PRAWN TO WIN
Sashikumar Cheliah aka Sashi was in SA recently for the Appetite Fest in Pretoria, where Hilary Biller watched him prepare the now-famous satay prawn dish with crispy prawn heads that got him his place in the MasterChef Australia 2018 competition
SIX THINGS ABOUT SASHI
1 Sashi Cheliah, 40, is a Singapore-born Australian who was a prison officer in South Australia until he walked off with top honours in MasterChef Australia last year.
2 He won $250,000 (R2.5m) and is working on opening a fusion Indian/Southeast Asian restaurant, Gaja by Sashi, in Adelaide.
3 His training at the Special Tactics and Rescue unit of the Singapore Police Force helped him keep his cool throughout the nail-biting finale.
4 Sashi is married to nurse Rabicca Vijayan and they have two young sons.
5 Since winning the competition he has been travelling extensively, cooking at food shows and hosting pop-up restaurants.
6 Part of his prize is a monthly column in Australia’s Delicious Food magazine.
SASHI’S SAMBAL PRAWNS WITH CRISPY PRAWN HEADS SERVES 4 AS A STARTER
Sambal prawns
2 shallots, roughly chopped
2cm piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 long red chillies, roughly chopped
1 birds eye chilli, roughly chopped
3 coriander roots, scrubbed
1 stalk lemongrass, roughly chopped
60ml (4 tbsp) peanut oil
4 lime leaves
20g palm sugar roughly chopped
Juice of ½ lime
8 large prawns, peeled, de-veined, heads reserved
Herb salad
25g mint leaves
25g Thai basil leaves
25g coriander leaves
20g roasted peanuts
20g fried shallots
1 birds eye chilli, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 lime, juiced
30g palm sugar
30ml (2 tbsp) fish sauce
Crispy prawn heads 300ml grapeseed oil Reserved prawn heads 5ml (1 tsp) fine salt
For the sambal prawns, place the shallots, ginger, garlic, chillies, coriander roots and lemongrass, along with 1 tbsp water, into a food processor or spice blender and blend to a smooth paste. Heat a wok over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp of the peanut oil and, when hot, add sambal paste. Cook until fragrant and the oil separates and rises to the top, about 20 minutes. Add a little water if the sambal gets too dry and stir frequently to prevent burning. Once the sambal paste has split, add the lime leaves, palm sugar and lime juice and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate frying pan, add remaining 2 tbsp of peanut oil and place over medium high heat. Add the prawns and fry until just cooked through, about 2 minutes on each side. Add cooked prawns to sambal paste, combine well and remove from the heat. Set aside.
For the herb salad, place herbs, peanuts and shallots into a medium bowl and toss to combine. Set aside.
Place remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, mix well to dissolve the palm sugar and set aside.
For the crispy prawn heads, heat oil in a small saucepan over high heat to 190°C. Fry heads in batches until golden and crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain on kitchen towels. Season to taste with salt and set aside.
To finish the herb salad, spoon 2 – 3 tablespoons of the chilli and garlic dressing over the herbs. Toss well to coat the salad with the dressing.
To serve, place 2 sambal prawns on each plate and top with a small handful of herb salad. Finish with 2 crispy prawn heads.