MasterChef: Street Food of the World

Think of Asian street food and it is perhaps the fragrant delights of South East Asia that come to mind first. Certainly, the evocative, exotic (and sometimes chaotic!) night markets of Bangkok and Singapore are legendary worldwide, and were my first memorable introduction to street eating many years ago. However, this is a vast area of the world, spanning all climates and with rich and varied cultures, and naturally the food follows suit.

There is so much to get excited about in this chapter, from the warming soups of banmian and odeng broth to the refreshing, and very unusual, tropical rojak salad of Malaysia. Thai and Vietnamese dishes are known throughout the world, famous for their exquisite use of fragrant herbs and spices, but do delve into neighbouring Cambodia’s recipes for a different but equally delicious take on South East Asian flavours. MasterChef champions offer some iconic dishes from this region, such as Andy Allen’s Thai prawns, Christine Ha’s take on a Vietnamese spicy beef soup, Ping Coombes’ chai tau kueh or Woo Wai Leong’s oyster omelette. Or for a more dainty take on that hearty Oz classic, the meat pie, try Brent Owen’s nostalgia-inspired recipe. Meanwhile, both Tim Anderson and Adam Liaw offer great recipes from Japan with daigaku imo and karaage chicken rolls.

Lastly, don’t confine yourselves to eating these recipes at home. Just as in the countries they originate from, many of these recipes are ideal for on-the-move eating: the tea eggs are a stunning-looking treat on a picnic; the Korean egg toast makes a fab breakfast on the go; and the kimbap are the perfect use for a few leftovers in a lunch box.

I absolutely love these marbled hard-boiled eggs. Popular with street vendors across China, they are exquisite to look at, taste mighty fine and are a doddle to make. This recipe is very easily adapted to make as many tea eggs as you like: you don’t really need to increase the spices and soy, just make sure the eggs are simmering in a single submerged layer. The longer you steep them post-simmering, the more pronounced the marbling and the tastier they get.

Note: you will need to begin this recipe at least 6 hours before you want to eat (the longer the better!), as the eggs need time to steep.

Put the eggs into a saucepan in a single layer and cover well with cold water. Set over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a steady simmer and cook for 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and place under cold running water until they are cool enough to handle.

Take one egg and cup it in the palm of your hand. With a teaspoon in the other hand, use the back of the spoon to gently tap the egg all over to form lots of tiny cracks, keeping the shell on the egg. Repeat with the other eggs.

Return all the eggs to the pan, again in a single layer, and just cover with cold water. Add the soy sauce, tea leaves, sugar, star anise, cinnamon stick, peppercorns and tangerine peel and set back on the hob over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook for 2 hours. Check every once in a while that the eggs are still submerged and top up with a splash more water if necessary.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool in the tea liquor. Once cold, transfer to the fridge and leave infusing for a minimum of 6 hours; they will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. The longer they steep, the stronger and more salty they will become.

Jiaozi are gorgeous little stuffed dumplings that are either steamed, as in this recipe, or fried until crisp. They are a traditional part of a Chinese New Year feast, but so popular that they are also heartily consumed all year round, be it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or just general snacking. Jiaozi freeze really well and can be steamed from frozen.

a large bamboo steamer (a regular steamer set over its own saucepan would be fine)

For the wrappers, weigh the flour into a bowl and gradually pour in 125ml cold water, stirring all the time, until you have a stiff dough, rough around the edges but with no loose flour. Turn on to the worktop and knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together the pork mince, cabbage, egg, chives, ginger, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, salt and white pepper. Leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or longer if possible; both the dough and the filling can be made and stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Once the dough has rested, take it from the fridge and cut in half. Re-wrap one half and set aside. Take the other half of the dough and roll it into a long, thin sausage shape about 1cm in diameter. Cut in half, then cut in half again to give you 4 even-sized pieces. Take each piece and cut it into 5 even pieces, re-rolling each one briefly into a little ball as you go. Repeat with the other half of the dough to give you 40 balls in total.

Place a generous tablespoon of flour on a plate and have an empty plate ready alongside this. Take one ball, dip it in the flour and start to roll out into a circle, turning the dough through a quarter turn each time you roll to maintain its shape. You want to roll the dumpling wrappers as thin as you can, about 1–2mm, and approximately 9–10cm in diameter. Dip both sides of the wrapper briefly into the plate of flour again, then set aside on the second plate. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls, replenishing the flour as necessary.

Lay 10 wrappers out on the worktop in a couple of rows and have a little dish of cold water handy. Spoon a generous teaspoon of filling into the centre of each wrapper. Slide one into your hand and, using a clean finger, dab a little water around the edge of one half only. Begin to pleat and fold the unwatered side up and over the filling, pressing into the wet side as you go to stick it together. It will take a little practice and your first few might look a bit rough and ready, but they’ll still taste great so stick with it! As long as the filling is completely enclosed it doesn’t matter too much what it looks like.

Once it’s all sealed, turn it crimp side pointing up, squeeze into a crescent shape and rest on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with the other 9 wrappers, then lay out the next 10 wrappers, top with filling and repeat. Keep on going until you have used up all the filling and wrappers. You can freeze them at this point: space them out on a baking tray to freeze initially, then pack them into a bag or tub and leave in the freezer until ready to cook.

Make the dipping sauce by adding all the ingredients to a small bowl and stirring together.

When you are ready to cook, line the base of a large bamboo steamer with a circle of baking parchment, and tuck all the jiaozi inside, snugly but not touching each other. You may need to cook in 2 batches depending on the size of your steamer. Set over a wok of simmering water, making sure the water is lower than the bottom of the steamer, and cover with the lid. Steam for about 5–6 minutes, until the dumpling wrappers look translucent. If cooking from frozen, add 2–3 minutes to the cooking time.

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before tucking in – but watch out as the filling gets mighty hot. Serve with the dipping sauce alongside.

China’s answer to a sandwich, a bao is an exceedingly delicious steamed bun made from the softest, fluffiest white bread you have ever tasted. Here the buns are filled with succulent char siu, or barbecued pork. The recipe makes twice the amount of barbecued pork needed to fill the buns, but it’s so tasty you’ll have no trouble finding a use for it – either nibble it straight away or save it for stir fries. Or you could double the quantity of dough and make more bao. They freeze brilliantly, and you can cook them from frozen.

Note: you will need to begin this recipe at least 6 hours, or ideally 48 hours, before you want to eat, to allow the char siu to marinate.

a large bamboo steamer (a regular steamer set over its own saucepan would be fine)

Hang a large zip-lock bag in a bowl to hold it open and put the belly pork strips inside. Add the garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, tomato ketchup, honey, rice wine, Chinese five spice powder and white pepper. Seal the bag and give everything a really good squish around to coat evenly in the marinade. Leave in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of 6 hours, or up to 48 hours if you have time.

Start the dough an hour or so before you want to assemble the buns. Tip the flours into a food mixer fitted with a dough hook and add the sugar, baking powder, yeast and salt. Mix together for a few seconds to combine. With the motor running slowly, start to pour in the water, adding just enough to bring it together as a soft ball. Knead for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Alternatively, mix and knead by hand. Transfer to a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside at room temperature to prove for an hour.

Once the pork has marinated, fire up a barbecue to medium-hot. Use tongs to lift the ribs from the marinade and on to the grill. Cook for about 25 minutes, turning regularly until cooked through and lightly charred.

Meanwhile, pour the leftover marinade into a small saucepan and bring to the boil, cooking for a couple of minutes until thick and syrupy. Pour into a bowl and stir through the spring onions, ginger and a good grind of black pepper.

