Prawn sambal

My mum made this dish often for our dinners. It’s redolent with shrimp paste, lime leaf and lemongrass – it’s a very Peranakan dish. The sauce is stupendous and pairs incredibly well with the hard-boiled eggs served on the side. Ideally, make the base sauce at least an hour before you want to eat it, as it improves dramatically once it has been allowed to cool down.

40 MINUTES + SOAKING +COOLING | SERVES 4 | EASY | GF

ground turmeric 1 tbsp

ground coriander 1½ tsp

ground cumin ¾ tsp

flavourless oil 3 tbsp

ginger 5cm, finely chopped

sambal tumis 285g (recipe below)

tomato ketchup 3 tbsp

coconut milk 200ml

lemongrass 2 stalks, halved and bruised

makrut lime leaves 4

ground white pepper 1/8 tsp raw peeled king prawns 400g

lemon ½

hard-boiled eggs 4

tomatoes 1-2, thinly sliced

cucumber ½, thinly sliced SAMBAL TUMIS dried red chillies 10 or dried chilli flakes 2 tbsp onions 200g, roughly chopped

garlic 2 cloves

red chillies 8, roughly chopped

flavourless oil 200ml

lemongrass 1 stalk, halved and bruised

soft dark brown sugar 1 tbsp

tamarind paste 1 tbsp

shrimp paste 1 tbsp

1 To make the sambal, soak the dried red chillies or chilli flakes in just enough just-boiled water to cover. Leave for 15 minutes then drain. Blitz the onions, garlic, chillies and rehydrated dried chillies to a smooth paste. Heat the oil in a wok or large pan over a medium heat. Stir-fry the onion mixture and lemongrass for 10 minutes, stirring often – make sure your windows are open as the chillies will start to smoke!

2 Add the sugar, tamarind and shrimp paste. Continue stir-frying for 5 minutes until fragrant and the oil separates. Remove the lemongrass and it is ready for use. To make the prawns, mix the ground spices with 2 tbsp of water. In a medium pan, warm the oil over a medium heat then stir-fry the ginger and ground spices for 1 minute. Add 200ml of water, 1 tsp of salt, the sambal tumis, ketchup, coconut milk, lemongrass, lime leaves and white pepper, and bring to the boil over a low-medium heat. Turn off the heat as soon as it comes to the boil and leave for at least 1 hour for the flavours to fully develop.

3 Just before you want to eat, reheat the sauce and, once it starts to steam and bubbles appear at the sides, add the prawns and stir-fry over a medium heat for 3 minutes before tipping out into a large serving bowl. Squeeze over the lemon juice before serving with the egg halves, tomatoes and cucumber slices around the dish.

PER SERVING 611 kcals | fat 50.1G saturates 11.4G | carbs 16.2G | sugars 12.4G fibre 3.3G | protein 22G | salt 2.9G