Fusion Recipes

My kids are huge fans of BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches, so I experimented and came up with an Asian version.  I use homemade pickled vegetables in these sandwiches, reminiscent of Vietnamese Sandwiches and Sriracha Mayo to give it a little kick.  Feel free to omit the Sriracha.  This recipe can be made in a slow cooker or pressure cooker, so no need to babysit a pot on the stove. 

This is a variation of the Hot and Spicy Lamb stir-fried with Sichuan Chilli Oil that I so love in my favorite Sichuan restaurant. Baking the lamb chops whole cuts down on preparation time to make it perfect for a weeknight meal.

A peanut filled snack with a crispy exterior crust. These were readily available around Chinese New Year. Traditionally deep fried, this version is oven-baked to reduce preparation time.  Peanut puff molds make the job easy.

Quick Easy Weeknight Meal.

This is a quick way to create a tasty baked variation of teriyaki pork. A great main dish for a busy weeknight or fast paced weekend. Requires some advance preparation for marinading for the best flavor.

Beef Bone Broth is my favorite soup base.  It has so many layers of complex flavors, and with a pressure cooker, a breeze to make as well!

One of my favorite Malaysian dishes is Beef Rendang. However, to make an authentic Rendang requires toasted coconut, blending and slowly frying the blended ingredients to a just-so perfection. Though I hope to make an authentic rendang sometime in the near future, my current schedule just doesn't allow for it right now. So I have improvised. Using lndian spice powders (garam masala) and unblended ingredients, I have tried to mimic the amazing fragrant braised goodness of authentic Rendang. Don't be put off by the number of ingredients - once you have them on hand, it's just a matter of placing it in the pot and simmering.  Feel free to substitute Beef with Lamb or Mutton or Pork.  And yes, like the original Rendang, it tastes better the next day.

I was inspired to create this recipe from a Burmese Pork recipe we found on memalee.com. I worked to make some minor changes to the original recipe so that it fit with our tastes and cooking style. I keep all vinegar used in the dish, I added potatoes, and of course, I added chili peppers. Unlike the curries that I grew up with, this curry is not overpoweringly spicy. It is a wonderful compromise between our spicy tastes, and our kids' mild preferences. This dish tastes much like a flavorful stew. Additionally, it goes very well with steamed rice. I frequently prepare this dish on weekends and then freeze it for use in meals on busy weekdays.

Though not the most beautiful of dishes, this dish is delicious. The eggplant in this dish is oven baked before being stir fried. Pre-baking the eggplant reduces the amount of liquid in the dish and keeps the eggplant moist and tender, a tip I received from a Cambodian friend.

This is a super simple recipe , perfect for a weeknight meal or a quick meal to suit the busy holiday season.

Simple and delicious. Great for a weeknight meal!

One of my favorite things about cooking is bringing home a taste of our vacation.  I enjoyed Butter Mochi while on vacation in Hawaii this last summer. When I returned home, I wanted to make some myself.  After a few tries, I decided to give it a crusty top, much like a brownie.  My version adds a couple of tablespoons of sugar as a topping. I also added cinnamon to the topping, but feel free to omit the cinnamon if you're not a cinnamon-lover. 

A classic one pot meal.

This curry is one my mom, who is Malaysian Eurasian (of Portuguese descent) taught me to make as a basic chicken curry. My mom tends to cook with tamarind, but I tend to prefer lime or lemon juice to add the tangy flavor to the curry.

Curry Chicken Pot Pie is a twist on the traditional Pot Pie.  It can be made with any type of meat or vegetarian curry, as long as it is not too runny.  It is easiest when there are leftovers to use as a filling.  Feel free to use any of your favorite curries - Indian Curry, Thai Curry or Malaysian Curry just to name a couple.

This tangy and spicy authentic Eurasian curry comes directly from the Malaysian village of Portuguese Settlement in Malacca. It is bursting with the flavors of lemon grass, coriander, ginger, onions, garlic and vinegar. The perfectly tender potatoes completes the flavor infusion. This dish is usually served during Christmas and special occasions. It can be made with chicken or pork.

