Banana Milk

Adapted from The Kitchn. Flavour with 1/2 tsp vanilla or 1 tsp honey.

Ingredients

1. Banana, 1
2. Water, 237ml

Instructions

1. Freeze banana and chop into pieces.
2. Blend frozen banana and water until smooth, adding more water if needed.
3. Serve immediately, or store refrigerated for 2 days.

Banana Milkshake

Adapted from K-Food by Da-Hae West and Gareth West.

Ingredients

1. Banana (ripe), 1
2. Ice cubes, 5
3. Malted drink powder (e.g. Ovaltine), 1 tbsp
4. Soft brown sugar, 1/2 tbsp
5. Vanilla ice cream, 2 tbsp
6. Milk, 158ml

Instructions

1. Freeze banana for 2h.
2. Chop banana into pieces.
3. Blend all ingredients with frozen banana until smooth.
4. Serve immediately.

Cherry, Vanilla and Black Pepper Milkshake

Serves 2.

Ingredients

1. Cold milk, 237ml
2. Frozen cherries, 150g
3. Vanilla extract, 1tsp
4. Black pepper, 1/2 tsp and extra for garnishing
5. Vanilla sugar, for garnishing

Instructions

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth.
2. Pour into cups. Sprinkle with black pepper and vanilla sugar to garnish.
3. Serve immediately.

Blackberry, Honey, Chinese 5-Spice Smoothie

Adapted from Pen and Fork. Serves 2.

Ingredients

1. Water, 237ml
2. Frozen blackberries, 150g
3. Frozen pineapple chunks, 150g
4. Honey, 1tbsp
5. Chinese 5-spice powder, 1tsp
6. Sichuan peppercorns, 1/2 tsp

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients (following the order they are listed in, starting with the water) in a blender. 
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour into cups and serve immediately

Pineapple Doubanjiang

Inspired by A Bite of China, adapted from here. Can be added to fish and steamed.

Ingredients

1. Pineapple, 1, chopped
2. Fermented soybeans, 150g
3. Sugar, 100g
4. Salt, 50g
5. Liquorice root, 2 slices

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except for the liquorice evenly.
2. Fill a large glass jar with the mixture. 
3. Add liquorice on top, then seal the jar.
4. Leave to ferment for 1-2 month.

Tempura Lychee Stuffed With Curried Crabmeat

Adapted from Sensations, by Sam Leong.

Ingredients

1. Oil, for deep-frying
2. Crabmeat, 40g
3. Lychees (fresh/canned), peeled and seeded, 4
4. Cornflour/cornstarch, 20g
5. Onion, peeled and finely julienned, 20g
6. Carrot, peeled and finely julienned, 20g
7. Enokitate mushrooms, 20g
8. Asparagus, finely julienned, 12 spears

Seasoning

1. Chicken stock, 4 tbsp
2. Seafood curry powder, 1/4 tsp
3. Salt, 1/2 tsp
4. Sugar 1/4 tsp
5. Cornflour/cornstarch, 1/4 tsp mixed with water

Batter

1. Plain/all-purpose flour, 60g
2. Wheat flour (high gluten), 15g
3. Baking powder, 10g
4. Custard powder, 3g
5. Water, 30ml
6. Oil, 20ml

Instructions

1. In a pan/wok, heat 1 tbsp oil. 
2. Add crabmeat and seasoning ingredients except cornflour, and mix well.
3. When heated through, stir in cornflour mixture to thicken. 
4. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
5. When cool, refrigerate for 1h until cold.
6. When the crabmeat is chilled, dust the insides of the lychees with cornflour.
7. Stuff them with the chilled crabmeat.
8. Combine ingredients for the batter.
9. Add onion, carrot, mushrooms and asparagus and mix well.
10. Divide the mixture into 4 portions.
11. Heat the oil for deep-frying.
12. Wrap each lychee with a portion of the batter-covered ingredients and deep-fry immediately, until crisp and golden brown.
13. Drain well and serve hot.

