I cooked: Prawn Sambal

I love my mummy's prawn sambal - juicy prawns, flavoursome, with the right amount of spiciness! So good that I could eat extra rice with the lovely onion sambal. And I was very happy when she shared her recipe with me. And now, I'm going to share it with all of you! Good things are meant to be shared, right?

Prawn Sambal
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
600g raw medium-sized prawns, shelled and deveined
3 onions, sliced into rings
5-6 garlic cloves, diced
40g chilli paste (cili giling)
4 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar

To garnish
2 sprigs of curry leaves (optional)
Cucumber, sliced (optional)


1. In a large frying pan over high heat, add oil and fry the garlic and onion until softened, about 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the chilli paste and fry for a further 2 minutes (this will make it more fragrant).

3. Add the prawns, soy sauce and brown sugar and stir well.

4. Cook with cover on for 1 1/2 minutes.

5. Serve immediately. Garnish with cucumber or curry leaves. Perfect accompaniment to your nasi lemak (rice, boiled egg, sliced cucumbers, peanuts, anchovies and prawn sambal) or good with plain white rice.

Note: You can cook the prawns with the shells on too (the prawns will be juicier and more flavourful when cooked this way). However, I prefer to peel them before cooking for easier consumption.

*This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel's FB page on 2 October 2012.