This recipe adds curry to mash potatoes. It makes a great side to any meat dish. Go ahead, give it a try!

Curry Shepherd's Pie was a product of making my mash-potato-loving son enjoy his curried meal.  The curry and spice flavors works well beside the creamy mash potato.  It is one of the few dishes that all my picky family members can agree on and enjoy.

One of the things I love about  vacations is the different foods and different meal ideas we encounter. Loco Moco is one such idea. Simple and hearty, it is one that serves a very useful purpose for us. We hike often and are usually in the middle of mountains or trees, where there is no food truck or lunch cafe close by. Lucky for us, we just need to stop under the shade of a tree, and pull out Loco Moco to satisfy our hunger.

Like the Japanese style Cheesecake, this cheesecake uses a meringue to create volume without the density and richness of a New York Cheesecake.  Like the New York Cheesecake, I have added sour cream (instead of milk or cream), to give it a little more richness and added a little more sugar to sweeten it, compared to a typical Japanese style Cheesecake.  I tend to like very moist cakes, so feel free to bake your cake 5-10 minutes longer if you prefer yours not-so-moist. I have tried to simplify this recipe as much as possible, hopefully without compromising taste, so you will find this recipe to have less ingredients needed than most other Japanese Cheesecake recipes, and hopefully a little easier to make, utilizing everything that a 21st century kitchen offers, while at the same time minimizing steps whenever possible.

This side is an abbreviated version of the typical vinegar chilli that I used to have in my childhood. It's quick, a little sour and spicy, perfect to spice any noodle dish up.

My Japanese-American friend, Alison introduced this tea to me as a non-caffeinated option for a warm drink.  Both warming and soothing, it's been a popular drink for my family, especially on cold winter nights. Thanks Alison!

My kids love MaPo Tofu.  They love the saucy tofu dish over rice.  I have always enjoyed Gochujang.  So I decided to put the two together.  Gochujang MaPo Tofu has a sweeter flavor than original MaPo Tofu. It  tastes great over warm steam rice.  I've added fish sauce as part of this dish to add more dimension to the sauce.  I haven't tried it myself, but I think it will work well as part of a lettuce wrap.

Asian inspired and made with fresh tomatoes, this sauce tastes great served over any pasta. Light and hearty all at the same time, this dish was a comforting go-to meal in college when I had some time to spare.

This recipe is similar to Sichuan Chilli Oil, but without the mouth numbing Sichuan pepper. This side works great to spice up any meal, either during the cooking process or afterwards at the table.

The chicken version of this recipe was given to me by my mom, and it's one of my favorite and easy recipes. It tastes even richer with lamb. Still great for a weeknight meal.

A fairly quick and hearty meal.

This is a great recipe to make if you have leftovers of Hot Mango Chutney Chicken, or if you have leftover store bought roast chicken.

This pizza is a quick meal if starting out with store bought rotisserie chicken and store bought tikka masala sauce.  Feel free to use leftover Tikka Masala dishes, either home made or take out. Great for a weeknight meal.

A tangy and spicy curry made with readily available curry powder, with potatoes to thicken the curry and absorb all the flavors.

This recipe was given to me by my mom, and it's one of my favorite and easy recipes. Rich and tasty, and quick to prepare. Perfect for a weeknight meal.

This dish uses the chicken marinade of Tikka Masala Chicken.  Not wanting to waste the flavorful marinade, I added it to steamed rice and Yogurt Lime Rice was born.  Works well as a side to any curried dish.

This recipe combines shrimps with very hot Scotch Bonnet peppers. Traditionally this dish is eaten as an appetizer, but here I have added a few vegetables to make it part of a meal.

I have been cooking with kale for a while now, and this is my favorite way of preparing it - cut thinly and stir fried with leeks.  Leeks impart a sweetness to the kale and complements it perfectly.  This dish works well as a vegetable side to any dish. 

