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seasoning or drizzling, flavours that bind by Lee Kum Kee,

proud sponsor of Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen.

My name is Eva, and I'm very excited to welcome you

into my Asian Kitchen.

In this series, I'll share the secrets behind

cooking authentic, fresh, delicious Asian food at home.

Recipes to breathe a bit of fresh air into your weekly meal plan.

I could eat this every day.

To me, food and family are inseparable.

My mum and dad are from China, but we've lived in Ireland since I

was one month old, so I'm a true blend of East and West.

I grew up running around my parents' supermarket,

so my life has always been about food, food, food.

I'm not a professional chef, but cooking is my passion.

So when I'm not working, I'm at home experimenting

with food or thinking about it.

I collect cookbooks and read them like other people read fiction.

I'm very lucky that I get to travel to Asia a few times a year.

I visit my granny in Hong Kong, who is still cooking at 93,

and I keep up with all the food trends.

So join me as we recreate the bold and vibrant flavours of Asia.

When you think of Asian food, I bet the first thing

you think of is rice.

So that's where we're going to start.

It's a remarkable little grain, a carb that is so versatile,

a fantastic carrier of flavour, and a daily staple for over

half the world's population.

Today, I'll be showing you how to make one of the most

popular desserts from Thailand, mango sticky rice.

I absolutely love this.

Chewy rice, soft, sweet mango, topped with a glorious coconut sauce.

A Japanese speciality, sushi.

But don't panic, there is no raw fish.

It's not complicated.

It's a hand-rolled version, and it's so good.

But first up, a classic Chinese egg and prawn fried rice.

First, we're going to cook our rice.

In almost every Asian household on the planet,

you'll find a rice cooker.

Now, this is my one, and it's a simple machine

that makes perfect rice every single time.

Now, of course, you don't have to have one,

but I'm going to show you how to use it.

So there is a little rice bowl insert, and the first thing you

need to do is rinse the rice.

And you want to make sure that the water runs clear.

If there's still starchiness in the rice, your rice will become

quite gloopy when you cook it.

So you want really nice and fluffy rice.

♪♪

So now we're just going to add some cold water to the rice.

And so how much water do you add?

Now, there's a basic technique.

It's two cups of water to one cup of rice.

But actually, I've been learning since I was a little girl

to be measuring it like this.

So you're going to pour some water into the rice,

and then you measure with your middle finger.

And the rice water line should actually reach the top of your nail.

This technique gives me perfect rice every single time.

Pop it into the rice cooker.

There's a very simple button, and we just turn it on.

If you don't have a rice cooker, we can make it in a pot.

So I have here some rice that's all been rinsed,

and then we're just going to add the water the same method that we

did there just a moment ago.

Twice the amount of water to rice.

And it's really key to use cold water.

Hot water really won't work.

Perfect.

So we're going to pop the lid on.

I can't remember the last time I actually cooked rice in a pot,

so I'm actually quite curious to see how this will turn out.

We are going to let it cook for 10 minutes and then

compare the results.

Oh, okay.

Perfect rice, just as I expected.

So I'm just fluffing up the rice here.

And if you don't have a rice paddle at home, you can just use a spatula.

Now, let's check on the pot.

It's actually exactly the same.

Well, I know then if my rice cooker ever breaks down,

I can definitely cook my rice in a pot.

So for fried rice, many people would use day-old rice,

but today I have fresh rice.

So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to place some of the rice onto

a plate so that the steam evaporates out and that you have a little bit

drier rice for when you stir fry it.

So you want to cool it down for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Time to prep the aromatics.

So I'm just going to finely slice some garlic.

Next up, some ginger.

Just using a teaspoon, and you're just scraping the skin off

the ginger, and it should remove quite easily.

So the key to a good fried rice is actually getting these lovely

aromatics, finely chopped, so they almost disappear

within to the fried rice.

Banana shallots next.

