Adam Liaw's unconventional curries from Singapore and Japan

There are very few dishes so well-travelled as curry. The spice trade ferried its main ingredients around the world for centuries, and today all that legwork has resulted in a few strange hybrids. Here are two of my favourites.

Hokkaido soup curry

Curry came to Japan via tins of English vindaloo, and today on the mainland it's made like a French-style veloute from a roux and stock. Enterprising chefs from the northern island of Hokkaido, however, have come up with their own version designed to show off the region's excellent vegetables.

2 carrots, peeled and quartered

1 ear of corn, cut into thick rings

1 eggplant, cut into thick wedges lengthways

1 green capsicum, cut into 5cm strips

2 king oyster mushrooms, halved lengthways (or quartered if very thick)

4 tbsp vegetable oil, or olive oil

4 chicken marylands, skin removed

1 tsp flake salt

1 brown onion, grated

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp grated ginger

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp garam marsala

1 cinnamon stick

½ cup tomato passata

1 bay leaf

1.5 litres water or chicken stock

1 tbsp each sake, soy sauce and mirin

½ cup loosely packed basil leaves, roughly torn

2 hard-boiled eggs, to serve

1. Heat your oven to 190C (fan forced). Toss the vegetables in two tablespoons of the oil and arrange on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Scatter with salt and bake the vegetables, uncovered for 25-30 minutes until they are roasted and tender.

2. Season the chicken marylands with salt and brown, two at a time, in a little oil in a large pot and set them aside. Add the onion, garlic and ginger to the pot and fry for about two minutes until softened (add a little more oil if you need to). Add the spices, tomato passata and bay leaf and fry for a further minute until fragrant. Add the water or stock, sake, soy sauce and mirin and bring to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pot and simmer for 30 minutes, until the chicken is tender. Stir through the basil leaves.

3. Place one chicken maryland in each bowl and add the roasted vegetables and half an egg.

4. Pour over the curry soup and serve with thick-sliced, buttered bread or steamed rice.

Serves 4

Hainanese curry rice

Riffing off Japanese-English-influenced curries and Indonesian mixed rice, and infusing them with southern Chinese flavours, Hainanese cooks in Singapore after World War II created one of the most unlikely curries ever to develop. Often served with an array of dishes, such as braised vegetables, prawn fritters, fried eggs and lion's head meatballs, this simplified version with green peas remains true to the spirit of the original.

6 cups cooked jasmine rice, to serve

2 cups cooked green peas, to serve

Crisp pork

500g pork shoulder, thinly sliced in bite-sized pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp shaoxing wine

1 tbsp castor sugar

1 tsp five spice powder

¼ tsp white pepper

1 tbsp cornflour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup crushed cream crackers, or panko breadcrumbs

about 2 litres oil, for deep frying

Curry sauce

3 brown onions

5 large red chillies, deseeded

4 cloves garlic

2cm ginger, peeled and sliced

2 tbsp fish sauce or 2 tsp shrimp paste

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp good-quality curry powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup chicken stock or water

400ml coconut cream

1. To make the curry sauce, blend together the onions, chillies, garlic, ginger and fish sauce or shrimp paste to a smooth paste. Heat the oil in a small saucepan and fry the paste, stirring occasionally for about eight minutes until fragrant and the oil separates from the solids. Add the curry powder and salt and fry for a further minute, then add the stock or water and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the coconut cream and simmer for a further five minutes.

2. For the pork, mix the pork slices with the garlic, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, castor sugar, five spice powder, pepper and cornflour. Marinate for at least 10 minutes, but preferably overnight. Dip the pork pieces in egg and then coat in the crushed crackers or breadcrumbs. Deep-fry in batches in 180C oil for about four minutes until well browned and cooked through.

3. To serve, spoon plenty of the curry sauce over mounded rice and serve with the green peas and pork.

Serves 4