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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.

Everyone loves a takeaway every now and then, and I'm no different.

Chicken satay with jasmine rice, please.

But today, I'm going to show you my version of some classic takeaways

to make at home.

There's a stop you in your tracks black bean beef.

It smells amazing.

A Chinese chicken curry where Indian and Chinese spices combine

to create culinary magic.

Friday nights will never be the same.

First up is chicken satay.

This is just for research purposes.

As you saw there, this is one I often order.

I love the mild spicy sweetness and the lovely peanut flavour.

It's a great alternative to a curry, and it's so quick and easy to make.

Let's start by marinating the chicken.

So I know I'm like a broken record when we're talking about marinating,

but it really does make a huge difference.

So into the chicken, I'm using chicken thigh meat

just because I really like chicken thigh meat.

I think it's more tender, more flavoursome.

And into that, I'm just going to add a tablespoon of light soy,

a little bit of my Chinese cooking wine,

and some of this kecap manis.

So kecap manis is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce.

It's like thick, it's caramel-ly,

and it adds great flavour to this satay chicken.

Then some sugar,

a little bit of cornstarch,

some salt,

and some white pepper.

It has a less intense flavour than black pepper,

and I like that you can't see it.

Now I'm just going to give that a really good mix together.

Marinating really just helps to tenderise it,

and it really elevates the dish.

Even 15 minutes will make a difference.

Okay, now we're just going to put the rice on.

Remember to always start with rinsing.

So you can see that the water is just a little bit milky and starchy,

and you really just need to rinse that water out.

I usually end up rinsing it four or five times.

So the water is running clear now, so this can be our last rinse.

Next, add some water.

So it's twice the amount of water to rice.

And of course, this cold water method works in a pot too.

Okay, it's time to prep our veg.

Finely slice two garlic cloves.

Chop the onion in big chunks.

Now for the carrot.

Peel the skin off.

So I like to play with my carrots.

Sometimes they're in flowers, and now they're in diamond shape.

Peppers next.

Again, nice big chunks.

Now, time to heat up the wok.

A drizzle of oil.

First to the heat is the chicken.

You can definitely smell that this marinade is slightly different to

other marinades that I've used, because we've added in that lovely

sweet kecap manis.

Now, kecap manis is really used a lot in Malaysia or Singapore

and Indonesia, and it's just a fantastic sauce.

We're just going to cook this for four to five minutes

and then set it aside.

So you can see how the chicken is really nicely caramelised,

and you can see the lovely colour on it as well.

And that's what the kecap manis adds to it,

a lovely caramel, dark coating.

Okay, so now my chicken is ready.

I'm just going to add in all my veg.

♪♪

Look at those great colours.

I'm going to add in one of my secret ingredients,

a teaspoon of this lovely Malaysian curry powder.

Almost every Malaysian household will have this curry powder,

and it's just this really special blend that

really makes this satay amazing.

I'm adding in the curry powder at this stage

because I really want it to cook out in the oil

and stir-fry it all together in with the vegetables.

You can definitely smell those beautiful curry aromas.

Okay, now some crunchy peanut butter.

Two tablespoons.

Two tablespoons of satay sauce.

So this is like a lovely thick sauce, and it's like adding

a curry paste into a curry,

so I'm adding this satay paste into this satay.

You want the peanut butter and satay sauce to melt fully,

which gives us time to make a very quick chicken stock.

Now, I find chicken powder or chicken cube works really well.

I'm just adding in a teaspoon and a half here

and about 300 ml of hot water.

So now I'm just going to add in a little bit of my chicken stock.

Really just stir this in nice and slowly.

This gorgeous smell and aroma of satay is really reminding me

of the satay street in Singapore.

They have stalls after stalls of satay,

and satay in Asia generally means skewers of meat,

and it's cooked over this charcoal barbecue,

and they dip it into this gorgeous satay sauce,

and it's sweet and peanutty.

This is definitely like an Irish-Chinese take

on that satay chicken.

See how nice it is to leave the veg kind of chunky?

You can really see it through the sauce.

Now, the sauce needs a little bit of thickening,

so I'm just going to quickly mix up some cornstarch and water.

So a teaspoon of the cornstarch

and a little bit of water, about 2 tablespoons.

Now, again, definitely use some cold water, not hot water.

If you use hot water, the sauce will turn really gloopy

and it will thicken very quickly.

So into my sauce, I'm just going to turn the heat down a little bit

and then slowly stir it in.