Once the pork has cooked, take half of it, about 2–3 slices, and chop into small (½–1cm) pieces, dropping these into the bowl of thickened marinade, onions and ginger as you go. Stir well to mix and set aside to cool a little while you roll the dough. Set the remaining pork aside for another meal – it will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Tip the risen dough on to a lightly oiled worktop and roll into an 8–9cm-thick log. Cut into 12 even-sized slices and roll each into a ball. Use the palm of your hand to flatten each ball on the work surface to a disc about 5mm thick and 12–13cm in diameter.

Add a generous dessertspoon of filling to the centre of a disc of dough. Bring the sides up and over the top, pinching together like a little purse. Turn over so the bao is now seam-side-down, cupping gently to squeeze it into a neat ball shape. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling, lining them up on a large plate or baking tray as you go.

Half fill a wok with water and set over a high heat to bring to a steady simmer. Take a bamboo steamer and line the base with baking parchment, pricking it all over with a small sharp knife so the steam can get through. Add 4 buns to the steamer, spacing out well, cover with the lid and carefully rest over the wok of simmering water. Steam for 15 minutes until the buns have puffed up. Slide the cooked buns on to a plate and steam the next 4 buns, then repeat with the last 4.

These buns are really hot when they first come out of the steamer, so leave them to cool for 10 minutes or so before eating, but they definitely taste best when warm so tuck in while you are steaming the last batch.

This warming Chinese soup is full of slippery homemade noodles surrounded by a full-flavoured anchovy stock. If you’ve never made noodles before, never fear, they are very easy. If you have a pasta machine you can use that for rolling and cutting the noodles; if not, just roll the dough as thin as you can and slice into strips with a small, sharp knife.

To make the noodles, add the flour, oil, egg, salt and 75ml cold water to a food mixer. Use the dough hook to mix together and knead until smooth, about 4–5 minutes. Alternatively, mix and knead by hand. Wrap tightly in cling film and rest in the fridge for an hour, or up to 24 hours.

In a large pan, add approximately two-thirds of the anchovies to 2 litres cold water. Add the garlic, the peelings from the shallots (they will give the soup a great colour) and the peppercorns. Set the pan over a medium heat and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a steady simmer and cook uncovered for an hour. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pan, discarding the solids.

Place the vegetable oil in a wok and set over a high heat. Once hot, tip in the shallots and fry, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Add the remaining anchovies and fry until crisp, again scooping out and draining on kitchen paper. Roughly chop and set aside.

To make the noodles, unwrap the chilled dough and cut into 4 even pieces, dusting each lightly in flour all over. If you have a pasta machine, roll each piece of dough as thinly as possible. Then switch to the cutting roller and cut into long, thin strips (like tagliatelle). Dust the noodles in more flour before mounding on to a plate or baking tray. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. If you are rolling by hand, dust the worktop and roll each piece into a long sheet, trying to get it as thin as possible. Then use a small, sharp knife to cut into strips, dusting them as you go and piling them on to the plate or baking tray.

Bring the strained stock back up to the boil and add the mushrooms. Simmer for a minute before adding the prawns and choi sum or pak choi. Simmer for another minute or two until the prawns are just turning pink all over. Add the noodles, stirring with a fork as you go to stop them from clumping, and let them simmer for a couple of minutes until almost tender but with a little bite. Season to taste with salt, white pepper and a little sesame oil.

Crack in the eggs, spacing them out as much as possible. Let them simmer, undisturbed, on top of the soup until they are just cooked to your liking – a minute or two for softly poached.

Serve the soup immediately in deep bowls, making sure everybody gets an egg, three prawns and plenty of noodles. Garnish with the fried shallots and crisp anchovy pieces, then some hot chilli sauce to shake over as you eat (or slurp!).

Egg toast is a ubiquitous Korean street breakfast, providing a nutritious and filling start to the day. The cheese and ham are lovely optional additions, but the brown sugar, unusual though it may seem, is pretty much essential to the egg toast experience.

Whisk the eggs in a small bowl, then add the carrot and cabbage and mix well. Season with a little salt and pepper. Set aside.

Melt half the butter in a small, preferably non-stick, frying pan. When it is foaming, add the slices of bread and, pressing down with a spatula, fry them until crisp. Turn over and fry on the other side until crisp. Remove to a plate and keep warm.

Add the rest of the butter to the pan and pour in the egg mixture, spreading it out evenly to an approximately toast-sized omelette. Cook over a medium-low heat for a few minutes until set, then use a fish slice to flip over. Lay the ham and cheese slices on top, if using, so that they warm a little, and cook for another minute until the egg is lightly crisp on the underside.

Lift the egg, ham and cheese on to one of the slices of toasted bread. Sprinkle over the brown sugar, followed by a good squirt of ketchup and chilli sauce, before topping with the other piece of toast. Cut in half if you like, or just grab it whole, and eat immediately.

Odeng is a type of fishcake from Korea that is most often served in a bowl of steaming broth – a particularly popular street food on chilly winter evenings. Odeng is commonly a flat sheet made from finely pulverised fish or seafood mixed with starch that is ribboned on to skewers. If you can’t find them (try specialist Korean stores or online) then any shaped Chinese-style ready-made fishcake will be just fine

Place the anchovies, onion, daikon, garlic, gochugaru and ginger in a large saucepan and pour in 1.5 litres cold water. Set over a medium-high heat and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a hearty simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Strain into a clean pan, discarding everything except the daikon. Add the daikon back into the broth, along with the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.

Take one odeng sheet, cut it in half and weave lengthways on to a skewer. Repeat with the remaining fishcakes, and add all the skewers to the strained broth so the fishcakes are submerged. Simmer in the broth for 5 minutes until thoroughly heated through. Serve the broth in deep bowls, topped with the skewers and scattered with spring onion and red chilli.

Kimbap is the Korean equivalent of sushi and a street food staple. Pretty much anything goes for the filling so it’s a great way of using up leftovers. Here I’ve kept it simple with mixed veg, but you could add strips of roast meat, flaked tuna or even crabsticks. Gochugaru is dried red pepper powder, with a hot, spicy and slightly smoky taste, and although kimbap would traditionally be served without a dipping sauce, this is a combination I just can’t resist.

Tip the rice into a sieve and rinse well under cold running water, then add to a saucepan along with 375ml cold water and the salt. Set over a medium heat and bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and reduce the heat to a minimum, leaving to simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and rest, covered, for a further 15 minutes. Season the rice with the rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. Set aside while you prepare the fillings.

Make an omelette by adding 1 teaspoon sesame oil to a small frying pan and setting it over a high heat. When it’s really hot, tip in the beaten egg, using a fork to scoop away the cooked edges from the sides of the pan to allow the uncooked egg to slide into contact with the base. If your pan is hot enough it should take less than a minute to cook. Slide on to a board and chop into 1cm strips. Set aside.

Wipe out the frying pan with kitchen paper, add another teaspoon of sesame oil and set back over the heat. Add the carrots and stir fry for a couple of minutes to soften a little. They should still have plenty of crunch. Set aside.

Add the damp spinach to a large saucepan and set over a medium heat. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and allow to wilt for a few minutes, stirring once or twice to make sure it wilts evenly. Allow to cool until you can handle it, then squeeze out as much water as possible. Chop roughly and drizzle over a teaspoon of sesame oil and season with a little grind of black pepper. Set aside.