This is a a great idea for leftover Korean BBQ Pork. Using a store bought barbecue sauce and baking the meat makes this dish quick on preparation.

Jap Chae is one of my favorite dishes. I love the sweetness of the noodles. I'm used to having these vegetarian, but I added some meat to this recipe. And as I do in most of my dishes, I spiced it up, but feel free to omit the spice. Hope you enjoy it.

My favorite Korean dish - spicy pork served over warm steam rice with lettuce on the side to cool down the palate. My friend from Korea taught me to add the sliced carrots to add some sweetness to the dish.  Gochujang adds a complexity of flavors evident in most Korean cooking.

This is one my favorite banchans in a Korean restaurant. Cooling and fiery, with a bit of sweet to the round out the flavors.

This recipe uses Gochujang in the vinaigrette to add a layer of flavor that is uniquely Korean. Spicy, sweet, salty and sour.

A favorite amongst locals in Malaysia - A spicy, tangy noodle dish complemented by the sweet taste of shrimp and cabbage and cooled with a cucumber topping. Perfect for lunch or dinner.

A rich curry gravy bursting with the flavors of coconut and lemon grass served over noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, eggs and shredded chicken. A favorite breakfast in Malaysia. It is a hearty meal and we have it for lunch or dinner.

A favorite in my house. This noodle dish is sweet, tangy, spicy and saucy all at once!

Rich flavorful rice topped with spicy shrimp.

Sambal is a thick red spicy paste made of onion, garlic, ginger and red chillies. It makes a good gravy over almost anything - shrimp, fish, eggs, chicken. It is best served over rice. A typical Malaysian fare.

This cake is something that my Eurasian family makes for special occasions. It makes an appearance during weddings and Christmas. Sugee cake, as I remember it, is a very dense pound cake. In this recipe, I've lighten it up with some baking powder to make a less dense form of the cake I remember so fondly. It is best enjoyed warm.

An old hawker favorite - spicy flat rice noodles sauteed to perfection with shrimps, garlic, eggs and soy sauce served with slightly stir-fried, still crispy beansprouts. A favorite street food amongst the locals in Malaysia.

Thick, spicy, zesty onion and garlic based sauce over fried fish.

This is a perfect dish to make when you have day old rice and a little bit of vegetables left over in the fridge. The proportions I use tend to have less rice than traditional fried rice dishes but I feel it just makes the dish more tasty!

A hawker favorite - thin egg noodles bathed in spicy seasoning sauce, served with blanched green vegetables, vinegar chilli and ground meat or chinese roasted pork (char sieu) with a side of wonton soup. A favorite local street food amongst locals in Malaysia.

I got this recipe from one of my dear friends who brings this tea in a thermos to our weekly tea parties.  Rich and warm, this tea was just the comfort drink we needed. Thanks Powen!

This is a variation of the Malaysian Dry Wonton Noodles. It uses Gochujang as a main ingredient of the noodle. The egg replaces the meat as a quick alternate for protein.

I've always liked Pad Thai. It's sweet, it's sour and spicy all at the same time. I use lime juice instead of tamarind in my version, since those are more readily available to me. The lime juice imparts a freshness to the dish, in my opinion.

A Chinese and Italian fusion to create a quick and nutritious blend of pasta, meat and vegetables perfect for a weeknight meal.

With the warm weather upon us, these come in handy to keep cool. I use it as an after-school snack, but could also be used as a dessert. I omitted the ginger usually used in a lassi, since that is my family's preference. I also use frozen pineapple chunks, so I can omit the ice, which helps concentrate the flavor. Enjoy!

Quick and delicious fish tacos, with an Asian twist, great for a weeknight meal.

Sambal is a thick red spicy paste made of onion, garlic, ginger and red chillies. It makes a good gravy over almost anything - shrimp, fish, eggs, chicken. It is best served over rice. This is a quick version of a typical Malaysian dish.

