Cookings By Maria

Prawn Sambal

• By admin_maria
• March 30, 2016
• No Comments

Prawn Sambal (Spicy Prawns) is one of the most favorite dish in every Malaysian house. Yes, in my home too. It would be a good idea to make it as an easy recipe to cook with common ingredients at home. This type of sambal goes well with Nasi Lemak rice . With some prawn sambal, rice and slices of cucumber will complete your dinning table.

Ingredients : 

• 500gm Prawn(medium size)

Blend to paste (A) :

• 1 Onion
• 4 Shallots (bawang kecil)
• 3 Cloves garlic
• 2cm Ginger
• 1 Stalk serai

Blend to paste (B) :

• 10pcs of Dry chili (soaked in hot water and blend to paste)

Other Ingredients :

• 1 Teaspoon shirmp paste (belacan) – optional
• 1/2 Teaspoon turmeric powder
• 2 Tomato medium- (blend to paste)
• 1 Stalk curry leave
• 2 Daun pandan leaves
• 1 Tablespoon thick coconut paste (santan)
• Salt to taste
• 1 Teaspoon sugar (optional)

Lets Cook the Prawn Sambal : 

Blend to paste the shallots, ginger, garlic and lemon grass (serai) in food processor with minimum water. It’s optional to slice the onion (if you prefer to taste the bite of onions).

Soak the dry chilies in hot water (cover with lid) for 15-20 minutes. Then blend to paste with 1/4 cup of water. I prefer to remove the seeds from the dry chilies first.

In cooking wok, heat up 3 table spoon of cooking oil. Saute the onion – lemongrass paste, till fragrant (1-2 minutes).  The key for the sambal final output color (reddish) depends on how much time we saute the onion paste in the oil at this stage. The more we continue to saute in the oil, the more thicker the color of sambal will be.

Add in the chili paste and start to cook (stir) further in the wok. It will take about 5 minutes. You will notice the oil separate on the surface of the sambal.

Add in some hot water (1/4 cup) if the sambal getting too dry, or else it will stick to the wok. At this stage, add in, turmeric powder, curry leaves and daun pandan. Stir for about 1-2 minutes. Add in the tomato paste. Let it come to boil. Season it with salt and sugar as required.

The prawn can be added at this stage.It will only take about 5 minutes for the prawn to cook well.  Finally add in 1 table spoon of thick coconut paste into the sambal. (If you feel that the sambal is too thick, then add in some hot water to adjust the thickness of the gravy as per your preference).

Bring to boil and simmer further 2-3 minutes. Taste Check. 

Tips : Nowadays, the price of prawns are very expensive in the markets – 1kg is about RM30.00 or more.  If you have a big family to serve, then add in some potato as slices or mini cubes and cook together in the sambal. This method will increase the volume of your sambal and of course the taste is delicious as well. Kids will love to have the bite of a prawn together with potatoes too.

I have prepared Nasi Lemak rice (santan rice) and served together with slices of cucumber.