The best bowl in Singapore: Pork rib soup

Serves 4 · 1 1/4 hr · Medium

Make the spice paste from scratch if you can (it's what makes it); a good jar of laksa paste is the shortcut. The bowl is a mix of noodles, so use both thick egg noodles and thin rice vermicelli.

You need

• For the paste: 8 dried red chiles (soaked in hot water 20 minutes), 6 shallots, 4 cloves garlic, 2 stalks lemongrass (white part), 1-inch piece galangal or ginger, 1-inch piece fresh turmeric (or 1 tsp ground), 6 candlenuts or macadamias, 1 tsp shrimp paste (belacan), toasted, 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 lb (450 g) boneless chicken thighs
• 4 cups (960 ml) chicken stock
• 2 cans (13.5 oz / 400 ml each) coconut milk
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce, plus salt to taste
• 12 large prawns, peeled
• 12 tofu puffs, halved
• 1 small Asian eggplant, in wedges, fried or steamed
• 8 oz (225 g) fresh thick yellow egg noodles
• 4 oz (115 g) rice vermicelli
• To serve: bean sprouts, Vietnamese mint (laksa leaf) or regular mint, sliced cucumber, halved boiled eggs, lime, sambal

How to make it

1. Blend all the paste ingredients with a splash of the chile soaking water until smooth, 2 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and fry the paste, stirring often, 8-10 minutes, until it darkens, smells toasty and the oil separates. Don't rush this step.
3. Add the stock and chicken thighs and simmer 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Lift out the chicken and slice it.
4. Pour in the coconut milk, add the sugar and fish sauce and bring to a gentle simmer, 5 minutes. Taste for salt.
5. Add the tofu puffs and prawns and cook 3 minutes until the prawns turn pink.
6. Blanch the egg noodles in boiling water 1 minute and soak the vermicelli in boiling water 3 minutes; drain both.
7. Divide the noodles, chicken and eggplant among 4 deep bowls, ladle the laksa with prawns and tofu over, and top with bean sprouts, mint, cucumber and egg. Serve with lime and sambal.

Pans and tools

• Blender
• large pot
• saucepan for the noodles

Chef's tips

• Tofu puffs soak up the broth: they're the best bite.
• The paste keeps a week in the fridge or 3 months frozen; make double.
• Don't boil hard once the coconut milk is in, or it can split.

Contains: shellfish, fish, gluten, egg, soy, tree nuts.

Our recipe, the same one we give for curry laksa in Melbourne. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 4 · 45 min · Easy

Freshness is everything: the broth is light and the fish is cooked for seconds.

You need

• 2 lb (900 g) fish bones and heads (snapper, or any white fish)
• 1 lb (450 g) firm white fish fillet (snapper, grouper), in thick slices
• 2 quarts (1.9 l) water
• 2 in (5 cm) ginger, sliced
• 2 tbsp dried anchovies or 1 tbsp dried shrimp
• 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp sugar, salt and white pepper
• 2 tomatoes, in wedges
• 4 handfuls Chinese greens (bok choy, lettuce)
• 4 slices silken tofu (optional)
• Fried shallots, sliced red chile with soy, rice

How to make it

1. Fry the fish bones with the ginger in a little oil 4 minutes, add the water and anchovies, and simmer 30 minutes. Strain.
2. Season the stock with fish sauce, sugar, salt and white pepper.
3. Bring to a simmer and add the tomatoes and tofu.
4. Add the fish slices and greens and cook 2 minutes, until the fish just turns opaque.
5. Serve with fried shallots, chile in soy, and rice.

Chef's tips

• A splash of evaporated milk makes the creamy version some stalls sell.

Contains: fish, soy..

Chef Amazing's own recipe, written for a home kitchen. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 4 · 2 hr · Medium

The flavor comes from the prawn shells and heads, fried hard before the water goes in.

You need

• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) large whole prawns
• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) pork ribs, cut short
• 3 tbsp oil
• 6 garlic cloves, 4 shallots, 1 tsp white peppercorns
• 1 tbsp rock sugar, 2 tbsp light soy, 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 lb (450 g) yellow noodles and rice vermicelli, mixed
• 4 handfuls kangkong or bean sprouts
• Fried shallots, sliced chile in soy, chili powder

How to make it

1. Peel the prawns, keeping heads and shells. Blanch the ribs 5 minutes and rinse.
2. Fry the heads and shells in the oil with the garlic, shallots and pepper, pressing hard, 8 minutes, until deep red.
3. Add 3 quarts (2.8 l) water and the ribs and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Strain, keeping the ribs.
4. Season with rock sugar, soy and fish sauce. Poach the prawns in the broth 2 minutes and halve them.
5. Blanch the noodles and greens, top with ribs and prawns, pour over the broth and finish with fried shallots and chili.

Chef's tips

• Mash the heads against the pot while they fry to release their juices.

Contains: shellfish, wheat, eggs (yellow noodles), soy, fish..

Chef Amazing's own recipe, written for a home kitchen. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 4 · 3 hr · Medium

Singapore's Teochew beef noodles have a clear, gingery broth with a little herbal depth. Beef balls come frozen in Asian markets.

You need

• 2 lb (900 g) beef bones and 1 lb (450 g) beef shank
• 4 quarts (3.8 l) water
• 2 in (5 cm) ginger, 2 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp white peppercorns, 1 piece dried tangerine peel
• 2 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp light soy, 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 lb (225 g) beef sirloin, sliced paper-thin
• 12 beef balls
• 1 lb (450 g) fresh flat rice noodles (kway teow)
• Bean sprouts, Chinese celery, fried garlic, chile in vinegar

How to make it

1. Blanch the bones and shank, rinse, and simmer in the water with the ginger and spices 2 1/2 hours. Slice the shank; strain the broth.
2. Season with fish sauce, soy and sugar.
3. Simmer the beef balls in the broth 10 minutes.
4. Blanch the noodles and bean sprouts and put into bowls with the shank and beef balls; lay the raw sirloin on top.
5. Pour over boiling broth to cook the sirloin; top with celery, fried garlic and chile vinegar.

Chef's tips

• Freeze the sirloin 30 minutes to slice it thin.

Contains: fish, soy, wheat (soy sauce)..

Chef Amazing's own recipe, written for a home kitchen. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.