Reminiscent of the famous Thai tom yum soup, this dish is a dry version with tiger prawns. Several steps are involved in preparing the dish but the final act of putting everything together is uncomplicated and yields delicious results.
PREPARATION
1. Preparing the garlic and shallots
(a) For stir frying
Chop up 5 garlic and 5 shallots.
(b) For the Roasted Paste
Take 2 cloves of garlic and 5 small red shallots. Cut off the head of each clove. Then, roast in a small oven at 200 degrees C for about 15 minutes. Remove from the ovenette, peel the skins off and coarsely chop.
2. Angka or Tiger Prawns (5-8)
Wash the prawns and dry with paper towels. Use scissors to cut through the back part of the shell of each prawn until you reach the tail portion. This is the part that lies opposite the legs. Use a sharp knife and butterfly the flesh. Remove the black vein but leave the head and legs intact. Leave aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
3. Preparing 3 stalks of lemongrass
Remove the thicker outer layers of the lemongrass. Cut the whitish, softer inner part of the lemograss into fine, small rounds. Then, chop coarsely and place in a covered bowl to prevent drying out.
4. Roasting the dry chillies
Heat up a wok and roast 8-10 dried red chillies. Add a pinch of salt. Stir fry the chillies until they turn dark red and are slightly charred. Remove to cool. Use a spice grinder to grind into a fine (not overly so) powder.
5. Making the roasted paste (baked garlic, shallots & roasted chillies)
Pound and mix the chopped garlic, shallots and roasted chillies in a mortar to form a paste.
6. Other herbs and condiments (to add at the end)
8 kaffir lime leaves (remove stem, rolled up & sliced into very fine long slivers)
5 small red chilli padi (remove stem and lightly pounded/bruised)
1/4 cup coriander leaves (roughly chopped)
Juice of 2-3 limes
4-5 Tbsp fish sauce
1-2 Tbsp gula melaka (brown palm sugar)
COOKING
- Heat up the wok over high heat.
- Add about 4-5 tbsp peanut oil into the wok.
- Toss in the prawns and sear for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from wok when shell turns pink.
- Add another 4-5 tbsp peanut oil and heat up the oil for 10-15 seconds.
- Add the chopped garlic + shallots.
- Then, add the roasted paste.
- Add the lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, whole chilli padi and seasonings. Taste to make sure sauce is salty, sour, sweet and spicy.
- Toss in the prawns.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
After pounding with the mortar and pestle, this is the result…