These are like a cross between an onion and a small shallot,

but they have this beautiful purple color, and it has

a really nice flavour.

But if you don't have banana shallot, you can use

half a small onion.

These shallots are so strong.

They're actually making me a bit teary-eyed.

Next up, finally slice some spring onion

and some chili.

And lastly, beat two eggs.

Everything is ready, and we're just going to heat up our wok.

In goes a drizzle of oil.

I'm just going to put in my ginger, garlic, and all my shallots.

So it's really important that you have your wok quite hot because when

the aromatics actually hit the oil, you get this beautiful aroma

and smell, and that is the key to a good fried rice.

Now we're just going to add in our prawns.

And you just want to lightly fry them on both sides until they

turn a little bit pink.

You can see I've just pushed all my aromatics to the side of the wok.

Now, the beauty of the wok is that it has different heat levels.

So the high heat in the middle, and then the side just

has a gentle heat.

That way, your aromatics don't burn.

So I'm going to push the prawns to the side as well.

Add in the beaten egg.

Now, you want to slightly scramble the egg, but then you want to leave

some slightly runny so that it will coat the rice.

So you want to keep this moving and mixing.

This smells great.

Now for the all-important seasoning.

A tablespoon of light soy sauce to add saltiness and umami flavour.

And then a little drizzle of sesame oil,

and that's just to add a little touch of nuttiness

to your fried rice.

A pinch of white pepper.

That makes a great fried rice.

But we don't want great.

We want amazing.

So I've got two more added ingredients, and that is

a tablespoon of oyster sauce.

It is a really lovely thick and umami, delicious flavour sauce.

And the second ingredient I'm going to add is a little sprinkle

of mushroom powder.

All my chefy friends, they would say they add it

into dishes that you wouldn't even know there was mushroom in it.

A sprinkle of our lovely chopped scallion,

a pinch of the red chillies.

Now, cooking fried rice reminds me of my mum.

She always tells me that the fried rice is ready when the rice is

dancing from the bottom of the wok.

Oh, yeah, you see? You see? Yes!

So your fried rice is ready.

Let's plate up.

It smells so good.

Let's see if the taste matches the smell.

I'm going to grab a spoon.

It's so good.

You can taste the lovely aromatics of the gentle ginger and the garlic.

And then you have the buttery prawns, and it's all in this

beautiful umami seasoning.

♪♪

Rice is really quite remarkable.

The simple seeds of a variety of grass plants.

The grains range in color from white through pale yellow, brown,

dark brown, all the way up to black.

There's long grain, short grain, wild, basmati, jasmine,

glutinous, sticky.

But I'm here to pick up sushi rice

because that's where we're going next.

There are so many different types of sushi, but these norimaki

sushi are probably the best known.

They look amazing, don't they?

Like little works of art.

And one day, I'll show you how they're made.

But today, I'm going to keep it simple with temaki sushi,

which is a hand-roll version.

This requires no special equipment, no rolling, no cutting,

and definitely no raw fish.

So now I have my rice cooked here in the rice cooker.

And to this, I'm just going to add in some Japanese rice vinegar.

Also, you can get them in the shops, and they're known as sushi vinegar.

So I'm going to just add it in while the rice is hot so that all

the lovely seasoning actually infuses into the rice.

I'm going to add in a little teaspoon of sugar

and a sprinkling of salt.

And then you just want to lightly mix it.

And we're going to put a few spoonfuls of this sushi

rice onto the baking tray.

The reason why you want to cool down your rice is so that you

don't get soggy sushi.

It was my aunt Beatrice who taught me how to make sushi when I was 11,

and I was really into to baking at that time, but sushi would have

been the first savoury dish that I would have learned to make from her.

Okay, so while this is cooling, I'm just going to prepare my fillings.

There are so many different fillings you can put into sushi,

but I actually really like to use crab sticks.

Now, they're also known as seafood sticks in the supermarket.

And I'm just going to finally slice them here.

