About this recipe
Prawns cooked in a thick, dark, oily chilli sambal built on dried chillies, shallots, garlic and toasted belacan, soured with tamarind and rounded with a little sugar. It is a Malay dish and one of the standard accompaniments to nasi lemak, though it is substantial enough to be a main course with rice. The sambal is fried long and hard before the prawns go anywhere near it — the colour, depth and separated oil all come from that frying, not from the prawns. Malaysian sambal belacan is not Indonesian sambal terasi: the fermented shrimp products differ, and so does the balance.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 servings with rice
- Prep
- 25 minutes
- Cook
- 30 minutes
- Total
- 55 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy–Moderate
- Spice
- Hot
Allergens Contains shellfish (prawns and belacan). Halal as written. Gluten-free and dairy-free.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The sambal paste
- 15 dried red chillies, stems removed, soaked in hot water 20 minutes and drained
- 10 shallots, roughly chopped
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 tsp (7 g) belacan, toasted
- 2 fresh red chillies (optional, for more heat)
The dish
- 1 1/2 lb (680 g) large raw prawns, shell on, deveined with the shell split down the back
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) neutral oil
- 1 large onion, sliced into rings
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) tamarind concentrate, or 1/3 cup (80 ml) tamarind water
- 2 tbsp (24 g) gula Melaka, chopped, or 2 tbsp (24 g) sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp (9 g) salt, or to taste
- 4 oz (115 g) petai (stink beans), split (optional, and traditional in many households)
To serve
- Steamed rice
- Cucumber slices
Equipment
- Wok or wide heavy pan, at least 12 in (30 cm)
- Blender or food processor
- Wok spatula
Method
- Blend the drained dried chillies, shallots, garlic, toasted belacan and the fresh chillies if using to a coarse-smooth paste, adding a splash of water if the blender needs help.
- Heat the oil in the wok over medium heat. Add the paste and fry 15-18 minutes, stirring often and scraping the base, until it darkens from bright red to a deep brick red and a clear layer of oil separates and pools at the edges. This is the most important step in the recipe.
- Add the onion rings and cook 4 minutes, until softened but still holding their shape.
- Stir in the tamarind, gula Melaka and salt, and simmer 3 minutes. Taste now, before the prawns go in: the sambal should be hot, salty, sour and faintly sweet, and slightly stronger than you want the finished dish, because the prawns will release water.
- Add the petai if using and cook 2 minutes.
- Raise the heat to medium-high, add the prawns, and toss to coat them thoroughly in the sambal.
- Cook 4-6 minutes, turning the prawns once, until the shells have turned bright orange-red and the flesh is opaque and just firm. Do not cook them longer — they toughen quickly.
- Taste and adjust the salt and sugar, then serve hot with rice and cucumber.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Sambal Udang (Prawn Sambal) sits in the Malaysia chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Malaysia chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.