In Malaysia, there is a wonderful condiment called "Sambal".  It usually involves a paste of onions, garlic, chilies and if you were lucky, dried shrimp.  While I love the flavors of onions and garlic, making pastes (rempah) is too time-consuming right now for my schedule.  So upon learning how to make Sichuan Chili Oil, I thought that it would taste great with some dried shrimp in it.  So this my quick and dirty version of my beloved Sambal.  Feel free to reduce the amount of oil to 3/4 the amount that it is called for, but I find the extra oil useful when frying something starchy (such as noodles or rice) when more oil is needed.  The flavored oil adds color and flavor to any dish that it is used in.

Chicken Rice is a local hawker favorite. Buttery, slightly sweetened rice simmered to perfection with chicken broth, topped with moist, tender roasted chicken, served with a tangy chilli garlic sauce and cooled with a fresh cucumber side. Makes a meal any time of the day.

This recipe combines Sichuan hot chili oil with shrimp fried rice. A great way to use day old rice for a quick lunch. Feel free to substitute shrimp for any meat.

A friend of mine, who is originally from the province of Sichuan, told me how to make this side. Thanks, Didi! I couldn't believe how easy it was! Being a lover of all foods spicy, this side is something I use often to "spice" up my meal. The addition of the ginger enhances the flavor of the chili oil.

These noodles are great on cool day. My family tend to like tangy foods, so I increased the amount of vinegar used, which I find helps lighten the rich flavor of the sesame paste. I use cucumbers as a garnish in this recipe, which, in my opinion, also helps lighten the flavor and cools down the dish. Great for a hot summer day!

Sichuan Style Beef Noodle Soup is one of my favorite noodle soup dishes - and if you know me, you know I like noodle soup.  It's a spicy comfort food that is perfect on a cold day.  If you have the time to make homemade beef bone broth, your mouth will thank you.

A little bit of spice in addition to the sweet of my regular peanut puffs. Baked not fried. Peanut puff molds make the job easy.

This is one of my favorite meals, spicy combined with a little sweetness from the shrimp, onions, leeks and cabbage. Makes a perfect breakfast, lunch or dinner.

My family loved this recipe when I made it for them. A little spicy, a little sweet and a little sour. Marinade and bake, perfect for a weeknight meal.

This is a spicy version of a Hong Kong Style Pork with Tomato Sauce,  I simmer the pork with the sauces to cut out a step, and also increase the flavor infusion of the pork in the tomato sauce.  I use a couple of non-traditional ingredients in this recipe, star anise and fish sauce, both of which I believe has accentuated the flavor of the dish.  I hope you enjoy the changes.

This recipe is a meat and potato recipe with a dark gravy; usually served over warm steamed rice. What makes this dish diffferent from the other ones I've posted, is the use of taucheo (preserved soybean paste commonly found in Malaysian dishes). Though it looks similar to other dark meat and potato dishes, the soybean paste gives it an additional dimension of flavor. Traditionally made without the chilli peppers, I find that the chilli peppers adds another layer of flavor, but certainly feel free to omit it, if preferred. It is also traditionally made with onion and garlic blended into a paste for use in the dish, but in the interest of time, I have omitted this step. I have found that using chopped onion and garlic doesn't take anything away from the flavors of this dish. This recipe can also be made with chicken.

This recipe is from my brother who, like me, enjoys, cooking and eating. A crispy, Sriracha spicy, moist and tender fried chicken. Can be served with more spicy dipping sauce to accentuate the flavors or a cool dipping sauce to cool down the palate.

This is a perfect dish to make when you have day old rice and a little bit of vegetables left over in the fridge. The proportions I use tend to have less rice than traditional fried rice dishes but I feel it just makes the dish more tasty!  Sriracha sauce adds the spicy and subtle sweetness to the dish.

This Italian Asian fusion recipe combines pasta and sausage with Chinese ingredients such as soy and Sriracha sauces. It was a hit with my family, and ready in a pinch!

