Sambal Udang / Sambal Prawns

Sambal Udang / Sambal Prawns, Malasian sambal prawns. Its spicy and aromatic dish goes well with rice. Sambal is a spice paste, in this dish we are adding that paste and stirring with prawns. I have added sambal chicken recipe earlier. Here is recipe for you all to try. 

Ingredients

• Prawns 1 kg 
• Sambal Paste
• Coriander leaves few chopped

For Sambal Paste

• Kashmiri Chilli 15-20
• Shallots 1/2 cup
• Green chilli 2 (for spiciness)
• Tomato 1 large diced (or 2 tbsp thick tomato paste)
• Garlic 6 to 7 cloves
• Ginger 2 inch slice
• Palm sugar / Jaggery 1 small piece
• Candle nut 3(it is added for texture but its optional)
• Salt to taste
• Oil 1/4 cup or more

Method

Clean and devein the prawns. Rinse well with water, drain water well and marinate prawns with salt, 1/4 tsp of black pepper powder, 1/4 tsp of red chili powder and 1 tsp of lemon juice. Keep it aside for 15 minutes. 

Sambal Paste 

Wash and soak the dry chilli in warm water and kep it aside for 15 minutes. 

Squeeze the chilli and add the other ingredients except salt and oil in a blender and blend to a paste.

Heat a large kadai and add oil and fry the sambal along with salt until the oil separates. Once it cool down dish it out and store in clean bottles and keep it in the fridge or use it immediately to make any dish.

Now take a big kadai or deep pan and oil, once the oil is heat add marinated prawns and shallow fry them, remove and keep it aside. Now in the same pan add some more oil add the prepared sambal paste in the oil and fry for 3 minutes, add in the shallow fried prawns and stir to combine. Saute for 2 minutes. Sprinkle little bit of water and combine well and cook the prawns of few minutes.

Cover with a lid and let it simmer until the gravy is well coated over the prawns. Stir well in-between so that it won't stick on the bottom. Check salt , if need add accordingly. Once the water evaporated well stir fry the prawns for 2 minutes then put of flame. Sprinkle coriander leaves and serve hot. 

Enjoy with roti or as a side dish for biriyani. 

NB: Chili you can add according to your spice level. Candle nut is used in many Asian dishes, particularly curries, as a thickening agent so if you dont get those can substitute with almonds or cashew nuts. You can prepare the sambal paste in advance and keep it in the fridge then you can use one making the dish. with the same recipe you can try chicken or fish. Enjoy cooking..