← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 500 g large prawns, peeled, tails on, deveined
• 12 Dried chillies, soaked in hot water 15 minutes, drained
• 2 fresh red chillies
• 8 Shallot
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp belacan, toasted
• 6 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Onion, cut into thick rings
• 1 tbsp tamarind pulp, mixed with 80 ml water and strained
• 2 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
• ½ tsp Salt

Method

1. Blend the dried and fresh chillies, shallots, garlic and belacan with 3 tbsp water into a smooth paste.
2. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-low heat and fry the paste for 8–10 min, stirring often, until it turns deep brick red, smells sweet rather than raw and the oil splits out around the edges.
3. Stir in the tamarind water, palm sugar and salt and simmer for 2 min until thick and glossy.
4. Add the onion rings and cook for 1 minute, then add the prawns and toss for 3–4 min until they curl and turn pink all the way through.
5. Taste: the sambal should be spicy, sweet and tangy all at once. Adjust with sugar, salt or tamarind and serve with rice or nasi lemak.

Tips

• Patience with the paste is everything: undercooked sambal tastes harsh and raw. It is ready when the oil separates.
• Make a double batch of the sambal base and freeze half; it turns into sambal sotong (squid) or sambal telur (eggs) in minutes.

Sources

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

Malaysian Chinese Kitchen Nomadette Taste Asian Food