Original subtitles

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.

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 can 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.

♪ ♪

Today, we're going to dive into the wonderful world

of Asian herbs and vegetables.

There are a lot of treasures here.

So first up, we have a lotus root, which is the root of a lotus flower.

And I usually use this for making soups,

or you can deep-fry them as well. They go really nice and crispy.

We have taro from the potato family,

a white radish, which is also known as the daikon,

great for braising and adding into soup stock.

Lovely.

Then here we have our Korean pear, which is so big,

and it's really nice and juicy inside.

So we have a large papaya, which has a gorgeous orange flesh inside.

And this is the one that we have as a fruit.

So you scoop out the insides and then you slice it and it's gorgeous.

This is dragon fruit. This is the pink one.

This is the yellow one.

But the flesh inside is just, like, white

with little black dots and seeds, and it's sweet. It's gorgeous.

But today we are here to pick up some fresh herbs and vegetables.

Thai basil,

which is very different to sweet Italian basil.

Also some perilla leaf,

which has a slight liquorice flavour

and some edible flowers,

all of which will feature in my Vietnamese summer rice rolls.

And a normal cucumber,

which I will transform in my Asian cucumber salad.

A green papaya for my addictive prawn and papaya salad.

A taste and flavour explosion.

But we can't talk about Asian vegetables

without talking about mushrooms.

I'm using shimeji, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms,

three of my favourites in today's first hearty dish,

crispy tofu with Asian mushrooms.

♪ ♪

Let's start with our Asian mushrooms,

and I've just given them a gentle wash.

You don't want to soak them in water.

So we're gonna start by chopping off the base of the shimeji mushrooms.

They just look so beautiful. They're like bouquets of flowers.

And then some of my fresh shiitake mushrooms.

You just want to take off the stalk and then slice it.

The shiitake mushrooms give

a really nice, rich, bold flavour to your dish.

Now, if you can't get fresh, you can use dried ones.

And all you need to do there is just to rehydrate them for 30 minutes,

and then they are ready to go.

These oyster mushrooms are great.

They have a lovely texture,

and they will soak up the lovely sauce

that we're going to have with this.

Now we're gonna move on to our tofu.

I have a fresh tofu here,

but you can get egg tofu, silken tofu, tofu sheets.

The list could go on.

This firm tofu is actually made fresh in Dublin

by a lovely Vietnamese family.

To prepare the tofu,

season some plain flour with salt and white pepper.

Mix well and then gently coat each piece.

Okay, let's prep our greens.

So we have two different varieties here.

There is the pak choi, which is the one with the white stem

and the darker green leaves.

And we also have the bok choi,

which has the greener stem and the green leaves.

Now, to tell whether they're fresh,

you want them to be still nice and green.

And if you see yellow, it's not a good bok choi.

So I'm gonna start with the bok choi.

And you need to take the ends like that,

and then I'm gonna slice it in half.

Now, usually, I would actually pick out all the leaves,

but today I'm going to leave them in half

because I would like them to decorate the plate,

but of course, we're also going to be eating them.

A little bit of garlic adds so much flavour.

We're ready to stir-fry our pak choi.

The wok is hot.

Add a drizzle of oil.

You want to stir-fry the garlic so that the oil has a nice aroma.

You don't want it to brown.

And now, our bok choi.

Give that a little stir.

Add a drop of water and then lid on.

And you want to keep the lid on for 2-3 minutes

to let it steam-fry.

The bok choi is ready,

and we have still kept the lovely vibrant green colour.

Now for our tofu, we're just gonna quickly pan-fry them.

So into this pan goes a drizzle of oil.

You just want to have this light golden colour on it,

about 2-3 minutes on each side.

So these are just gonna rest here while we make our sauce.

We're gonna get the wok on the go again

to make our beautiful mushroom sauce.

A little bit of oil.

And once it's hot, in they go.

You want to give that a little quick stir,

and then some chopped garlic.

The reason I'm adding in the chopped garlic now

is I don't want the garlic to be crispy or golden.

I just want it for the flavour in with the mushrooms.

I'm just going to leave these to stir-fry,

and I'm gonna make a very quick sauce.

Into a bowl, some corn flour.

So it's roughly a teaspoon of the corn flour

to about two tablespoons of cold water.

You definitely do not want to be using any hot water,

or else you'll end up with a very gloopy sauce.

Flavour this with two tablespoons of oyster sauce,

and then a teaspoon of sugar to balance it off.

And now that is ready to go.

A super quick sauce.

In Chinese, it's called da heen.

And now in this goes to my mushrooms.

You have to turn the heat down and then slowly mix it in.

So this dish is inspired by one of my childhood favourites,

Chinese braised mushrooms in oyster sauce.

Now, that dish takes a few hours to cook.

So this is my quick version.

My mushrooms are done.

Time to plate up.

So I'm going to set my lovely bok choi on the edges.

