Prawn and pear with mustard-miso dressing

Ingredients (serves 3-4):
300g large prawns
1 Chinese pear
1/2 telegraph cucumber (or 2 Japanese cucumbers)

Dressing (mixed together):
1 heaped tbsp miso paste (mix of red and white)
1-2 tsp whole-grain mustard paste
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:
1. Cook prawns in boiling water. Plunge prawns into ice water to stop the cooking. Reserve 1/4 cup poaching liquid for the dressing.
2. Shell prawns. Core and cut Chinese pear into wedges. Toss with some lemon juice to prevent browning. Cut cucumber into chunky bite-sized pieces.
3. Add reserved prawn poaching liquid to the dressing and mix well.
4. Toss prawn, pear and cucumber with the dressing. Serve immediately.

Recipe source: Food and Travel magazine (Feb 2007)

Roti john

Roti John, essentially an omelette sandwich, is a popular Malay breakfast and snack item in Malaysia and Singapore. This is a healthier version.

Serve size: 260g
Calories per serving: 440kcal
Fat: 16g

Ingredients (serves 8):
1 French loaf, sliced thickly
400g minced beef or chicken or sardines
2 eggs, beaten
1 large onion, minced
2 green chillies, seeded and minced
2 tsp meat curry powder
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ginger, minced
salt and sugar to taste
2 fresh green chillies, chopped
sweet chilli sauce & ketchup
cucumber, sliced

Method:
1. Mix beaten egg, minced onion and meat together.
2. Add curry powder, garlic, ginger, salt and sugar. Mix in the chillies.
3. Spread the mixture onto thick slices of French loaf.
4. Heat a pan and coat thinly with oil. Shallow-fry the bread slices until the egg mixture becomes brown and sizzling and the bread is crispy.
5. Serve with cucumber slices, sweet chilli sauce and ketchup.

Tips:
If you can't fund lotus leaves, use a porcelain rice bowl as a mould.

Recipe source: Simply Her magazine (Aug 2006)

Har Cheong Kai (虾酱鸡)

Har Cheong Kai is chicken marinated in shrimp sauce and other aromatic seasonings and fried to a beautiful golden-red hue.

Ingredients (serves 4 to 6):
5 tbsp chopped ginger
3 1/2 tbsp Chinese rose wine (玫瑰露酒)
2 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Fine Shrimp Sauce (幼滑虾酱)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp sugar or honey
A pinch of white pepper
1 chicken, cleaned and chopped into small pieces
150g tapioca flour
Oil for deep-frying
Cut calamansi limes, sliced cucumber and tomato, chilli sauce as garnish

Method:
1. Pound ginger to extract about 2 tablespoons of ginger juice. Stir well with rose wine, shrimp paste, cornstarch, sugar and pepper in a large bowl.
2. Add chicken, mix well. Cover, refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours.
3. Heat oil in a large wok over medium-high heat. Roll chicken pieces in tapioca flour to coat, shaking off the excess to leave a thin, but even, coat.
4. Fry a few pieces of chicken at a time for about 5 to 6 minutes until they turn pale golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
5. Reheat oil until very hot, then fry chicken again for 1 to 2 minutes, till they turn a deep golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve with garnishes.

Tips:
For convenience and good results, mix the meat with the marinade in the morning and fry it for dinner the same night.

Recipe source: Today newspaper