When you are ready to roll, clear the worktop to give you plenty of space, and lay the bamboo mat in front of you, with the long side facing you. Lay a sheet of seaweed, shiny side down, on to the mat. Take a scoop of the seasoned rice and spread it in an even layer over the bottom two-thirds of the sheet, leaving a 1cm border all around. If you want to make sure you are dividing your pan of rice evenly, spread out all 5 sheets of seaweed and spread the rice out over all of them. You can then slide them on to the mat in turn.

Now it’s time to add the fillings – you want to line them up on the rice in neat rows, as close to each other as possible, starting with the carrots furthest away from you, leaving a 2cm margin of plain rice. Follow the carrots with the spinach, omelette and lastly the daikon.

To roll, begin at the edge nearest to you and roll up the mat over the rice, tucking the edge of the seaweed sheet over first. Keep rolling, using the mat to help you and pressing firmly as you go to squeeze everything together tightly into a sausage shape. Once you reach the other edge of the seaweed sheet, moisten it with a little dab of water before rolling all the way over to stick the seaweed together. It does take a little bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it you will work fast! Repeat with the remaining sheets and fillings.

Take a very sharp knife and use a piece of kitchen paper to dab a little sesame oil on to the blade. This will help prevent sticking. Slice each roll into generous 1cm pieces, re-oiling the knife every now and then.

Eat straight away with the dipping sauce alongside, or refrigerate until needed.

These tasty fried noodles – traditionally made using wheat and egg noodles rather than the soba (buckwheat noodles) that their name suggests – are ubiquitous all over Japan, where they are really popular for festivals, parties and just general speedy snacking. As with all stir fries, the time is in the chopping of ingredients; once everything is prepped and lined up in bowls; the cooking is done in a matter of minutes.

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain well and toss a teaspoon of oil through to prevent them from clumping together. Set aside.

Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and leave ready by the stove.

Add a tablespoon of oil to a large wok and set over a high heat. When it’s smoking hot, add the onions and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the pork fillet and stir fry for a further 3 minutes before tossing in the green beans, cabbage, carrots and garlic. Add 3 tablespoons of cold water and stir fry for another 4 minutes or so until the vegetables are tender but still with plenty of crunch. Pour in the sauce and stir fry for a minute before tossing in the cooked noodles and stirring until heated through.

Pile into bowls and serve immediately, sprinkled with the aonori and benishoga strips.

So popular are these chicken kebabs that in their home country of Japan they have whole take-out shops – or yakitoriya – dedicated to serving them. This version is flavoured with a classic soy-based tare sauce. It’s traditional to cook these over a charcoal grill, and a barbecue is certainly the best way flavour-wise, but a ridged griddle pan on the hob will also give you pretty tasty results.

8 metal or bamboo skewers (if using bamboo, soak in cold water for an hour to prevent them from burning)

For the tare sauce, add all the ingredients to a small saucepan set over a medium-low heat and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer steadily until reduced by half in volume, about 15–20 minutes. Divide between 2 small dishes and set aside to cool. One dish is used as a dipping sauce, the other to glaze the skewers as they cook – dividing them prevents contamination from the raw meat as you are brushing with the glaze.

Thread the chicken and spring onions on to the skewers and brush all over with a little vegetable oil.

Fire up a barbecue until hot, or set a large ridged griddle pan over a high heat on the hob, then lay on the kebabs. Take one of the bowls of sauce and, using a brush, glaze the top of the kebabs. After a couple of minutes turn the kebabs over and brush with more sauce. Keep on turning and brushing the kebabs with sauce until cooked, around 10–12 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.

Japan has turned taking food on the road into an art form. Every train station is filled with hundreds of options for eating on the go, from self-heating bento boxes to ready-to-drink soup in a can. This recipe combines two of my personal favourites – the famous Japanese katsu-sando (cutlet sandwich) and tender Japanese fried chicken.

Place the chicken pieces in a bowl and add the soy sauce, sake and sugar. Squeeze the grated ginger between your fingers, adding the juice to the bowl and discarding the solids. Stir to coat and leave to marinate for about 5 minutes.

Place the potato flour in a large bowl and stir through a pinch of salt. Remove the chicken from the marinade with chopsticks and drop it into the flour, one piece at a time – adding the pieces one at a time stops you from pouring in too much of the marinade and prevents the chicken from sticking together. Coat the chicken in the flour, shake off any excess and set aside uncovered and out of the fridge while you heat the oil. This air-drying will create a crisper crust.

Half fill a large saucepan or wok with vegetable oil and heat to around 190°C/375°F. You may need to fry the chicken in 2 or 3 batches so that you don’t reduce the temperature of the oil too much. Deep fry the chicken for a minute. Remove the chicken to a rack and leave to rest for 30 seconds. Return the chicken to the oil and fry for 30 seconds, and then rest on the rack for 30 seconds. Transfer the chicken back into the oil for one last blast of 30 seconds and then rest on the rack for 2 minutes, seasoning with ¼ teaspoon salt.

For the seaweed mayonnaise, mix all the ingredients together until well combined.

Cut the rolls in half and lightly toast them on the inside only. Fill with a little of the cabbage, watercress and onion. Add the fried chicken and mayonnaise and top with a little shichimi togarashi, if using.

Daigaku imo is a classic Japanese dish that literally means ‘university potato’, so-named because its inexpensive but wholesome and calorific ingredients have made it a perennial favourite among cash-strapped students. The flavour is sweet, but not overly so, which means it can be enjoyed both as a dessert or as an afternoon snack.

1 large (or 2 small) sweet potatoes (ideally the purple-skinned, yellow-fleshed variety)

Wash the sweet potato thoroughly (don’t peel it) and cut it into irregular wedges no larger than 3cm thick. Soak the wedges in cold water for 20–30 minutes to remove the excess starch, then dry completely with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel.

Place the oil, sugar, soy sauce, lime zest and juice in a deep frying pan over a low heat and stir. Add the potatoes to the pan, toss to coat in the sugar mixture, and increase the heat to medium. Place a lid on the pan and leave to heat until you hear it sizzling. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for a further 2–3 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for another 10 minutes or so, turning the potatoes frequently to ensure they brown lightly on all sides. The potatoes are done when you can pierce them easily with a chopstick or butter knife.

When the potatoes are tender and nicely browned, turn off the heat and stir through the sesame seeds. Leave to cool slightly, then enjoy them on their own or with vanilla ice cream.

Native to Tibet and Nepal, momos are little steamed dumplings, made in a very similar way to the Chinese jiaozi. The momos in this recipe are filled with delicately spiced minced chicken and served with an addictive pickled chilli chutney.

Note: you will need to begin this recipe the day before you want to eat, as the chillis need to soak overnight.

a large bamboo steamer (a regular steamer set over its own saucepan would be fine)

To make the chutney, add the chillies to a small bowl and pour over the vinegar. Leave to soak for at least 12 hours, ideally overnight.

Place the chillies and vinegar (which will have been mostly absorbed) in a food processor, along with the onion, tomatoes, garlic and a large pinch of salt. Process until smooth. Taste, adding a little more salt if needed and some black pepper. Scoop into a small bowl and set aside at room temperature.

To make the filling, place the chicken in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Add the onion, spring onion, garlic, cumin, nutmeg, coriander, ½ teaspoon salt and a little black pepper and pulse until you have a smooth paste. Scoop into a bowl, cover and chill for at least an hour for the flavours to develop; overnight is fine.

To make the dumpling wrappers, follow the jiaozi instructions here, including rolling out, but the folding is different, so stop once you’ve rolled out 40 wrappers. Line up 10 wrappers in 2 rows on a lightly floured worktop. Have a little bowl of cold water handy, along with a plate of flour to dip the finished momos in.