Of course, you can use real crab meat, but that will be

definitely more expensive.

So now we're going to mix up a Japanese mayonnaise.

It's tangier, so take some regular mayonnaise.

Add three tablespoons into a bowl,

and then I'm going to add one tablespoon of salad cream,

and you just mix that together.

I'm just going to add a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt.

Mix that well together, and then I'm going to add half of my crab sticks.

So now I'm going to slice my pickled daikon.

So this is a lovely Japanese of a pickled radish.

You can see that it has this beautiful yellow color.

The flavour of this pickle is actually quite subtle,

but it really adds a beautiful color to the sushi and some crunch.

But if you don't have it, you can leave it out.

Slice up some cucumber.

When I get a sushi craving, I like to make this simple sushi

recipe, although I can make more complex ones.

But this is my go-to because it's just so quick and simple.

And some avocado.

Isn't it sometimes quite difficult to tell whether

an avocado is ripe or not?

So let's hope this one is.

It's perfect.

Scoop the avocado out with a spoon in one go.

And now we're just going to slice it.

Like a knife through butter.

We are nearly ready for the very fun part, but we just need to let

the rice cool down a little.

♪♪

Whether it's breakfast, lunch, or a quick snack,

Chiu Chow with Lee Kum Kee,

proud sponsor of Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen.

Lee Kum Kee, proud sponsor of Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen.

(soft chatter)

It's time to assemble our simple sushi.

Now, final ingredient: roasted seaweed.

These are really super-thin sheets of roasted seaweed.

You can see there's a shiny side, and there's actually

a rough side as well.

You want the rough side to face you, and you put the fillings

on the rough side.

I'm going to just fold the nori seaweed in half

and cut it into a rectangle shape.

So I'm setting the shiny side down onto my board,

and we're just going to scoop some of the rice and put a tablespoon or

two on top here on the side.

And then I'm just going to add in some mayonnaise

and then some of my lovely crab mixture.

Next, a few crab sticks,

some pickled daikon,

and some avocado.

So if you are a sushi lover, you might recognise

this as California roll.

Now we're ready to roll.

So you want to turn it to the side and then fold all your beautiful

ingredients into the sushi seaweed.

You want to add a little bit of rice to the corner of your sushi

seaweed so that it sticks.

And there you have it, your temaki sushi roll.

And I'm just going to sprinkle a little bit of

sesame seeds on the top.

Okay, let's roll another one with some different filling.

Another tablespoon of your sushi rice.

You want to flatten it down.

We're going to add a little bit of cream cheese,

some lovely smoked salmon,

and some cucumber.

Now it's ready to roll.

You want to roll it into a lovely cone shape,

and then add a little bit of the sushi rice

to the corner here of your seaweed, and then that just sticks

together beautifully.

For a simple dipping sauce, I like to mix a touch of wasabi

with some light soy sauce.

So usually for my family and friends,

I like to prepare all the ingredients,

set them all in the middle of the table,

and then we just make our own temaki sushi rolls.

But now it's time to taste.

Mmm. It's so good.

Really hits that sushi spot.

You have the lovely sushi rice and the creaminess of the Japanese

mayo with the crab stick, avocado and the crunchy pickle.

You've got to make this. You'll be hooked.

But if the hand roll isn't for you,

you can still enjoy all these gorgeous flavours.

Just take a bowl like this and arrange all the fillings

into sections, and then slot the nori seaweed

pieces around the edge.

All the same great flavours in a sushi bowl.

♪♪

Rice, of course, can also be used for sweet dishes,

and I absolutely love mango sticky rice.

It's a Thai speciality, and I'm so lucky I get to travel

with my work, and when I'm in Thailand,

I never miss out on the chance to buy this from a street stall.

They cut the yellow mangoes fresh in front of you, the juice dripping

from them, and they are the sweetest,

juiciest mangoes you'll ever see.

For mango sticky rice, we're going to need some sticky rice.