This dish goes into the middle of the table

and everyone serves themselves.

I'm getting hungry.

And a sprinkling of spring onion

and some white roasted sesame seeds.

It's ready to bring to the table,

but I'm going to have a little quick taste with some Jasmine rice.

I have my Jasmine rice here. It's great.

It has a lovely aroma,

and it's quite easy to pick up with the chopsticks

as it's a shorter, slightly sticky rice.

That is absolutely gorgeous.

The mushrooms bring a big, bold umami flavour to this dish.

Also, it adds a little bit of meatiness as well,

so you don't really miss the meat.

And it's paired with that lovely oyster sauce.

It's really a match made in heaven.

I'm just gonna have another quick taste.

♪ ♪

If you're looking for a perfect starter, side dish, or light lunch,

Vietnamese summer rolls with two delicious dipping sauces

are the answer.

♪ ♪

So the big difference between a summer roll and a spring roll

is that it's not deep fried, but still really super delicious.

Now, I'm gonna get my vermicelli on the go.

These are super thin Vietnamese vermicelli.

It's even thinner than the normal vermicelli,

but the normal ones will work, too.

So I'm just gonna add some hot water.

It really just needs to soften, not really cook for too long.

You want to put enough hot water

so that the rice vermicelli fully submerges into the hot water.

Cover it for 2-3 minutes.

Over here, I have some cucumber and carrot.

Cut them into roughly two-inch pieces.

You want them slightly chunky like this,

but the carrot is crunchier, so chop it into thinner pieces.

And now, our lovely Asian herbs.

So we have here some mint.

I'm just gonna pick off some of the mint leaves.

Now, mint is actually used a lot in Vietnamese cooking.

It gives this lovely aroma.

Next, some Vietnamese perilla leaves.

That just adds a lovely,

fragrant, aromatic taste and smell to your summer roll.

Then some coriander.

I'd put coriander into everything if I could.

The fourth herb I have here is a Thai basil leaf.

They're very different to the sweet Italian basil.

It has a lovely aniseedy and liquoricy flavour.

Pop a few of those onto the plate.

Okay, the prawns.

You can keep the prawns whole,

or I actually like to slice them in half like this.

I'm just using some cooked tiger prawns here.

They give a lovely pinky colour to the summer roll.

Now to our Vietnamese pork roll.

Now, this is probably something you haven't seen before.

It's a cooked sausage meat,

so it's actually really popular in Vietnam.

And what they do is they add this into pho,

which is the Vietnamese soup noodle,

or they add it into bánh mis, which are the Vietnamese baguette.

And it will add a really nice texture to your summer roll.

That's all my fillings.

Time to drain the vermicelli, make some space,

and prep my dipping sauces.

So now we're gonna make our first really light and fresh sauce,

add a little bit of rice vinegar,

then two tablespoons of some sweet chilli sauce,

a few drops of fish sauce,

and then some fresh lime juice.

A half tablespoon.

So this is my really quick version of this sauce.

It's very light and sweet and tangy. Let me just have a quick taste.

The sweet chilli already has a lot of sugar,

and it's really well balanced.

So adding just two tablespoons in here makes all the difference.

So now for our second dipping sauce, it's gonna be a peanut-based one.

A little bit of crunchy peanut butter.

To that, I'm going to add a little bit of hoisin sauce,

some rich umami flavour into the sauce.

Then some rice vinegar.

I like to use white rice vinegar and then some light soy sauce.

This sauce is a complete contrast to the other light one.

This is much deeper with bolder flavours.

A bit of sugar. I'm gonna mix all that in first.

A little bit of warm water to loosen down the dipping sauce.

And then a little bit of crushed peanuts into the sauce

to give it even more peanut flavour.

Our two dipping sauces are ready.

I'm just gonna do a quick clean down,

and then we're ready to assemble our summer rolls.

♪ ♪

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

Chiu Chow with Lee Kum Kea, proud sponsor of Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen.

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

It's time to assemble our summer rolls.

So first off, we need to get a damp tea towel

and set it onto our chopping board.

Then we're going to get a piece of rice paper

that we're gonna rehydrate in some cold water.

So you want to just quickly rehydrate it

and take it out and set it on the damp tea towel.

Then we can add our little fillings.

So first off, some lovely green herbs,

prawns.

And you really just want to work in the middle part here.

Some cucumber, carrots.

Then some edible flowers.

The edible flowers don't really have that much flavour,

but it's really pretty when you have your summer roll all wrapped up

and you can see it through the rice paper.

Finally, add some Vietnamese sausage and rice vermicelli.

Then it's time to wrap.

We're gonna take the left side up

and then the right side.

Fold the bottom up,

and now it's time to roll.

Make it nice and tight.

So that is your completed summer roll.

I'm gonna set it onto a bed of lettuce

so that it doesn't stick to the plate.

Let's roll another one.