Put a teaspoon of filling in the centre of each wrapper. Take one, placed either in the palm of one hand or in front of you on the worktop, and dab a little water around one half only. Begin to make tiny pleats around the filling, drawing the folds up to the top so they meet in the centre and stick together. Once you have pleated all the way round, give the pleats a little twist together in a clockwise direction to completely seal in the filling. Dip the base into the plate of flour and line up on a baking tray. Repeat with the remaining 9 wrappers, then lay out the next 10 wrappers and repeat. Do this until you have used up all 40 wrappers and filling. You can freeze them at this point: space them out on a baking tray to freeze initially, then pack them into a bag or tub and freeze until ready to cook.

When you are ready to cook, line the base of a large bamboo steamer with a circle of baking parchment, and tuck all the dumplings inside, snugly but not touching each other. You may need to cook in 2 batches depending on the size of your steamer. Set over a wok of simmering water, making sure the water is lower than the bottom of the steamer, and cover with the lid. Steam for about 5–6 minutes, until the dumpling wrappers look translucent. If cooking from frozen, add 2–3 minutes to the cooking time. Serve with the pickled chutney alongside.

An absolute classic Thai dish, cooked on roadsides throughout the land (and far, far beyond), this is a dish that cooks in moments, so get all the component parts lined up and ready before you fire up your wok.

2 tablespoons tamarind water (made from 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate mixed with 1 tablespoon warm water)

Soak the noodles for an hour in cold water, drain and set aside. Place the dried shrimp in a small heatproof glass or mug and cover well with boiling water. Leave to soak for 15 minutes, then drain and roughly chop.

In a small bowl, mix together the tamarind water, sugar, fish sauce and chilli flakes. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved. Taste a tiny amount – it should be a good balance of sweet, sour and salty, with a little kick from the chilli. Adjust to taste with more of everything, going steady as it’s easier to add than take away!

Blanch the green beans and carrots in boiling water for 3 minutes until tender but with plenty of bite. Drain and set aside.

Set a wok over a high heat and add the vegetable oil. When it’s hot, add the spring onions, garlic, carrots, beans and raw prawns, stir frying for a couple of minutes until the prawns are just cooked.

Add the chopped dried shrimp and the tamarind water and stir fry for a further minute before tipping in the noodles and coriander, tossing until well coated. Push the noodles to one side of the wok and pour in the beaten egg, scrambling lightly until just set. Turn off the heat, add the beansprouts and half the peanuts and toss everything together.

Serve immediately in warmed bowls, scattered with the remaining peanuts. Serve with the lime wedges and sweet chilli sauce.

Lok lak is a fabulous hot beef salad from Cambodia that is usually served topped with a fried egg to make a really satisfying meal. I think of this as a fantastic after-work dish, as you can set the beef marinating in the morning, and then it takes just minutes to get to the eating stage when you are tired and hungry. The ravenous could add some steamed rice alongside. I use skirt steak as it’s my favourite cut for succulence and flavour, but any will do.

Note: you will need to start this recipe several hours before you want to eat, or ideally the day before, to allow the beef to marinate.

350g beef skirt steak, sliced thinly across the grain (or use your favourite cut)

Place the beef strips in a non-metallic bowl and add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, tomato ketchup, fish sauce, garlic and a generous grind of black pepper. Stir thoroughly to mix, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours, or ideally overnight.

Make the dipping sauce by grinding the peppercorns in a spice mill or pestle and mortar until finely ground. Mix in the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar, stirring well until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok until smoking hot, then tip in the beef, stir frying for a few minutes until it is almost cooked to your liking. Quickly stir through the cornflour paste and thicken over a high heat for a further minute. Turn off the heat under the wok and keep warm.

Add the remaining oil to a frying pan and set over a medium-high heat. When it’s hot, crack in the eggs and fry until cooked to your liking.

Arrange the beef on top of each plate of salad and top with a fried egg. Scatter over the spring onion, drizzle over the dressing and serve immediately.

Barbecuing is a big deal in Cambodia, with roadside ‘Khmer BBQ’ stalls and beer gardens all over the place, dishing up exquisitely grilled meat alongside pitchers of icy-cold beer. This recipe takes a load of juicy, meaty pork ribs and gives them the Cambodian flavour treatment with honey, ginger and lemongrass. Heaven. Just don’t forget to chill the beer.

Note: you will need to start this recipe up to 24 hours before you want to eat, to allow the ribs time to marinate.

Hang a zip-lock bag in a bowl to hold it open and put the pork ribs inside. Add all the marinade ingredients to a deep jug and pulse with a stick blender until you have a smooth paste. Alternatively, whizz them all up in a food processor. Scoop the marinade into the bag and squidge the bag about to mix it through. Seal the bag tight and leave in the fridge for as long as possible, ideally overnight. If you can, turn the bag over a few times to keep the marinade circulating.

When you are ready to cook, fire up the barbecue. You want to cook the ribs slowly over a medium-low temperature, which is easy to control if you’re using gas. With charcoal, the temperature is harder to control, so push the coals to one side of the barbecue and grill the ribs on the coal-free side. If you have a grill thermometer (one that rests directly on the grill bars), you want it to hover around 100°C (210°F).

Cook the ribs, turning regularly, until they are crisp and caramelised on the outside and tender within. Ideally this will take about an hour or so if the heat is nice and low. To serve, pile the ribs into a dish, squeeze over some lime juice and scatter with the chopped chillies.

Pepper is commonly used in Cambodian cooking for adding pungent heat, as their cuisine predates the arrival of chillies into Asia. It’s worth seeking out fresh green peppercorns for this speedy stir fry, as they add an exquisite, almost floral fragrance and a subtle heat that is a bit lost with the pickled ones in jars; they are reasonably easy to find in Thai or Asian grocery shops or online. This recipe uses them in abundance, just as they would in Cambodia, but do halve the quantity for a milder dish.

Slice the pork fillet down the length to give you 2 long pieces. Wrap each in cling film and place in the freezer for 30–45 minutes to harden up – this helps you to cut it very thinly. Remove from the freezer, unwrap and slice very thinly across the grain in 2mm strips.

Bruise the green peppercorns, either with the flat of a large knife or by crushing gently in a pestle and mortar, so they crack open a little and release their aroma.

Add the oil to a wok and set over a high heat. Once hot, add the pork and peppercorns and stir fry for a couple of minutes, allowing the meat to colour a little in places. Add the spring onions and garlic and fry for a further couple of minutes. Finally add the soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce and sugar, along with a couple of tablespoons of water, and stir fry for a minute or two until the sauce is rich and thick.

Packed full of vibrant herbs and leaves, these fresh uncooked spring rolls are sometimes known as ‘summer rolls’ and it’s easy to see why. This version uses prawns for simplicity, but traditionally, in Vietnam, they would have a combination of pork and prawns. Feel free to experiment with the protein part of the filling: you could use a little leftover chicken or roast pork or even add a scattering of chopped roasted peanuts, but don’t scrimp on the herbs and lettuce, they are essential to the ‘summery-ness’.

1 or 2 red bird’s-eye chillies, finely chopped (remove seeds for a milder sauce)

Make the dipping sauce by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Start with a lesser quantity of sugar, adding a little more to taste. It should be a good balance of sour, sweet, salty and sharp. Set aside for the flavours to mingle.

Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil, adding the salt as it heats up. When it’s boiling, drop in the prawns, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and poach for just long enough for them to turn completely pink, about 1–2 minutes. Drain and allow them to cool a little. Slice in half lengthways and set aside.

Add the rice vermicelli to a bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover well. As it begins to soften, stir with a fork to separate the noodles. Leave for 4 minutes until soft but with a little bite. Drain well and rinse under cold running water to stop further cooking. Set aside.

To make the spring rolls, line up the fillings – cooked prawns, lettuce, vermicelli, carrot and herbs – in small bowls on a clean work surface.

Fill a deep plate or shallow bowl (big enough to fit a single rice wrapper in a flat, crease-free layer) with cold water next to the fillings. Take a rice wrapper and lay it in the water, submerging it completely for 1–2 minutes, just long enough for it to be pliable but not too soft. Remove immediately and lay flat in front of you on the worktop. Take 3 halves of prawns and lay them cut side up in a line down the centre. Take a couple of halves of lettuce leaves and roll up into a cigar shape, placing on top of the prawns. Add a little clump of rice vermicelli on top of this, again in a cigar shape, and sprinkle on a big pinch of grated carrot. Top with a generous scatter of mint and coriander, and lay on 2 pieces of chive. Bring the bottom edge of the wrapper tightly up over the filling, then fold up the sides so that the filling is snugly contained at each end. Roll up tightly, squeezing out the air as you go, so that everything is completely sealed. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and fillings.

To serve, slice each roll in half on the diagonal and serve with the dipping sauce alongside.

Banh xeo roughly translates as ‘sizzling cakes’, named after the noise of the batter hitting the oil in the hot pan. And that pan needs to be really hot for best effect. These thin and crispy pancakes are a glorious yellow thanks to the turmeric, and filled with a rich mix of garlicky mushrooms and roast chicken. Plenty of herbs and a traditional dipping sauce give a fresh authentic Vietnamese flavour.

Make the pancake batter by weighing the flour into a large bowl and stirring through the turmeric and salt. Pour in the coconut milk and start to add some cold water, about 200ml or so, whisking continuously until you have a smooth batter. It should be the consistency of double cream. Cover with cling film and set aside at room temperature for a couple of hours to rest.

When you are ready to cook, add a tablespoon of oil to a frying pan and set over a medium heat. Add the onion and stir fry for 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and a seasoning of salt and pepper and stir fry for a few minutes until they are starting to soften. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then tip in the shredded chicken and stir fry for a further minute until hot. Keep warm while you make the pancakes.

In another frying pan (preferably non-stick) add a drizzle of oil and set over a high heat. You need to leave the pan to get really hot. When you think it’s hot enough, give it another 30 seconds or so to be sure. Give the batter a quick mix through – it will have thickened up a bit, so whisk through a little more cold water to take it back to double cream consistency. Then pour a ladleful into the pan, swirling it about so it spreads out to form a thin pancake. Cover the pan with a lid or snuggly fitting foil and leave to cook for about 3 minutes. The underside of the pancake should be really crisp and the edges coming away from the pan. Use a fish slice to transfer to a serving plate then spoon a quarter of the mushroom and chicken filling on to one half. Scatter over some beansprouts, herbs and spring onions before folding over to cover.

Repeat with the remaining batter and filling to make 3 more pancakes. Eat while still hot, with the nuoc cham dipping sauce served alongside.

This spicy lemongrass beef soup was my favourite Vietnamese noodle soup growing up, a dish my mother would make on occasional Sundays. I wasn’t keen on eating it spicy as a child, so my mother fed me the milder version, but now I love the extra heat. It’s a perfect balance of sweet, sour, spicy and savoury. In Vietnam, you can find this dish anywhere from noodle shops to street stalls to a home kitchen.

2 stalks lemongrass, white parts bruised and sliced lengthways; green parts made into a bouquet garni

First, prepare the bones and meats. Sprinkle generously with salt, leave for a maximum of 15 minutes, then rinse with cold water and use the salt granules to scrub away any impurities.

Bring a stockpot of lightly salted water to the boil and parboil the bones and meats for 2 minutes, then drain. Trim the meats, reserving the beef tendon, if using, for the soup. Cut the beef into slices approximately 6cm long and 5mm thick. In a large bowl, mix together the sliced beef, half the onion and 1 tablespoon fish sauce, and season with pepper.

In a clean stockpot over a medium-high heat, heat the oil and sauté the remaining onion until fragrant. Add the cayenne and beef mixture, stirring frequently. Stir in the shrimp paste, lemongrass and reserved beef tendon, lower the heat to medium and sauté until the beef is browned all over. Return the bones and pork to the pot, cover with water (around 7 litres) and bring to the boil. Add the remaining fish sauce, sugar, and salt to taste. Reduce the heat and simmer for approximately 3 hours, partially covered, until the beef and pork are tender. Remove the meats and simmer the bones for another hour. Remove and discard the bones.

Towards the end of the simmering time, cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, until al dente.

Ladle the soup over the noodles, beef and pork. Garnish with the spring onion and coriander, and serve with the cabbage, lime wedges and shrimp paste.

Like most kebabs, these squid skewers taste best when cooked over a really hot barbecue, so do cook them outside if you can. The sauce makes a lovely change from the ubiquitous peanut-based sauces and is based on kecap manis, a deliciously addictive sweet soy sauce from Indonesia and Malaysia.

4–8 metal or bamboo skewers (if using bamboo, soak in cold water for an hour to prevent them from burning)

Remove and discard the outer membrane from the squid, or ask your fishmonger to do it for you, if you prefer. Give the squid a really good rinse in cold running water, inside and out, as there is often some grit lurking deep in the body cavity. Slice off the two wings and cut into 2cm strips, then slice the body into 2cm rings and place all the pieces in a large bowl.

Place the cumin and coriander in a small frying pan and toast over a medium heat for a minute or two until you can smell their aroma wafting up from the pan. Tip into a spice mill or pestle and mortar and grind to a powder. Mix the ground spices with the rest of the ingredients, except the lime wedges, and pour over the squid, stirring thoroughly until well coated. Set aside to marinate at room temperature for 20–30 minutes.

When you are ready to cook, fire up the barbecue to get it really hot. You can also cook over a really hot griddle pan. Thread the squid on to skewers and cook for 2 minutes each side until slightly charred. Eat immediately with the sauce drizzled over or alongside for dipping, and the lime wedges for squeezing.

With its unusual combination of tropical fruit and sour-sweet dressing of tamarind and shrimp paste, rojak can be something of an acquired taste. The first bite will take you by surprise, but it soon becomes slightly addictive, hitting all the salty, sweet, sour, savoury and umami senses. This is one of the top street food snacks of Malaysia, where it’s often served in cones made of newspaper lined with a banana leaf.

For the dressing, spread the shrimp paste in a thin layer on a small sheet of kitchen foil and wrap up to make a little package. Set a small frying pan over a high heat and, once hot, add the foil pack and toast for a minute on each side. Lift out and allow to cool. Turn off the heat – the pan will be very hot – and add the jaggery and kecap manis, stirring quickly as the jaggery melts in the residual heat. Strain the tamarind paste through a sieve into the pan and add the chilli powder. Unwrap the toasted shrimp paste and scrape it into the pan. Set the pan back over a medium heat and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly, until thick and glossy. Pour into a bowl and set aside to cool.

Chop the apple into bite-sized pieces and combine with the other prepared fruits and cucumber in a large serving bowl or banana leaf cones, if using. Drizzle over the dressing and scatter with the chopped peanuts and chillies, if using. Serve immediately, using bamboo skewers to pick up the pieces of fruit.