It's also known as glutinous rice.

It doesn't actually contain any gluten, but the name refers

to the stickiness of the rice.

You can get black or white varieties.

I have here some white sticky rice, and I've left it soaking overnight,

and now I'm just going to strain it.

It's important that the soaking is done in the fridge.

Soaking adds a lot of more moisture into the grains,

and now it's perfect for steaming.

I have my steamer here, and I've lined it with some

grease-proof paper.

Then I'm just going to add the lovely rice into the steamer,

and we're going to steam it for 30 minutes.

Now, steaming this will give it a lovely, chewy texture.

If you don't have a bamboo steamer, you can use a normal pot

with a steamer insert, and it works just the same and as well.

Okay, mango time.

I'm just going to slice the sides of it.

Okay.

Then I'm going to do a little diamond score.

Getting a really nice sweet mango is really important, but if you can't,

you can get a red mango, or sometimes I actually have tinned

mango at home, and I use that sometimes if

the mango isn't that sweet.

Now we're going to make our coconut sauce.

So into this pan, I'm going to add some coconut milk.

Get a little bit of heat,

and here we're going to add a little bit of sugar.

A pinch of salt.

Perfect.

Now we're going to just stir that around until the sugar dissolves.

Another optional step is to roast your own Mung beans.

Now, this is very traditional.

In Thailand, you'll see this lovely crispy bit on the top

of your mango sticky rice.

So into this pot, I'm just going to add some water,

and then we're going to add our Mung beans.

So you just want to let them simmer for about 4 to 5 minutes

until they're soft.

They're one of the smallest beans.

These ones are halved and their skin removed, so they're extra tiny.

Now, strain the water.

You just want to set the Mung beans onto a plate with some kitchen paper

so that they dry out before you fry them in the pan.

When the oil is hot, in they go.

So these will turn lovely and crispy,

and they're the perfect topping to go onto this mango sticky rice.

The mung beans are done, and I'm just going to pop them onto

some kitchen roll to drain out the oil.

They've turned such a lovely golden color.

Now, all the elements are ready.

I have my coconut sauce, I have my mango,

I have my crispy mung bean,

but I still have about 20 minutes to go on my sticky rice.

So I'm going to get a cup of tea.

♪ (smooth jazz)

(children squeal)

So much for my cuppa.

Our rice is ready.

So I'm going to pop it over here and then I'm going to scoop it

into this bowl, and we're going to add our lovely coconut mixture.

Look how sticky the rice is.

We're going to pour two-thirds of our lovely coconut mixture

onto the rice, and we're going to save some

to pour over at the end.

So you just want to mix that together.

Okay, so we're nearly there.

We're just going to get this little bowl,

and I'm going to use it as a mold.

I'm going to press it down a little bit.

Okay, now I'm going to get my plate, and I'm just going to turn it out.

Perfect.

Place the mango pieces around the edge.

And I'm going to pour some of my coconut sauce on top of the rice.

So some people like to thicken this sauce, but I actually quite like it

thin like this because the sauce actually seeps into the rice.

And last but not least, I'm going to sprinkle

with some crispy Mung beans.

Okay, time to dig in.

I can't wait.

It's just so completely divine.

You have that lovely, chewy texture of the rice,

the gorgeous coconut sauce, the juicy mango,

and the sprinkling of lovely crispy Mung beans.

This will definitely whisk you away to Thailand.

♪♪

I hope today's three dishes mark a new departure on your rice journey.

A flavourful fried rice fake-away that will save a trip or two,

a tasty simple sushi, marking possibly your first steps

down sushi street, and a sticky mango dessert that

just might change the direction of your life entirely.

Have fun with your cooking and see you next time.

All the recipes from today's episode are available at rte.ie/food.

For marinades to stir fries,

grills and glaze, seasoning or drizzling,

flavours that bind by Lee Kum Kee,

proud sponsor of Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen.