Pan fried stuffed Chilli and tofu

One of my earliest childhood food memory is of an elderly man, coming around the neighbourhood late in the evening selling these delectable goodies on his push bike. Sitting right behind him was a big old claypot, filled with an assortment of chilli, tofu, tomatoes, bittermelon, eggplant and string beans stuffed with a mixture of pork and fish paste. The spicy chilli and tofu was our favourite.

Chicken Larb

Regarded as the national dish of Laos, Larb is a sour and spicy meat salad often made with duck, chicken or pork and sometimes with the additional offal tossed into the mix. It's deliciously tasty and incredibly easy to prepare. All you need is some type of mince meat, chicken is my favourite and various herbs- what ever you can get your hands on. Toss it all together with a simple dressing of lime juice with fish sauce and in no time you'll have an amazingly delicious salad. 

Green mango salad (Goi Xoai)- A Thai inspired creation

Sitting in the fruit compartment of the fridge are a couple of beautiful green mangoes. There are two varieties,  the sweet and the slightly sour, both are deliciously crunchy in texture. Slice them up and serve with chilli salt, it has to be one of my favourite fruit. Hmmm.....just thinking about it makes me salivate.

I love to use the sour variety for salads, this is a Thai inspired creation with tomatoes, red onions and dried shrimp. The sweet, sour and salty dressing makes this a perfect accompaniment with BBQ meats and fried food.

Fried rice (Com chien)

My wife Sandra, her sister and my MIL all have an hair appointment in the morning. So I had the pleasure of baby sitting my two month old daughter, Chelsea for the next couple or so hours. This was the very first time I have had the responsibility and care of Chelsea by myself. It was a great opportunity to bond one on one-daddy and daughter  time. The task and instructions were fairly simple, make sure she is feed, cleaned and put to bed. With the little precious feed, nappy changed and fast asleep. I took the opportunity between her next feed to make lunch.

Hainanese chicken (Ga Hai Nam) - An iconic Singapore hawker dish.

Succulent and tender chicken, poached in an aromatic stock. Dressed with seasoned soya sauce, ginger, shallots and coriander. An incredible combination of flavours and texture, truly  making this dish one of the most iconic, delicious and pleasurable  thing to eat.

Originated in the Hainan Provence of China, this humble chicken and rice dish quickly gain popularity throughout Asia. Particularly in Singapore, adopting it  as one their nation dishes. I am sure many of you have eaten Hainanese chicken rice by now. Quick, satisfying and relatively cheap, it's a specialty found in many food courts throughout Asia.

Tamarind fish soup (Canh chua ca)- A quintessential Vietnamese sour fish soup

I can't begin to tell you how much I love this sour fish soup- It's so incredibly delicious. Beautifully moist and tender fish cooked on the bone, in a tamarind stock. Along with a selection of the freshest vegetables, including okra- which is my favourite, tomatoes, pineapples and uniquely to this soup 'bac ha' (stems of a taro plant, often referred as elephant stem). The porous structure of the stem is perfect to absorb up all that beautiful tamarind fish broth.

This is commonly serve along with Ca kho (caramelised braised fish). It's a phenomenal combination, the sweet and sour from the fish soup. Coupled with the sweet and salty from the braised fish is so ridiculously good with steaming hot rice. This soup is remarkably simple to whip up, I frequently cook this when I'm pressed for time but still want something that is comforting, satisfying and always a joy to eat.

Grilled cockles with shallot oil (So long nuong mo hanh). A delectable local delight

During my many visits to Vietnam, one of my favourite place to visit is 'Quan oc', literal translation- snail shops. Where they serve up the most lip-smackingly delicious grilled cockles and sea scollops with shallot oil.

Scattered through out Vietnam, these snail joints offer an extraordinary variety of delectable snails, mollucs and crustaceans. While, what may seem like a strange snack food for most foreign visitors. These delectable delicacies are extremely  popular with locals.