← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 400 g medium prawns, peeled and deveined, tails on
• 150 g Petai (stink beans), shelled, split in half
• 12 Dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, drained
• 6 Bird's eye chilli, or fewer, to taste
• 8 Shallot, peeled
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1½ tsp belacan (shrimp paste), toasted
• 5 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Red onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste, mixed with 80 ml water
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• ½ tsp Salt

Method

1. Blend the dried and fresh chillies, shallots, garlic and belacan with a splash of water into a coarse paste.
2. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-low heat and fry the paste for 10–12 min, stirring, until dark red, fragrant and the oil separates.
3. Add the onion and the petai and stir-fry for 2 min so the beans soak up the sambal.
4. Pour in the tamarind water with the sugar and salt and let it bubble for 1 minute. Add the prawns and stir-fry over high heat for 2–3 min until pink, curled and just cooked through.
5. Taste for salt, sugar and sourness, then serve hot with steamed rice.

Tips

• Petai is sold fresh in pods or shelled and frozen at Asian grocers; it has a strong, garlicky smell that lingers, which fans consider part of the fun.
• Without petai this becomes a plain sambal udang; green beans or long beans give crunch in their place.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Lin's Food Daily Cooking Quest