Foodie Fridays! Sambal Prawns!

It's been quite a while since I prepared sambal prawns. A couple of reasons but mainly because I am quite particular about the types of prawns / freshness (gotta crawl to the wet market) and that it is quite tedious to prepare the sambal from scratch.

A quick google will show you many various sambal recipes so there isn't a standardized version. It depends on the level of spiciness and your personal preference.

For me, I like chili which builds up the heat slowly. For that reason, I use dry chili which seems to do that.

:: Ingredients:
1. Dry Chili - Quantity is about what you see below
2. Fresh Chili - I used 2 packets of it (bought from supermarkets so should be about 20 pieces)
3. Bird's Eye Chili (10)
4. Garlic (as per below)
5. Shallots (as per below)
6. And of course, prawns (I bought 2kg of Tiger Prawns. Personal preference here but I don't really fancy grey prawns because they seem to lack the crunchiness of Tiger Prawns)

Based on the below, I'd say that it would last me for another 2 - 3 rounds of cooking.

Hot hot hot!

:: Steps:
1. Blend the above
2. Heat up work (for that amount of mixture, you would need at least 4 - 5 table spoons of cooking oil)
3. Stir fry the mixture until it is dry and dark red in colour (you've gotta fry it constantly and this will take about 45mins)
4. Add belachan (I used about 3 - 4 teaspoons worth) and continue to dry / mix it in
5. Peel prawns in advance, if you like, you can add a bit of sugar and cornflour to it (Keep the shells and prawn 'heads' in freezer as that would be fabulous for stock)
6. Stir fry prawns until 1/2 cooked

7. Add tamarind water (this is purchased in packet form and I think I used about 10 seeds or so in total mixed with about 1/2 cup of water)

8. Add sugar (About 1- 2 teaspoons)

9. Continue to fry till prawns are cooked

10. Served warm over rice!