You have to work quite fast as these wet rice wrappers are quite sticky.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna go in for a little taste now. Can't wait.

I'm going for the lighter one, the sweet chilli one.

Mmh.

So you can really see the beautiful colours in the summer roll.

The vermicelli, the carrot, and it tastes amazing

with the lovely, aromatic herbs.

I'm gonna try the peanut sauce as well.

Mmh.

It is so rich and deep.

It's a great contrast to the light dipping sauce.

The summer roll, you can make a lot of them ahead of time,

and you can share them with family and friends.

But these are all for me.

♪ ♪

Next up,

I have two super quick salads, both so refreshing.

I'll start with my cucumber salad.

I make this as a side dish all the time.

It's perfect for Asian or barbecue food,

and it is a yummy, healthy snack to bring to work.

♪ ♪

I love this dish.

It's so quick and simple.

First, we need to get our cucumber and smash it.

Take the ends off there.

Got a big rolling pin, and here we go.

There is a difference if you smash your cucumber

because as you can see, when I'm cutting it,

the insides there are all loosened up,

and that's the key to a good cucumber salad.

It soaks up all the gorgeous dressing.

We're gonna pop it into a sieve.

This is another key step to your cucumber salad.

Sprinkle a good pinch of salt all over,

which will draw out the moisture.

Leave this to rest for 15 to 20 minutes,

and you'll see that the cucumber water

will be dripping from the sieve into the bowl you have here.

Next, finely chop some garlic,

a red chilli,

and some coriander.

So this dish is served in many restaurants in China,

and they usually serve with a little bit of jellyfish.

It's not actually soft and jelly-like.

It's actually quite crunchy. Almost there.

We're just going to add in our seasoned rice vinegar.

Some light soy,

sugar,

some roasted sesame seeds,

and a pinch of salt.

Let's see how the cucumber is doing.

Perfect.

We're going to add it into our dressing now

and give it a good mix.

So the salad can be eaten straight away,

or you can leave it in the fridge overnight

and let the cucumbers infuse even more.

And it'll keep for two days, but not this one.

Time to plate up.

♪ ♪

Mmh!

You get that lovely crunch of the cucumber.

It's sweet, it's savoury, it's tangy.

I can eat this every day.

♪ ♪

Anytime I see this dish on a menu, I just can't resist it.

It's a crunchy, complex salad, and depending on your tolerance,

can be lovely and spicy, too. And it's so quick.

Don't look away.

So this is an unripe green papaya.

Now, it can ripe and become nice and juicy and sweet,

but I'm gonna be using it as a vegetable today,

so I definitely don't want it to be too ripe.

So first off, you need to peel the skin.

An unripe papaya has a mild flavour, but a lovely crunch.

Now,

finding the right tool to julienne the papaya

into the correct kind of thin strips is really important

because you don't want them to be too thick

or else your salad is gonna be quite hard to eat.

And I have a tool here all the way from Korea.

It took me a while to find it, but it's literally the perfect tool.

It gives you these lovely fine shreds of papaya.

But these simple ones also work, too.

Next, shred in some carrot.

Traditionally, you would add dried shrimp and long beans here,

but I prefer carrot.

I'm just gonna chop some chillies.

These are really hot,

so definitely do be careful and don't put in too much of it.

And finally, half some cherry tomatoes.

So I'm sure you've noticed my really big pestle and mortar.

Now, these are used mainly in Thailand and Laos,

and they're for making this gorgeous papaya salad.

So first in, two cloves of garlic,

then my chopped chillies.

And you want to give that a good mash.

So now in with my cherry tomatoes.

Give them a little bit of a mush.

Some fish sauce.

Fish sauce is a real Thai pantry staple.

They use it to add the saltiness into a lot of their dishes.

Next up, palm sugar syrup.

Now, palm sugar usually comes in a big block,

and you can actually break in some of the pieces to go into the salad,

but I really like to kind of make it into a syrup

so it's smooth.

Next, some lime juice.

Give that a little stir.

Oh, my tastes are starting to tingle. Let's add in the veg.

You can, of course, use a small pestle and mortar

and just transfer into a large bowl at this stage.

And we're going to mix all the lovely papaya in with the sauce.

Time for the Prawns.

And that's it.

Look at all those lovely pieces of papaya

mixed in with a gorgeous salad dressing.

And a sprinkle of salted or roasted peanuts.

Ready to taste.

Mmh!

Wow.

There's a real kick to this,

but it has a lovely crunchy texture and that gorgeous sauce.

Delicious.

Definitely make more than you think you'll need.

Well, I hope you can give one of these spectacular taste explosions

a go this week.

They will delight and amaze all who are lucky enough to taste them,

whether it's Asian mushrooms and tofu,

the Vietnamese summer rolls,

or Thai Prawn and green papaya salad.

Have fun with your cooking.

See you next time.

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

♪ ♪

Subtitles: RTÉ 2025

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.