Chinese-Indonesian Australian chef and food writer Lara Lee is a rising star of the international food scene. In her second cookbook, A Splash of Soy, she closes the gap between classic Asian recipes and easy, quick-to-table meals. Here we explore the delicious contrast of her sweet, salty, umami, sour and spicy Asian-inspired fare.
Photo / Louise Hagger
San choy bau
Serves 4 as a light main or 6 to share
There are as many ways to spell san choy bau, which means “lettuce wrap”, as there are to make it. Crispy, cold lettuce leaves embrace piping-hot pork with bold Chinese seasonings.
Fill two bowls with ice-cold water and soak the lettuce leaves and spring onions to crisp them up while you prepare the other ingredients. Drain well before use.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large frying pan on a high heat. Add the pork and cook, stirring, for 6–8 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove and set aside.
Wipe out the pan, then add 1 tablespoon oil on a medium-high heat and add the onion or shallots and mushrooms. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, then add the carrots. Cook for 1 minute and continue to stir, then add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further minute.
Add the Shaoxing wine and soy sauce to the pan and cook until the liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Return the pork to the pan, along with the water chestnuts (or celery) and the thinly sliced spring onions. Stir together, then add the oyster sauce, sugar and sesame oil and combine until everything is warmed through.
To serve, scoop 2 large spoonfuls of the mixture into each lettuce cup, top with curly spring onions and serve with lime wedges.
Photo / Louise Hagger
Many ways 15–minute tom yum soup
Serves 2
The next time you’re lacking inspiration in the kitchen, reach for a jar of shop-bought tom yum paste. I’ve used it to rescue dinners for most of my adult life. Combined with stock, you can easily create a speedy version of tom yum soup in under 15 minutes from first chop to first slurp. It’s an iconic hot-and-sour soup from Thailand with a heady fragrance of lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal and chillies. It’s often made with prawns, but it works just as well with other proteins. The amount of tom yum paste I recommend here is a guide; some pastes will be spicier, others will be more fragrant or citrusy, so season the broth with paste to your liking.
100g smoked or marinated tofu, patted dry and sliced, or
180g shredded leftover cooked chicken
Boil the kettle and soak the noodles according to the packet instructions. Put the eggs in a saucepan and top with cold water until just submerged, along with a generous pinch of salt. Cover and bring to the boil, then reduce to a cheerful bubble and cook for 6 minutes. After 6 minutes, run the eggs under cold water, then peel and cut in half. Cook for 2 minutes longer if your eggs were fridge-cold. Set aside.
Fill another saucepan with 750ml of boiling water, add 5 tablespoons tom yum paste and stir to dissolve. Taste the soup and add more tom yum paste until your desired flavour is achieved, as different tom yum paste brands will have different intensities.
Bring the liquid to a boil. Add the cherry tomatoes along with your short-cook vegetables, bring to the boil and simmer for 2–3 minutes.
Add the hero ingredient and cook at a steady simmer until warmed through, about 1 minute. The prawns, if using, will poach gently for 30 seconds until pink and just cooked through. The tofu or chicken, if using, should already be cooked and just need to be warmed through.
Drain the noodles and divide between two bowls. Pour the soup on top of the noodles and top with the beansprouts or spring onion and egg. Serve immediately.
Photo / Louise Hagger
Miso and gochujang butter roast chicken
Serves 4
While most marinade recipes call for long marinating times, the beauty of this recipe is that it requires no marinating time at all, owing to the deep intensity of flavour that comes from the gochujang, a crimson, fermented Korean chilli paste. It’s the leftover pan juices at the end of cooking that I love most. Mixed with a little extra gochujang and honey to serve, I like to drizzle it over the chicken and toss with steamed rice to create a divine gravy rice. Don’t be tempted to brush the butter on the skin until the halfway point, or the sugars in the honey and gochujang will likely burn.
8 chicken thighs or 4 whole chicken legs, skin on and bone in
2 lemons, cut into wedges
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.
Make the marinade by mixing the softened butter, miso, 1 tablespoon of the gochujang, garlic, chilli flakes, vinegar and 1 tablespoon honey together in a bowl with a pinch of salt.
Line a large baking tray with foil. Place the chicken pieces on the tray skin-side down, then season with salt. Rub half the marinade into the flesh side only (not the skin), ensuring all of the flesh is well covered.
Turn the chicken pieces over, skin-side up, and season generously with salt. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and brush the remaining marinade on to the skin. Return to the oven and bake for a further 15–20 minutes, or until the skin is browned and the chicken is cooked through (if using a thermometer, the thickest part of the chicken will have an internal temperature of at least 75C). If the skin is starting to char (check it from time to time), cover the chicken with foil until cooked through.
To finish, change the oven setting to grill on the highest heat. Grill the chicken, uncovered, under the grill for 2–3 minutes, or until the skin has browned.
Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Pour the pan juices into a bowl and mix with 1 tablespoon gochujang and ½ teaspoon honey. Transfer the sauce to a gravy jug.
Drizzle some of the gravy over the chicken, then squeeze with lemon juice and serve with extra lemon wedges and the sauce on the side.
Edited extract from a Splash of Soy. Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, RRP $50