Banana Ketchup

Adapted from Food Republic. A Filipino condiment.

Ingredients

1. 4 bananas
2. 1 tbsp chopped garlic
3. 1 tbsp chopped shallots
4. 1 tbsp chopped ginger
5. 2 ounces tomato paste
6. 2 ounces white vinegar
7. 2 ounces water
8. 4 ounces brown sugar
9. Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. In a bowl, mash the bananas.
2. In a pan, sweat garlic, shallots and ginger for 5 min.
3. Add tomato paste and cook for another 1 min.
4. Add vinegar and water and stir until combined.
5. Add brown sugar and bananas and cook for 5 min.
6. Puree mixture until smooth.
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Store sealed in the refrigerator.

The GAP's Fried Apple Pie

Adapted from here. An alternative recipe for fried apple pie (there's another here by Momofuku)! Makes 9 servings.

Ingredients

Pie Dough

1. 4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1.5 tsp baking powder
3. 3/4 tsp salt
4. 3/4 cup whole milk
5. 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, melted and cooled
6. 2 eggs

Apple Pie Filling

1. 1/2 cup apple cider/juice
2. 1 tbsp cornstarch
3. 5 apples, peeled, cored and diced
4. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
5. 1/2 tsp nutmeg
6. 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
7. 1 tsp vanilla extract
8. 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions

Pie Dough

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, sift flour, baking powder salt. 
2. Add milk, shortening and eggs.
3. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened.
4. Continue mixing on medium speed for abt 3 min, until dough is no longer sticky, adding more flour 1 tbsp at a time as needed.
5. Halve dough, envelop each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1h.

Apple Pie Filling

1. In a small bowl, whisk 1/4 cup apple cider/juice with cornstarch.
2. In a large bowl, toss together apples, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla extract.
3. In a large pot, heat butter over medium-high heat and let bubble for 20s.
4. Add apple mixture, cover with the lid askew, and cook for about 6 min, stirring occasionally, until apples start to soften.
5. Add remaining 1/4 cup apple cider/juice to the pot. 
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high.
7. Simmer for 2-3 min, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half.
8. Stir in cornstarch mixture.
9. Cook for abt 4 min until thickened.
10. Remove from heat.
11. Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and cool completely.
12. Cover baking sheets with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

Assembly

1. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into rounds abt 10cm in diameter.
2. Place the rounds on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Reserve in refrigerator.
3. When all the dough have been rolled out, remove apple pie filling and dough from refrigerator.
4. Place 2 tbsp of filling in the center of each round, moisten the edge of the bottom half of each round with water, and fold the top half of the dough over the filling to bring the edges together. Press tightly to seal. Reserve in refrigerator.
5. In a large pot, heat oil to 191C.
6. Fry the pies in batches, for abt 3-5 min, turning them often until brown on all sides.
7. Remove from oil and place on paper towels to drain. Serve warm.

Fried Apple Pie Garnishes (Cinnamon Dust, Miso Butterscotch, Sour Cream Ice Cream)

All from Momofuku Cookbook.

Cinnamon Dust

Ingredients

1. 30g sugar
2. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
3. 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Grind all ingredients until a dust. 
2. Cover and store away from the light. Keeps indefinitely.

Miso Butterscotch

Ingredients

1. 100g white miso
2. 65g packed light brown sugar
3. 67g mirin
4. Splash of sherry vinegar
5. 58g unsalted butter, room temp

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 204C.
2. Spread miso in a thin layer on a sheet of parchment paper. Bake in oven for 20-30 min, until blackened brown in colour.
3. Let miso cool, then scrape into a blender jar.
4. Add the brown sugar, mirin, vinegar and butter and blend until smooth.
5. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and store, covered in the refrigerator. Keeps for weeks.

