Lee Kum Kee “Fast, Fresh & Simple” Contemporary Cooking Workshop

When is the last time you cook with your family or friends?

Most of the time, we spent too much time working or studying that we hardly have time to even enjoy a sit down meal with family members, don’t even mention about cooking for them or with them.

Lee Kum Kee conducted a “Fast, Fresh & Simple” Contemporary Cooking Workshop last Saturday at Cookyn Inc. I am honoured to join the rest of the bloggers in this fun cooking class. They have graciously allowed us to bring one guest with us, so I pulled my aunty to join in the fun with me.

Lee Kum Kee has developed the best sauces for different people around the world. Today, many of Lee Kum Kee sauces are market leaders over the world.

Here’s us before we started cooking, all looking good and hungry! We made three simple dishes, each using a different sauce from Lee Kum Kee. Here’s sharing the 3 recipes that we hands on:

300g boiled chicken breast, shredded

200g boiled prawns

150g rice vermicelli, boiled

20 sheets rice paper wrap, approx 8 inches in diameter

200g carrots, shredded

1 mango, sliced thinly

3/4 cup Thai basil

3/4 cup coriander

3/4 cup mint

3/4 cup chunky peanut butter

1 heaped tbsp Hoisin sauce

4 tbsp lime juice

5 tbsp hot water

2 tbsp plum sauce

1 red chilli, minced

1 tbsp fish sauce

1. To make the 1st sauce, mix peanut butter, half the lime juice and Hoisin sauce with a little hot water to thin out to the desired consistency.

2. For the 2nd sauce, mix the plum sauce with the remaining lime juice, fish sauce and red chilli before thinning out with some water to the desired consistency.

3. When ready to assemble and roll, plunge a piece of rice paper in water briefly to soften.

4. Lay the rice wrapper flat, top with the desired amount of ingredients in the centre of the wrapper, leaving about 2 inches space on both sides for folding.

5. Fold in both sides and tightly roll the spring roll.

6. Serve the spring rolls with the 2 sauces.

500g sashi grade tuna

3tbsp olive oil, plus extra for basting

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

2 tbsp first-drawn soy sauce

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp chopped chives

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Salad greens

Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Brush the tuna lightly with some oil, season with salt and pepper and sear the exterior of the tuna on all sides in a pan over high heat for about 20 seconds. You can use a blow torch if you have one. Once searing is complete, remove the tuna and set aside to rest.

2. Cut the tuna crosswise into uniform slices about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick with a sharp knife. Lay the tuna slices nicely on a plate.

3. Mix the sesame seed oil, soy sauce, lemon juice and olive oil until well emulsified.

4. Drizzle the dressing all over and top with the chives and sesame seeds. Garnish with some salad greens before serving.

6 salmon steaks, approx 80-100g each

12 prawns, peels and deveined

1 red capsicum, diced

1 yellow capsicum, diced

10g coriander, minced

Handful dried bean vermicelli (tang hoon), blanched in boiling water till soft

10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Drizzle of soy sauce

1/2 tbsp black bean sauce, mixed with 4 tbsp of water

Some pepper

6 pieces of parchment paper

1. To wrap the parcels, place some vermicelli in the middle of each parchment sheet and top with one piece salmon.

2. Season with some soy sauce and pepper.

3. Pile on the prawns, capsicums, tomatoes, coriander and some spicy black bean sauce mixture before sealing the parchment paper.

4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius for 12 minutes. Serve.

Besides the above 3 dishes, Cookyn Inc has prepared another 3 dishes using Lee Kum Kee sauces. These dishes are very easy to do. We first had Grilled Mini Chicken Burger where the tender boneless chicken leg was marinated with Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce, soy sauce, honey and Hua Tiao wine.

Combining two dishes into a single plate is the Silken Tofu with Crispy Breadcrumbs coated with Shrimp Paste and Blanched Baby Kailan with Fried Garlic and Shrimp Paste.

The breadcrumbs used for the silken tofu was mixed with minced garlic, fermented shrimp paste from Lee Kum Kee and olive oil. The aroma of the shrimp paste was beyond words. The shrimp paste was also used as a condiment for the blanched baby Kailan.

Last but not least, Dried Angel Hair Pasta with XO sauce and Crispy Ikan Bilis is my favourite for the day. I think XO sauce is the greatest creation in Chinese cuisine because whatever you mix with it, it just tastes good. And in this case, an italian pasta was flavourful with the addition of XO sauce and crispy ikan bilis!

Here’s some behind the scene shots of us cooking. We were so glad that Alvin and Jacob were at the same table because these two talented young men are culinary trained. So of course, they helped us with cutting of the tuna. Coincidentally, both of them are in the same shade of blue!

A group shot of all of us at the workshop. It was indeed a fun cooking workshop. Thank you Lee Kum Kee!