Tony Tan's new culinary bible is a melting pot of Asian flavours

One can see why israeli-Brtish chef Yotam Ottolenghi is a big fan of Tony Tan and endorses his latest cookbook Tony Tan’s Asian Cooking Class, a must for anyone who likes to eat or cook Asian food — that's what drew me to the book, as I too am a great fan.

Growing up on the east coast of Malaysia, Tan’s journey of culinary discovery has many different influences and the recipes he shares range from the many regions in China, south to Vietnam and Thailand, into Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and India with a detour to Korea and Japan. 

The chef’s formative years left him, as he says, “immersed in food”. His Hainanese parents were part of Malaysia’s large Chinese diaspora and his parents ran their own hotel. The family-employed Cantonese chefs cooked food that was worlds apart from the Hainan food his parents knew growing up. Tan was also influenced by their Indian-Tamil and Malay neighbours and, while his mother may not have spoken a word of English, she mastered British colonial food such as mulligatawny soup, Sunday roasts and trifle.

Tan is regarded as something of a national treasure in Australia where he now has his home and has worked as a chef, cookbook author and culinary educator. Condensed in this book are 40 years of his expertise and knowledge with 150 recipes for beginners and more serious cooks alike. Tan's book is a true cooking bible and includes a section on Asian ingredients plus detailed instructions on how to produce his recipes — with success, as I discovered. There are chapters on the right oil for the task; the intricacies of noodles, mastering stir-fries, spice pastes and powders and how to make superior stocks.

His recipes cover renowned classics such as Cantonese fried rice, laksa, chicken biryani, Singapore chilli crab, Thai beef salad and rice pudding cake as well as others such as Rajasthani watermelon curry, Chinese Bolognese, roti John (street food which made its debut in the 1960s), his family’s take on beef brisket and drunken chicken with shaved ice.

With every new cookbook my road test starts at bedtime, paging through the recipes and salivating over the words and pictures. This can go on for a weeks as I vacillate between which recipes I'd like to tackle, while soaking up the text with my mouth watering.

I kicked off with his braised pork belly in soy sauce recipe (in honour of Chinese New Year which ended with The Lantern Festival on February 12.) The meat is simmered in a pan for about 90 minutes after a quick sear and is easy to make while delivering on flavour. It is absolutely delicious and something I'd certainly do again.

Chicken wings: we just can't get enough of them in my household and especially ones that are spicy and crispy like Tan's Thai marinated and braaied chicken wings. They didn't disappoint, and served with sticky rice and a green papaya (papayas are just back in season again, so look for the greenest you can find) was another great success.

I adore dumplings and having never made them from scratch couldn't resist trying out my chosen third recipe, mushroom-filled dumplings served with a luscious curry oil. Interesting combo; this required more effort and family participation, especially when it came to filling the wonton wrappers, which I found in my local Asian store in the freezer section. Once you have the hang of filling wrappers — in this recipe with the delicious mushroom filling — it was as easy as pie to make and the highlight, the curry oil, was a cinch to make and made for a surprisingly delicious combo. A real winner.

Here's the trio of recipes from Tan's cookbook, R750, Murdoch, to try out:

ISAAN-STYLE GRILLED CHICKEN WINGS

Serves 6-8 served with other dishes

Gai yang is a north-eastern Thai street food that is so delicious it’s now found throughout Thailand. Often eaten with green papaya salad and sticky rice, this is the quintessential Issan meal. I often make it with small chicken drumsticks or wings instead of the traditional method which uses a whole chicken — excellent for cocktail parties. The chicken can be marinated overnight, which frees you up to make other dishes and leaves only the grilling at the very end.

Chilli Sauce:

4 long red chillies, finely chopped

2 birdseye chillies, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 coriander roots, finely chopped

80g caster sugar

45ml (2½ tbsp) white vinegar

Marinade:

30ml (2 tbsp) finely chopped ginger

30ml (2 tbsp) finely chopped lemon grass (white part only)

30ml (2 tbsp) finely chopped coriander root

4 garlic cloves, peeled

250ml (1 cup) light soy sauce

30ml (2 tbsp) caster sugar

15ml (1 tbsp) pepper

2kg chicken wings

Sticky rice and green papaya salad to serve

For the chilli sauce, combine all the ingredients and one cup (250ml) water in a saucepan. Place over medium/high heat, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the liquid forms a thickish syrup. Season to taste with salt, stir well and transfer to a small bowl or jar.

For the marinade, add ginger, lemon grass, coriander root and garlic to a food processor or mortar and pound with a pestle until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients.

Add the chicken wings to the marinade, toss to coat, then refrigerate for six hours, or overnight, to marinate. Heat a barbecue or a charcoal grill to low heat. Grill the wings slowly, turning occasionally, for 15 minutes or until charred and cooked through. Serve with the chilli sauce.

Chilli sauce will keep refrigerated for a week. You can also roast the chicken wings in a 180°C oven.

MUSHROOM DUMPLINGS WITH CURRY OIL 

This is a dish I created some years ago when a vegetarian friend dropped by unexpectedly for dinner. In my panic, I chopped up some mushrooms, fried them with aromats, chilled the mix, then folded it into dumplings. Once I pulled them out of the water, I tossed them with some fragrant curry oil I’d made earlier and the rest is history. The mushroom stuffing also works perfectly with a firm cheese such as a good cheddar, or firm bean curd, which you can add to the mix.

Serves 6-8

24 wonton wrappers

Mushroom Filling:

5 dried shiitake mushrooms

30ml (2 tbsp) olive oil

15ml (1 tbsp) unsalted butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 shallots, finely minced

5ml (1 tsp) minced ginger

1 long red chilli, finely chopped

1 sprig thyme, leaves picked, plus extra leaves to serve

500g button mushrooms, chopped

5ml (1 tsp) porcini flavoured olive oil, optional

Salt and white pepper, to taste

Curry Oil:

180ml (¾ cup) neutral oil

30ml (2 tbsp) curry powder

5ml (1 tsp) minced ginger

1. For the filling, soak the mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain and squeeze out excess water, discard the stems, then cut the caps into fine dice. Heat the oil with the butter in a frying pan over medium heat, swirling to melt the butter, then add the garlic and shallots and fry until translucent.

2. Add the ginger and chilli, then add the thyme, button mushrooms and diced shiitake mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the juices released from the mushrooms have evaporated. Stir in the porcini oil powder, season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl to cool.

3. Meanwhile, for the curry oil, add all the ingredients to a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until fragrant. Season to taste with salt. Remove from the heat and leave until needed.

4. To make the dumplings, lay out eight wonton wrappers on a bench. Put about one teaspoon of the mushroom filling in the centre of each wrapper. Brush a little water along the edges of the wrapper, then fold one corner over the filling to the opposite corner to form a triangle, pressing the edges together to seal. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling. Poach the dumplings, in batches, in plenty of boiling salted water until they float to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon or fork and toss gently with the curry oil. Serve hot, topped with extra thyme leaves. Serve dumplings drizzled over with curry oil.