Sour Cream Ice Cream

Ingredients

1. 200g sugar
2. 50g water
3. 454g sour cream
4. Grated zest of 1/2 lime
5. 3 tbsp lime juice

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water and simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves.
2. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
3. In a large bowl, whisk sour cream until smooth.
4. Gradually whisk in sugar syrup, lime zest and juice to sour cream. Refrigerate until cold.
5. Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instruction. 

Apple Pie Filling

From Momofuku Cookbook. You may use different types of apples for the compote and jelly respectively (in the cookbook, they used Empire and Fuji).

Ingredients

Compote

1. 2 small apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2. 65g packed light brown sugar
3. 65g apple cider
4. 1 cinnamon stick
5. Pinch of salt
6. Juice of 1/2 lemon

Jelly

1. 4g pectin crystals
2. 50g packed light brown sugar 
3. Large pinch of ground cinnamon
4. 190g apple cider
5. 2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

Instructions

Compote

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the apples, brown sugar, apple cider and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil on medium-heat. As soon as the mixture boils, remove the apples and transfer to a mixing bowl. Leave the cinnamon stick in the pan.
2. Turn the heat up and reduce the cooking liquid by half. Add the reduced cooking liquid to the apples, season with salt and lemon juice, then set aside to cool.

Jelly

1. In a small saucepan, combine pectin, brown sugar, cinnamon and apple cider and bring to a boil on high heat. 
2. Place the apples in a large bowl.
3. When the syrup boils, pour it over the apples and stir to combine, then cool the mixture to room temp.
4. Put the bowl in the refrigerator to chill to set.
5. Add the jelly to the compote and stir to blend well. 
6. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Cherry Tomato Salad with Tofu and Shiso

From Momofuku Cookbook. Momofuku's riff on the classic Italian caprese salad (mozzarella, tomato, green basil, seasoned with olive oil and salt).

Ingredients

1. 12 ounce silken tofu, drained
2. 2 pints mixed cherry tomatoes
3. 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
4. 1 tbsp light soy sauce
5. 1 tsp sesame oil
6. 1/2 cup oil
7. Salt
8. Black pepper
9. 6 shiso leaves, sliced

Instructions

1. Using a ring mold, cut the silken tofu to obtain 8 rounds of tofu.
2. In a large saucepan, add water and salt and bring to a boil.
3. In a large mixing bowl, prepare an ice bath.
4. Cut a tiny X in the bottom of about 2/3 of the tomatoes.
5. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water in batches, and after 10s, remove them and transfer to the ice bath.
6. Remove the skins from the tomatoes and place the tomatoes in a bowl, and refrigerate for 10 min.
7. Cut the remaining 1/3 of the tomatoes in half. 
8. In a mixing bowl, combine the vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and oil and stir. 
9. Add in the halved tomatoes and toss to coat.
10. To serve, place 2 pieces of tofu in each bowl. Top each portion with tomatoes, and season with salt, black pepper and shiso leaves.

Satay PB&J Sandwich

Adapted from Kitchen Tigress, Rasa Malyasia, and Enriching Your Kid.

Ingredients

Chicken Satay

Makes about 10 skewers

1. 250g boneless chicken thigh/breast/leg meat
2. 2 tbsp oil
3. 1 tbsp coriander powder
4. 1 tsp cumin powder
5. 5 shallots
6. 1 cloves garlic
7. 2 stalks lemongrass, white part only
8. 1 slice galangal/ginger
9. 1/2 tsp salt
10. 1/2 tsp kecap manis/dark soy sauce
11. 10 skewers, soaked overnight in water

Satay Peanut Butter Sauce

Makes about 1 cup

1. 15g assam (tamarind)
2. 1/2 cup warm water
3. 125g toasted peanuts, skinless, unsalted
4. 75g peanut butter, creamy
5. 2 shallots
6. 1 cloves garlic
7. 1/2 stalk lemon grass, white part only
8. 1 slice galangal/ginger
9. 1/2 tbsp chilli powder
10. 7.5g palm sugar