You can add in as much or as little as you like,

depending on how thick you want your sauce to be.

That's just right for me.

Now we're going to add in the chicken.

OK, let me have a quick taste there.

Mmm.

I think it can do with a little more of the kecap manis.

This is so nice. It's like a sweet, thick soy sauce

that adds a little molasses flavour to your dish.

And then a little bit of sugar.

Give that a little stir.

That kecap manis also, you can see, darkens the sauce a bit as well,

so it gives a lovely colour.

Quick taste.

Mmm. Perfect.

OK, we are ready to plate up.

The beauty of the rice cooker is that it keeps your rice nice and warm,

ready to go when your dish is ready.

And then some of my satay chicken.

My mouth is watering looking at this and can smell this beautiful aroma

from the satay chicken.

So I'm just going to finish it off with a sprinkling of peanuts.

Now we're ready to taste.

Mmm.

It's so nice.

The chicken is so tender, the vegetables are just perfect

and crunchy, and then you have this gorgeous,

peanutty, warming sauce.

No wonder people love this dish so much.

♪♪

Black bean beef has been a takeaway classic since takeaways began,

and it's all down to the beans.

They are bursting with a deep, rich, unique flavour,

a taste that you just can't replicate with anything else.

So we're going to start with our star ingredient,

our black bean flavour bombs.

Now, they are dried and fermented, so all we need to do is rehydrate them.

Now, you don't want too much because they pack so much flavour into them,

so three tablespoons is enough for our black bean.

And then we're just going to add a bit of hot water to it.

So the black beans need to be soaked for five minutes.

Now, we want to prepare our vegetables.

So first off, finely slice your garlic

as it'll be going in with the black beans.

But chop your white onion into medium chunks, and then your red and

green peppers into strips, which you cut in half.

OK, now time to start on our beef.

So I have a fabulous thick cut of Irish sirloin beef here.

I'm just going to take off the fat.

And then we're just going to finely slice it.

The meat is lovely and lean.

You can use any type of beef you like.

You can use ribeye beef or fillet beef.

I remember the first time I tasted this flavour combination of the

black bean, it was actually a dish that my dad had made.

It was black bean steamed spare ribs,

and it's a typical dish that you get at dim sum.

Dim sum is the Chinese equivalent of Spanish tapas.

But this is a lovely version of it.

It's a saucier version of it, so I'm really excited.

So now we're going to marinate the beef.

I'm just going to give my hands a quick wash.

OK, so into the marinating we're going to go

one tablespoon of light soy, a little bit of our sesame oil,

a little drizzle. Then a bit of sugar.

A bit of white pepper.

And now last but not least, a little bit of bicarbonate of soda.

It really seals the beef, and so when you fry it,

it becomes so tender.

Give that a really good mix.

So now you want to leave the beef to infuse for 15 to 20 minutes.

I think I'll make a cup of tea.

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

Chiu Chow it with Lee Kum Kee,

proud sponsor of Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen.

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

So now we're going to start on our sauce.

Now you can get this ready-made, but we're going to make one today.

So into this bowl I'm going to add a little bit of my light soy.

Some dark for some colour.

Teaspoon of sugar.

And some water.

The sauce you can buy already has black beans and garlic in it.

Let's check on our beans, the flavour bombs.

They're nicely softened, I'm just going to strain them.

Right, we're ready for our stir-fry.

So let's heat up the pan.

A drizzle of oil.

In go the fermented beans and our garlic.

Be careful here, you really just want to keep them in for

two minutes or so.

You don't want to over-fry the beans because

your sauce will then become a bit bitter.

You can smell the lovely aroma of the garlic

and the beans together here, actually.

OK, now time to take them out.

I'm just going to add another drizzle of oil into the pan.

And then in goes our beef.

So you want to just lightly sear both sides.

Take about two to three minutes.

Now I'm just going to set the beef aside.

It smells amazing.

Into the hot wok, we're just going to add a little bit more oil.

In with the onions and peppers.

Stir-fry these for three to four minutes until they're soft

but still a bit crunchy.

Now it's time to bring everything together.

I'm going to add in my beef, my black bean and garlic...

..and then my sauce.

That is smelling so good now.

It really is coming all together.

So it is at this stage that you might decide whether to thicken your

sauce or not, and I think I will

with my usual cornflour and cold water mixture.

I'm just going to turn the heat down a little,

add a little and stir it through, let it heat through.

It's good to stir it in and pour it in little by little

and not just the whole thing, because this way you can see

how thick you want your sauce to be.