This fried radish cake with prawns, beansprouts and duck eggs is one of my favourite street foods in Malaysia. I usually track one down in the weekly night markets known as Pasar Malam. If you visit a night market anywhere in Malaysia, remember to wear loose-fitting clothes, bring an empty stomach and a sense of adventure. Try everything. What makes this dish such a joy to eat is the combination of crisp exterior and soft interior with crunchy vegetables and juicy prawns popping in your mouth. Radish cake is also great fried in slices until crisp and topped with poached or fried eggs and bacon for an alternative breakfast.

For the radish cake, place the grated radish or turnip in a wok or saucepan with 250ml water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the water has slightly evaporated and the radish has a slushy consistency. Remove from the wok and set aside in a separate bowl.

Clean the wok, then heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and fry the bacon or Chinese sausage with the spring onions for about 5 minutes. Tip the cooked radish into the wok, mix well and add the rice flour, cornflour, sugar and salt. Working quickly, mix well and keep the mixture moving around the wok to cook the flour for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Choose a dish big enough to fit into the wok and oil it with a little vegetable oil. Tip the radish mixture into the dish and pack it down with the back of a spoon. Smooth the top as much as possible. Place the dish on top of a steam rack over the wok, fill the wok below with water, bring to the boil, cover and steam on a high heat for 45 minutes. Check the level of water often so that it doesn’t run dry. Remove the cake from the heat and leave to cool. Place in the fridge for about 2 hours or overnight. This will ensure the cake is firm enough to cut.

Take 450g of the radish cake and cut it into 2.5cm strips and then into 1.25cm cubes. The remaining cake can be frozen for 2 months, or kept in the fridge for another 2 days and fried up for breakfast (see introduction)!

Heat the remaining vegetable oil in a wok or saucepan over a medium heat and fry the cake cubes until brown and crisp, about 10 minutes. Place them in a separate bowl.

Using the same wok or saucepan, heat the vegetable oil and add the garlic and chives or spring onions and fry for a minute. Add the prawns and preserved turnip, if using, and fry until the prawns start to turn pink. Add the cubes of radish cake along with the seasoning mix, and make sure they are well incorporated. Pour the eggs over the mixture like an omelette and let it sit for a minute. Add the beansprouts and stir fry the mixture for about 2 minutes, until the eggs are cooked through. Serve immediately with more Sriracha, if desired.

Chilli lime syrup adds a great kick to these comforting Malaysian banana fritters. Although it’s not traditional, I just love to add a dollop of vanilla ice cream to the top of each hot fritter before I drizzle over the sauce. Best eaten with your fingers, but be quick – the combination of melting ice cream and sauce makes this a messy business!

For the chilli syrup, place the sugar, lime zest and juice and chillies in a small pan and set over a medium heat. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and pour into a small bowl. Set aside to cool. The chillies will float to the surface as it cools; simply mix back through just before serving.

To make the batter for the fritters, stir together the rice flour, cornflour and baking powder in a bowl. Gradually pour in the ice-cold water, whisking as you go, until you have a smooth batter.

To prepare the bananas, peel and slice them in half lengthways, then chop each half in 2 so you get 4 wedges from each banana. Drop into the batter and stir to coat.

Preheat the oil in a deep fat fryer to 180°C/350°F. Give the bananas a last stir to make sure they are well coated, then drop into the oil, about 4–6 pieces at a time. Fry for about 4–5 minutes until crisp and golden, then drain on kitchen paper while you fry the remaining batches of banana.

Serve immediately with a dollop of ice cream, if using, and a drizzle of chilli syrup.

Along with curry laksa, this is one of Singapore’s greatest street foods. The chicken is poached with utter simplicity, and the flavour of the dish is all about the chicken, so this is the time to use the best slow-reared bird you can afford. A chicken of a good age will have naturally matured bones, and these add to the flavour of the stock, which in turn adds oomph to the rice that is cooked in it.

Set the chicken on a plate and rub all over with the sea salt, massaging it well into the skin. Stuff the sliced ginger and spring onions into the cavity, pushing them down well. Some may come out when the chicken is simmering, which is fine as it adds flavour to the stock. Set the chicken breast side down in a stockpot and add the peppercorns. Add just enough cold water to cover the chicken and set over a high heat to bring to the boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. As soon as it starts boiling, reduce the heat to a minimum – you want to see the barest of bubbles popping at the surface – and simmer very gently until the chicken is cooked through. This will take about 30 minutes. A meat thermometer is handy here: insert it into the thickest part of the thigh – the chicken is cooked when it reads 75°C/170°F. Using two large spoons, carefully lift the chicken on to a plate. According to your preference, allow it to cool, or wrap it in foil and keep warm. At this point you can turn up the heat and reduce the cooking liquor to a more concentrated stock for use later – it will take a good 30 minutes on a hard boil to reduce it by half.

Meanwhile, place the rice in a bowl and cover well with cold water. Leave to soak while the chicken is poaching. Take a medium saucepan and add the vegetable oil and sesame oil and set over a medium-low heat. Add the shallots and fry gently for 10 minutes until starting to soften and colour. Stir through the grated ginger and garlic and fry for another couple of minutes before turning off the heat and setting aside until the chicken has finished cooking.

Once the chicken is cooked, drain the rice and add to the pan with the shallot mixture. Set over a medium-high heat and stir for 30 seconds or so to coat each grain in the oil, then ladle over just enough hot stock to cover the rice by a couple of millimetres. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, leave the lid untouched and allow to steam undisturbed for 10 more minutes. Remove the lid and fork through the grains to separate a little.

To make the chilli sauce, place all the ingredients in a mini food processor and whizz to a sauce. You can also place all the ingredients in a deep jug and pulse with a stick blender. Spoon into a dish and set aside.

When you are ready to serve, chop the chicken into pieces using a large, heavy knife – it is normally served on the bone, but carve it like a roast chicken if you prefer. Serve the chicken on a bed of rice, scattered with a little chopped coriander, with the cucumber, chilli sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil alongside.

I adore this coconut-rich laksa soup, which has just the right balance between creamy comfort and heady spice. Curry laksa is perhaps the iconic street food of Singapore and is considered something of a national dish, although with its Malay/Chinese roots its popularity is widespread throughout South-East Asia.

For the spice paste, first soak the shrimp in cold water for 15 minutes, then drain.

Next place the coriander seeds in a small frying pan and set over a medium heat to toast for a minute or so until you can smell their aroma wafting up from the pan. Tip into a spice mill or pestle and mortar and grind to a powder. Add to a mini food processor along with the remaining spice paste ingredients and whizz to a smooth paste.

When you are ready to make the soup, add the spice paste to a large saucepan and fry gently over a medium-low heat for a couple of minutes, or until fragrant. Add the stock, coconut milk and sugar, bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

While the base is simmering, butterfly the prawns by running a sharp knife down the back of each to create an incision about 3mm deep from the top to the tail. Once the soup has had its initial simmer, drop the prawns in and cook gently for 3–4 minutes until they are just cooked and pink all the way through. Carefully stir in the cooked noodles and allow them to warm through. Add a little salt to taste.

Oyster omelette is one of my favourite comfort dishes – crisp and fluffy egg, chewy and crunchy potato starch, plump oysters and the spice of the sambal that is unique to each and every street food vendor. It is, in my opinion, one of the harder dishes to get right in the street food repertoire, much like the understated elegance and difficulty of the French omelette or the Japanese dashimaki tamago. My version actually borrows from both Thai and Singaporean methods of frying omelettes. Pouring the egg mixture from a height to deep fry in a pan or wok means that it puffs up and gets incredibly crisp in multiple spots in the pan, while the addition of potato starch mixes chewiness into the crispy deep-fried egg.

