I've made prawn sambal before; it was so long ago that I got a desperate craving for it again this weekend. Leftover white and brown crabmeat as well as samphire sat in the fridge, glaring at me unused so in a fit of experimentation it all got lobbed in and I was richly rewarded. Spicy, coconutty with deep undertones of the sea, eaten with plenty of rice it brought a sheen of sweat to the brow. Though samphire isn't a typical Asian ingredient, its' salty crunch worked beautifully, complementing the velvet strands of the white crab meat.
Open all your windows when frying your spice paste, unless you like the feeling of your lungs burning with every breath.
Crab, Prawn & Samphire Sambal
Serves 2
10 raw prawns
A small handful of samphire
1 small onion sliced into half moons
2 tbsp brown crabmeat
1 heaped tbsp white crabmeat
1 spring onion
2 tomatoes
10 tbsp coconut milk
For the spice paste:
1 small onion
2 stalks of lemongrass
2 cloves of garlic
2 red chillis
4 dried red chillis
1 inch piece of galangal
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp shrimp paste
Wash thoroughly and steam the samphire for a couple of minutes. In a small blender add the onion, garlic, galangal, the inner part of the lemongrass roughly chopped with the tamarind and shrimp paste. Soak the chillis in hot water, then add these. Deseed them if you're not a hardcore chilli head. Add 2 tbsp cooking oil and blend into a paste.
In a wok, heat a little oil and add the curry leaves taken off the branch till they sizzle. Add the spice paste and the brown crabmeat, add the half moon onions, then stir-fry until fragrant. Add the coconut milk and the sugar and simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes sliced into quarters, the samphire and the prawns, stirring until they turn pink. Take off the heat and garnish with the spring onion, sliced on the diagonal. Serve with rice, topping with the white crabmeat.
This looks utterly delicious and ridiculously easy - my kind of cooking...Paula
ReplyDeleteI also love nice and simple cooking!, I'm francescaedesia from Twitter, I found you there! Following you from Rome! You have a splendid blog! So neat and organized and superb recipes! Complimenti!
ReplyDeleteNice article, thanks for the information.
ReplyDeleteIf it tastes as good as it looks, I bet it's fantastic. Going to have to try this at the weekend!
ReplyDeletethis looks delicious! lovely ingredients
ReplyDeleteGotta try the beef tataki...
ReplyDelete