Turn the heat up again and stir it together.

That's the perfect consistency that I wanted.

OK, we are ready to plate up.

I can't wait to taste this.

I'm just going to garnish with a few chillies.

The big, bold flavours of that gorgeous black bean sauce,

it really does pack a punch, and it's a great east-meets-west dish

with the lovely Irish beef and the Asian flavours.

It's completely delicious.

OK, confession time.

My guilty pleasure is a bag of chips from my local Chinese takeaway

and a tub of curry sauce, so this next recipe is my take on the

classic Chinese takeaway chicken curry

that gave us the curry chip, the two-in-one, the three-in-one,

and last but not least, the four-in-one.

OK, you've guessed it.

We're going to be marinating our chicken first.

So into the chopped chicken, we are adding in a bit of saltiness,

light soy, and then we're going in with a little bit of nuttiness

with our sesame oil,

a little bit of Chinese cooking wine, which is a little bit sweet,

a little bit of sugar,

and then a pinch of white pepper.

I'm sure you are getting really familiar with using all these

Asian pantry staples.

Mix that in really well.

So we're just going to let that infuse

and now we're going to prep our spices.

So into a bowl, I'm going to add a little bit of ginger powder

and then some five-spice.

Now this is a really nice five-spice, Chinese five-spice powder,

and in that there's cinnamon, there's cloves, there's cardamom,

there's star anise and there's fennel,

and then a little bit of turmeric,

and one big teaspoon of the madras curry powder.

You want to give that a good mix around.

Okay, veg time.

First off, we need to chop an onion.

So traditionally in a Chinese chicken curry,

you have your onions and your peas,

but I like to add in a little bit of carrot.

Adds a bit of color to the dish.

There's no special way to cut this carrot, by the way.

It's just normal slices.

I'm just going to slice up my garnish as well.

A few chopped chillies.

You can never be quite sure how hot these little guys will be.

Okay, now it's time to heat up our wok.

And into the pan, we're just going to drizzle a little bit of oil.

Now into the hot wok, we're going to add our carrot and our onions.

So you just really want to stir-fry this

for 2 to 3 minutes to soften them.

I never get tired of this wonderful sound of sizzling.

Next, our chicken.

So here you might need to add in a little bit more oil.

And so as you can see, I'm using that technique of

moving all the vegetables to one side of the wok

and then stir-frying the chicken

where the heat is the highest, which is in the middle of the wok.

So the chicken is now seared, and it's time to get all our spices in.

Give it a good stir.

Look at that color.

Once you have mastered this recipe, Friday night will never be the same.

Nearly there.

Into this, we're going to add a little bit of chicken stock.

Some frozen peas.

And finally, some cornflour and water to thicken the sauce.

This is such a simple little method,

but all the Chinese restaurants use this.

So I'm just going to turn down the heat a little.

And again, you just add it in bit by bit until you see that the sauce

has thickened to the consistency that you want.

So I was once asked what makes a Chinese chicken curry so special,

and I really had to think about it.

What is different to this Chinese chicken curry?

When I thought about it, it was really that there was no coconut milk

like a Thai curry, and there's no chopped tomatoes

like an Indian curry.

So this curry is actually quite unique to a Chinese-Irish takeaway.

Now I'm just going to give it a bit of a taste

to see if I need to add in any salt and sugar.

Doesn't need any more salt, but definitely needs a little sugar.

A couple of teaspoons will do it.

Okay, so the chicken curry is ready to plate up,

but I really want some coriander in it,

so I'm just going to grab some from the fridge.

The stalks actually give the dish a lot of flavour as well.

Perfect.

Okay, it's time to plate up.

You can see how gorgeous and glossy the sauce is.

Ready for a few garnishes.

Sprinkling of coriander and a sprinkling of red chopped chillies.

There we have it, our Chinese chicken curry.

Mmm.

That lovely, sweet curry sauce

made from the lovely Indian curry spice blend

along with the Chinese five-spice, it really is a crowd-pleaser.

But what I really like with the curry is some chips.

So I have a bag here, and I'm going to dunk it into the curry sauce.

Mmm.

It really is the perfect combination.

So there you go,

my take on three takeaway classics that you can make at home.

The power of the tiny but mighty black bean has been revealed.

I've given you my satay sauce secrets,

and you now know how to recreate your favourite takeaway curry.

Have fun cooking, and see you next time.

All the recipes from today's episode can be found at rte.ie/food.

♪♪