6–8 medium-sized oysters (or more/fewer, to your preference), drained and juices reserved (you need 60ml oyster juices – top up with water if insufficient)

For the sambal, place the garlic and salt in a pestle and mortar and combine into a paste. Brush the red chillis with oil and sear in a frying pan over a high heat until both sides are on the blacker side of brown, then set aside to cool. If you wish, cut the chillis in half lengthways and remove as many seeds as suits your tolerance (I remove about half).

In a blender or pestle and mortar, place the garlic paste and chillis, along with the remaining sambal ingredients, and grind to a smooth paste, adding a little water if needed. Taste, and balance the seasoning with salt, sugar or lime juice. Set aside.

Heat at least 5cm of oil in a semi-deep cast-iron pan or wok (a heavy-bottomed saucepan is also ideal) to around 180°C/350°F. Whisk the eggs and the fish sauce in a bowl until aerated and light blond in colour. In a separate bowl, whisk the two starches and the oyster juices.

This is the difficult/fun bit: whisking one more time, pour the egg mixture into the hot oil from a height of about 20cm above the level of the oil. The egg mixture will puff up and begin frying. Scrape the circumference of the pan with a wooden spoon/heatproof spatula to prevent it from sticking. After about 2 minutes, or when the bottom of the omelette starts to set and take on colour, give the starch mixture a final whisk and pour it randomly into the egg mixture. The mixture will sink through the top layer and settle on the bottom here and there. Continue frying until the base of the omelette starts to brown.

Flip the omelette carefully to cook the other side; cut the omelette, if necessary, to ease flipping. Once the other side starts to brown, remove the omelette from the pan and leave to rest on kitchen paper for about 5 minutes in a warm oven (about 110°C/90°C/Gas Mark ¼), to wick away as much oil as possible.

Remove any bits still left in the cast-iron pan or wok and drain the oil. Add the oysters to the pan and place over a medium heat. The oysters should firm up in the heat but still have a raw bite to them; it should not take more than 2 minutes. When the oysters have firmed up and are still juicy and plump, add 1–2 tablespoons sambal and toss to combine, then set the oysters aside to rest.

In a bowl, whisk 1 tablespoon of sambal with the olive oil until well incorporated, to make a vinaigrette. Dress the coriander and watercress or rocket with the vinaigrette and toss to combine.

Scatter the oysters and dressed salad over the omelette, as you would a pizza, and sprinkle with sea salt flakes to reinforce the seasoning. Serve!

Ayam is Indonesian for ‘chicken’, and this classic sate is best cooked over coals on a barbecue for maximum flavour. I think the very best thing about sate ayam is the delicious spiced peanut sauce served alongside, so this recipe makes a generous bowlful.

Note: this dish ideally needs to be started the day before so the chicken has plenty of time to marinate.

MAKES 8 LARGE OR 16 SNACK-SIZED KEBABS, SERVING 4 AS A MAIN COURSE OR MORE AS A SNACK

1 stalk lemongrass, outer leaves discarded, inner finely minced (a spice mill is ideal for this)

100g creamed coconut, grated and dissolved in 250ml boiling water; or 250ml ready-made coconut milk

8–16 metal or bamboo skewers (if using bamboo, soak in cold water for an hour to prevent them from burning)

Place the coriander seeds in a small frying pan and dry fry for 30 seconds or so until you can smell their aroma wafting up from the pan, then tip into a spice mill or pestle and mortar and grind to a coarse powder. Add to a bowl along with the diced chicken, turmeric, garlic, shallot, kecap manis, soy sauce and black pepper. Stir well until mixed, cover and set aside to marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours, or overnight if you prefer.

To make the peanut sauce, place the vegetable oil in a small saucepan and set over a medium heat. Add the shallot, garlic, ginger and lemongrass, frying for around 10 minutes until the shallot is translucent, reducing the heat if it’s catching a little. Add the shrimp paste and stir to combine.

Coarsely grind the peanuts in a food processor or pestle and mortar. Tip into the saucepan, along with the coconut milk, soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer steadily, stirring often, for 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Season to taste with a squeeze of lime juice and a little more sugar. Keep warm over a low heat.

When you are ready to cook, fire up the barbecue. Thread the chicken on to skewers and grill or barbecue over hot coals for around 6–8 minutes until cooked through. Serve with the peanut sauce, cucumber and chopped chilli.

Pepes is a traditional Indonesian method of cooking food wrapped snugly in a banana leaf, and ikan means ‘fish’. Here, then, is a delicious recipe for delicately spiced fish fillets barbecued inside pieces of banana leaf. Although you don’t eat the leaf, it adds a lovely tannic smokiness to the fish.

Place the garlic, shallot, ginger, lemongrass, candlenuts, tamarind, chilli, turmeric, shrimp paste and tomato in a food processor. With the motor running, add just enough water, about 1–2 tablespoons, to make a smooth, thick paste. Season to taste. Alternatively, place all the ingredients in a deep jug and pulse with a stick blender until smooth.

Lay out the banana leaves and put a piece of fish in the middle of each. Divide the spice paste evenly between the fish, spreading it out all over. Fold up the ends of the banana leaf and roll up tightly so the fish is completely covered. Pin each end securely with a cocktail stick to stop it from opening up. Set aside on the worktop for 20–30 minutes to marinate.

While the fish is marinating, fire up the barbecue until hot, or preheat a large griddle pan. Cook the fish parcels for about 4 minutes on each side, until the banana leaf is nicely charred on the outside. Carefully unwrap one parcel to check the fish is cooked through – it will be opaque and flake easily when teased with a fork.

Ayam goreng take-out shops and roadside stalls are found all over Indonesia – they are basically fried chicken joints, and who doesn’t love a bit of crisply fried chicken? The pieces of meat are marinated for several hours then simmered until cooked through before frying. This is great as it eases the ‘is it cooked properly?’ pressures we often associate with chicken. Sambal bajak is a fiery roast chilli paste. If you prefer less heat I suggest serving the chicken with sambal kecap.

Note: you will need to begin this recipe several hours before you want to eat, or ideally the day before, to allow the chicken to marinate.

For the spice paste, place the coriander seeds in a small frying pan and toast over a medium heat for a minute or two until you can smell their aroma wafting up from the pan. Tip into a spice mill or pestle and mortar and grind coarsely. Add to a food processor, along with the garlic, shallots, lemongrass, ginger, candlenuts and turmeric. Season generously. Whizz to a paste, adding just enough cold water to help it along – a couple of tablespoons should do it.

Joint the chicken into 10 pieces: 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, each breast chopped into 2, plus 2 wings. A combination of small, sharp knife and scissors is the easiest way to do this, following the joints and bones as a guide. Don’t worry if it looks a little rough and ready. Add the pieces to a large shallow dish in a single layer and dollop the spice paste on top, rubbing it all over. Cover and marinate in the fridge for a few hours, or ideally overnight.

Transfer the chicken, along with any excess marinade, into a large stockpot. Add the bay leaves and just enough cold water to cover the chicken and set over a high heat to bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a steady simmer, cover with a loose-fitting lid and cook for 30 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken to a large plate. Discard the poaching liquor, or even better, strain it and use it as the stock base of an Asian soup. It will freeze well if you want to save it.

