Nyonya dishes are known for its bursting flavour, rich and most of all, appetising! And this is definitely one of it.
I had the choice of grabbing the ready-made spice from the supermarket shelf. But I wanted to challenge myself and made the paste from scratch.
Ingredients A (To blend into paste)
1. 6 pips of garlic
2. 10 shallots
3. 3 cm length of fresh tumeric
4. 2 cm length of galangal (blue ginger in English according to wikipedia)
5. 5 red chillies
6. 6 dried red chillies
7. 3 stalks of lemon grass (use only the white pale portion)
8. 4 candlenuts
9. 3 tbsp belacan (shrimp paste)
*Blend with some water or 1 tsp of oil
Ingredients B
1. 1/2 cup of water (adjust to preferred consistency)
2. 1/4 cup of coconut milk
3. 1/4 cup of evaporated milk
(alternatively, just use 1/2 cup of coconut milk if desired)
Ingredients C
1. 10-12 prawns (cleaned, deveined with only the head and tails intact)
2. Approximately half of a ripe pineapple, cubed. I used Sarawak pineapple as it is very aromatic and heavenly sweet!
Seasonings
1. 2 tbsp fish sauce or 1/2 tsp salt
2. Sugar- if the pineapples are not sweet enough.
Method:
1. Heat oil and stirfry Ingredients A till fragrant. This should take approximately 5-8 minutes
2. Add in pineapple cubes and water. Simmer for about 5-8 minutes or until the pineapple sweetness flavours the gravy. If gravy is too thick, add more water.
3. Add seasonings and stir. Adjust to taste.
4. Add in coconut milk and make sure fire is low.
5. Lastly, add in prawns and simmer till prawns are cooked (not overcooked) - This should take merely 5 mins.
Result
Me ~ I think I pass! Only thing, perhaps I should blend the spices a little longer to achieve smoother paste. But I am confi dent to make this dish for my guests and family in future.
DH ~ "Did you cook more rice today? Got extra gravy? Can we have this tomorrow?"
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Each little dream in me