Quick and easy, great with or without the chlli oil. Great for a picnic!

My kids love the peanuts we get as appetizer at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  This is my attempt at the sweet and salty peanuts they so generously serve us.

Sweet, tangy and savory all at once. One of my favorite meals that my aunt makes at her house. This is her signature dish!

A crispy afternoon snack made with sweet potatoes.

Sweet potato is one of my favorite ingredients to work with in the kitchen.  Sweet potato has a wonderful natural sweetness that it requires less added sugar compared to its counterparts.  The honey glaze adds a subtle sweetness to the tops of the scones.  Feel free to omit the honey, but do use a melted butter wash over top of the scones to prevent it from drying in the oven.  One medium sweet potato usually produces about 1 cup of mashed sweet potato.  I usually boil the sweet potato whole (with skin on, after being washed) until very tender to the fork.  Then I drain the water, and remove the potato skin after soaking in cold water.  The next step is to mash.  I usually purchase several sweet potatoes at a time, boil, mash and separate into 1 cup mashed sweet potato portions to be frozen and used conveniently in the future.

For this recipe, I use a modification to the rough puff pastry technique to create more layers after each roll, therefor reducing work and time that the butter is at room temperature.  A kitchen scraper also made the entire rolling and folding process a lot more efficient.

Taiwanese food has always had a hold on me.  I love the strong flavors.  Being keen on strong flavors, I've increased the amount of spices used. Also being a fan of noodles, I added noodles to the Braised Pork dish to make Taiwanese Braised Pork Noodle Soup.  It is a great dish to warm up with on a cool winter's day.

Inspired by the Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken recipe, this version is also bursting with flavor, with the addition of potatoes to thicken the gravy, and Chinese mushroom to make it even more hearty.

With warm weather coming on, what better way to cool down than with a cold icy drink?  I have always loved Thai Tea with a teaspoon or two of condensed milk to make for sweet treat.  Here I have added ice and ice-cream (instead of condensed milk) to make it a luxurious sweet drink perfect for a warm day.  UPDATE:  I added an extra 1/2 cup ice cubes to the recipe below to make for a more "blended" drink.

I enjoyed this at a Thai restaurant once and couldn't get it out of my head.  I have spiced mine up with lemon leaves and chili flakes but feel free to omit these if you prefer or if you don't have it on hand.  Sweet, spicy and lemony, these corn cakes are a nice afternoon snack, or a unique appetizer.

Tikka Masala has such a creamy, rich and spicy flavor, it is a wonderful dish for so many different fusion dishes.  A fusion recipe itself, it was developed in India as the British colonized it.  As part of a lasagna, it contributes a wonderful full-flavor of spice, but yet rich and creamy with a tomato base, like the original lasagna.  To make it an easier recipe, feel free to used store or restaurant-bought Tikka Masala.  If using store bought, just follow the directions on what to add to make a tikka masala sauce for your lasagna. My recipe below uses garam masala to simplify the spices, which you can purchase at the store, or make at home using this wonderful garam masala Allrecipe by KitchenBarbarian.

Creamy salad dressing with a touch of spiciness to wake up any salad!

This is a hearty soup that can be cooked in a pressure cooker or stove top. Fresh spices (i.e. ginger, onion, garlic, hot chili pepper, lemon grass) can be replaced with dry powdered versions if more convenient. It very much reminds me of an American Style beef stew except with a stronger spice flavor, thanks to the cinnamon, star anise and lemon grass. Great meal to warm a cool night.

This recipe combines Korean Style Jap Chae and Spicy Cucumber Salad in a Vietnamese style Fresh Spring Roll. It's a quick meal idea if using leftovers of Jap Chae and Spicy Cucumber Salad. It makes a wonderful light meal or snack. It can be prepared ahead of time for picnic.

A savory meat dumpling that can be served in a soup, as a crispy appetizer or as a side to noodles.