Tamarind Jam

1. 250g tamarind
2. 1 cup warm water
3. 1 tbsp honey

Satay PB&J Sandwich

1. Satay meat
2. Satay Peanut Butter Sauce
3. Tamarind jam
4. Bread

Instructions

Satay

1. Roughly chop up the shallots, garlic, lemongrass and galangal/ginger. Pound/blend, then mix in oil, coriander, cumin, salt and kecap manis to make a paste.
2. Marinade the chicken in the paste overnight in the refrigerator.
3. Thread the chicken meat through the skewers.
4. Grill for about 5 minutes each on both sides, until slightly charred.
5. You can eat the satay on the skewers (as it is eaten traditionally, dipped in peanut sauce), or you can make a pretty awesome satay PB&J sandwich.

Satay Peanut Butter Sauce

1. Mash the assam in warm water, then drain and keep the water. Discard any seeds.
2. Roughly chop up the peanuts, then divide into half. Finely grind one half of the peanuts into smaller pieces.
3. In a pot, boil half of the assam water with the peanuts. Cover with a lid and simmer gently for 20 min.
4. Pound/blend shallots, garlic, lemongrass and galangal/ginger to a smooth paste.
5. Fry the paste with chilli powder and peanut butter over medium heat until fragrant and the colour darkens.
6. Add the paste to the peanut mixture, and add palm sugar. Stir to mix thoroughly.
7. Bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer gently for 10 min, until reduced to a thick paste. Serve warm.

Tamarind Jam

1. Mash the tamarind in warm water, then drain and keep the water. Discard any seeds.
2. In a pot, boil the water and add the seedless tamarind and honey. Stir thoroughly.
3. Simmer gently for about 1.5h over low/medium heat, until reduced to jam-like consistency. Add more water if necessary.
4. Cool and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator. 

Satay PB&J Sandwich

1. Toast the bread.
2. Spread peanut butter sauce on 3 pieces of bread, about 1 tbsp each (or as much as you want).
3. Remove the grilled chicken satay meat from the skewers, and coat in the peanut butter sauce. Place about 3 skewers worth of meat on each piece of bread.
4. Spread jam on 3 other pieces of bread, about 1 tbsp each (or as much as you want).
5. Sandwich the jam-covered piece of bread on top of the piece with peanut butter sauce and chicken. Serve warm. 

Lemon Meringue Tart

Ingredients

1. Baked tart shell (see pâte sucrée recipe)

Lemon curd

1.  240g caster sugar
2. Zest and lemon juice from 3 lemons
3. 200g eggs
4. 300g butter, cubed, room temp

Italian Meringue

1. 100g egg whites
2. 1/2 tsp salt
3. 200g caster sugar
4. 60g water

Instructions

1. (Optional) In a large bowl, rub the lemon zest in the sugar for 1-2 min, to diffuse the lemon flavour into the sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, hand whisk the eggs. Add the eggs into the lemon sugar mixture, and whisk in with lemon juice.
3. Heat the lemon curd on a bain-marie, stirring every min, until it reaches 81C.
4. Remove from bain-marie and allow to cool down to 55-60C.
5. Whisk in butter, one cube at a time. 
6. Handblend the curd for 6 min, then pass through a fine-mesh sieve into a plastic container.
7. Cover the surface of the lemon curd with cling film and chill in fridge for at least 4h or overnight.
8. When ready to assemble the tart, make the Italian meringue.
9. Place egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand-mixer with the whisk attachment.
10. Place sugar and water in a small pan and boil over medium heat. When the syrup reaches the boil, start whisking the egg whites on medium speed, until soft peaks.
11. Cook the syrup to 118C and pour over the egg whites.
12. Increase the speed and keep whisking until the meringue feels barely warm.
13. Fill a piping bag with the chilled lemon curd and pipe a generous layer of lemon curd into the baked tart shell.
14. Fill a piping bag with the meringue, and pipe on top of the lemon curd. Burn using a blowtorch.