To make the sambal bajak, put all the ingredients except the oil into a food processor and pulse to a thick paste. Add the oil to a frying pan and set over a medium-high heat. Once hot, scrape in the paste and stir fry for about 8–10 minutes until the sauce turns a shade darker and is rich and thick. Reduce the heat a little if it begins to stick. The sambal bajak will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 weeks, covered with a layer of cling film pressed to the surface.

While the chicken is poaching, heat the oil in a deep fat fryer to 180°C/350°F. When the oil is hot, add the shallot rings and allow to fry for a few minutes until golden and crisp. Shake any excess oil back into the fryer and tip on to kitchen paper to drain. Set aside.

Deep fry the poached chicken in batches of 3 or 4 pieces for about 5 minutes each until they are a deep golden brown.

Serve the chicken sprinkled with the crisp shallots, with the sambal bajak on the side.

School prawns are one of my favourite fried treats to cook throughout the summer here in Australia. A smaller, sweeter and more affordable version of their big brother, the green king prawn, they’re the perfect moreish bar snack. And the best bit is that you get to eat the whole thing, head and all! It can be tricky to get hold of school prawns, so king prawns can be substituted, but should be barbecued rather than deep fried – I’ve given both recipes below.

To make the citrus salt, combine the sea salt flakes and lime zest in a small bowl and set aside.

For the Sriracha mayonnaise, place the kewpie mayonnaise and Sriracha sauce in a bowl, then add the lime juice and salt and mix all the ingredients together. Taste, and if you’re happy, bang it in your serving bowl and set aside.

If using school prawns, make the seasoned flour. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well, then add the school prawns and give them a good toss, making sure they’re all covered in the flour. In a large pan, heat the oil to 200°C/390°F. Before frying, shake off any excess flour from the school prawns. This will make sure the oil stays nice and hot, which will give you a crisper, tastier prawn. Once the oil is hot, submerge the prawns in the oil and fry for a minute. Remove the prawns from the fryer, transfer to kitchen paper and season with the citrus salt while the prawns are still hot.

If using king prawns, fire up a barbecue until medium-hot and cook the prawns for 2 minutes each side until pink. Season with the citrus salt while the prawns are still hot.

To serve, make a nice mound of the prawns on your serving plate along with a generous ramekin of the Sriracha mayo and some extra citrus salt; garnish with some finely sliced red and green chillies and lime wedges.

Chiko rolls are the Australian equivalent of a spring roll. The traditional fare of sporting matches in their native Oz, these are not dainty little things but rather a big, stuffed-to-the-gunnels snack that will fill you up nicely. The peppery filling reminds me a little of a proper Cornish pasty, with the added texture of chewy pearl barley.

Soak the pearl barley in cold water for an hour, then drain well and place in a saucepan. Cover well with boiling water and simmer for about 15–20 minutes, until tender. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, place the olive oil in a large frying pan and set over a medium-low heat. Add the onion, celery and carrot and fry gently for 10 minutes until starting to soften, then add the cabbage and season generously with salt and pepper, and fry for a further 10 minutes. Stir through the chopped meat and pearl barley, crumble in the stock cube and pour in 125ml water, cooking for a further 10 minutes until the liquid has virtually evaporated. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.

To make the wrappers, add the flour, egg, water and salt to a food mixer fitted with a dough hook. Knead for about 5 minutes until you have a smooth, stretchy dough, You can also make this dough by hand by mixing everything together in a bowl, then tipping on to a lightly oiled worktop and kneading until smooth; it will take about 10 minutes by hand. Chop the dough into 16 even-sized pieces and roll each into a ball. Set on a baking tray, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

When you are ready to assemble the chiko rolls, lightly dust the worktop with cornflour. Take a piece of dough and roll it out to a 2mm-thin square about 16 x 16cm. Spoon 3 tablespoons of filling along the bottom edge, leaving a generous 4cm margin at either side and at the base. Lift up the left and right edges and lay them over the filling, keeping them parallel. Then roll up tightly so the filling is covered by a couple of layers of wrapper. Brush the back edge with a little water before sealing up all the way. Rest on a baking tray that’s lightly dusted with a little cornflour and repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Once they are all rolled, heat the oil in a deep fat fryer to 180°C/350°F. Fry the chiko rolls in batches of 3 for about 5 minutes until deep golden brown. Serve immediately, when they will be crispest, or allow them to cool a little, when the pastry will become lovely and chewy. Serve with bowls of ketchup and/or chilli sauce to dunk them in as you eat.

For me, food is all about an experience and creating memories that develop into triggers of nostalgia. A steak and onion pie is exactly this. As a young chap I remember sitting on the damp wooden seats at Waverly Park, waiting for my beloved Essendon Bombers to go into an AFL battle. Dad would be attempting to shield me from the raindrops that would inevitably penetrate my thick bomber jacket, and I would continue to take another careless bite into the pool of volcanic beef and onion stew that was encased in a bowl of sweet buttery pastry, knowing that my tongue would be scorched but my stomach would receive a warm dose of happiness. Here, I’ve jazzed up the humble steak and onion pie to dazzle your diners, but the memory behind it is the most important part.

For the sweet tomato relish, cut a shallow cross in the bottom of each tomato using a small knife. Place the tomatoes in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and leave for 30 seconds, then immediately transfer the tomatoes into a bowl of iced water. Peel the tomatoes and set aside. Cut the cooled tomatoes into quarters, remove and discard the inner membranes and seeds, and chop the flesh into small chunks.

While the tomatoes are cooling, place a medium-sized saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and olive oil and cook for 4–6 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for a further minute. Add the tomato paste or purée and stir for 2 minutes, then add the sugar and vinegar. Add the tomatoes to the saucepan and give the mixture a good stir. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick and gloopy. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool slightly.

Once cooled, blitz the mixture with a stick blender or transfer into a liquidizer and pulse to form a smooth paste. Remove and set aside until ready to serve.

To make the smoky soured onions, put the olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium-high heat and season the oil with salt. Place the onions, cut side down, in an even layer around the frying pan. Cook for 4–6 minutes, or until lightly charred, then reduce the heat to low and add the vinegar and sugar. Cover and cook over a low heat for a further 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave the onions to cool in the liquid. Set aside until ready to serve.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C Fan/Gas Mark 5. Heat the olive oil in a deep flameproof casserole dish over a high heat. Season the beef cheeks with salt and pepper, add them to the pan and cook until golden on both sides, about 2–4 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan and transfer to a plate. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion and cook for 4–5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Increase the heat to high and add the red wine. Cook to reduce for 2 minutes then return the beef to the pan and add the beef stock and rosemary. Bring to the boil, cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 2½–4 hours, or until the cheeks are able to be pulled apart with a fork, but still hold their shape. Once the cheeks are cooked, remove from the liquid and set aside to cool, reserving the cooking liquid.

While the cheeks are cooling, increase the oven heat to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Cut the puff pastry into 4 small discs, around 10cm in diameter, and place them on the baking tray. Place another sheet of baking parchment over the top and weigh it down with another baking tray of a similar size. Bake in the oven for 10–12 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, place the cooking liquid in the casserole dish on to the hob over a high heat. Stir in the butter, season with salt and pepper and strain through a fine sieve. Cut the cooled cheeks into 4 large cubes and dip them into the sauce until well coated.

To assemble, place the beef cheeks on to individual plates. Spoon over a few tablespoons of the remaining sauce. Add small blobs of the tomato relish then place the onions on top. Place a pastry disc over the top of the beef and garnish with diced celery and the celery and nasturtium leaves.