sauce (also called thin/light soy sauce), oyster sauce and garlic. (We will increase the ingredients slowly in coming weeks)

I assume you already have the basic ingredients such as salt, sugar, ground pepper, and oil in your pantry. Of course, don’t forget to get some rice.