Please pardon this less-than-elegant picture of today's dish. As I'm in the middle of photographing tons of items for sale on eBay, my food pictures were inadvertantly erased and I was left with only this picture of yesterday's dinner. Hopefully it at least gives a general idea.
I can't thank Cupcake enough for sending me a bunch of recipe books from Malaysia! (In addition to some much coveted roti jala molds.) I was thrilled, and so now I have a whole bunch of new recipes to experiment with. I love-love-love cookbooks produced in Asia because they do what all cookbooks should do: they give a picture of each dish (imagine that), break down everything into steps, and offer step-by-step preparation images to boot. I normally don't think of myself as a visual person -- I'm more text oriented -- but when it comes to food, text alonejust doesn't cut it. Something changes when I cook and I need visual information. (Another beef -- don't you hate it when a text-only cookbook attempts to describe how to fold something? Without pictures? Gah!)
Anyway, back to the food. This dish originally began as Prawn Sambal with Petai, but as petai beans are totally alien to my desert landscape, I decided to try the recipe using longbeans instead.
1. First I prepared a spice paste by placing the following into a food processor and blending: 1 cup chopped shallots, 2 candlenuts (I used almonds), 1.5 tsp ground dried red chili flakes, 2 tsp shrimp paste (belacan), 2 stalks fresh lemongrass, 4 slices galangal (ok to use ginger instead), and 1/2 cup water. (I added the water progressively as the mixture began to break down so that there would be less mess.)
2. I then fried the spice paste in a little oil until it became fragrant. I then added the longbeans (half a bunch, cut into 3-4 inch size) and 3 tsp tamarind water. (I also added a little extra water because of the large about of longbeans being used.) Added also was about 1-2 tsp of salt to taste.
3. Next I added the prawns* and cooked the mixture for a few minutes. I then allowed the mixture to stand and allowed the flavors to mature before serving.
* Here I used a special trick to mask the flavor of less-than-optimal prawns. Sometimes the only prawns I have in the house are frozen. Depending on your source, some frozen prawns can taste really disgusting. If I have less-than-optimal quality frozen prawns, what I like to do is (after they have de-thawed) drop them briefly into salted, boiling water. As soon as they turn pink, I take them out and drain them. I then set them aside and cook them as normal in whatever dish I'm preparing. This process removes any residual freezer tastes.
4. One last step -- open all the windows. The belacan is really going to stink up your kitchen!
Comments
hehe...I appreciate the warning for step 4!
Posted by: Jeff | August 5, 2006 12:47 PM
1) This sounds really good. Not overly heaty and very tasty, it really even looks good. This is one of your recipes I will be trying.
2) I love that you saw Prawns. Most Americans I encounter say shrimp. Unless these are two different things?
Posted by: Granthrax | August 5, 2006 08:37 PM
Thanx for the mention! The longbeans look delicious, and with 1 cup of shallots, I'd imagine that the sambal would have tasted really great. A variation that you might want to try is adding maybe a couple of tablespoons of dried shrimp (available in Chinese/Thai grocery shops) to the sambal.
Do let me know when you're ready to make dim sum and dumplings - I have the step-by-step books complete with pictures.
:-)
Cupcake
Posted by: Cupcake | August 6, 2006 07:04 PM
I love the prawn&green beans combination and this looks so good...
BTW,I feel exactly the same about cookbooks with no pics:)
Posted by: KT | August 7, 2006 02:08 AM
you should really try to get your hands on petai. they are totally a different thing, need acquired taste, but certainly worth a try, goes really well in this dish
Posted by: rokh | August 7, 2006 07:07 PM
Hi Jonny, it seems like you're having an abundance of yardlongs as am I :) it isn't a bad problem at all. I love both these recipes you posted for them, especially this one. I will be trying this out soon!
Posted by: JMom | August 8, 2006 01:36 PM
Totally unrelated, but I thought of you as I unpacked my box of spices from Pennzeys today. I have a big bag of crystalized ginger among other things and am trying to convince myself that it is not meant for snacking. I am not winning.
What do candlenuts taste like?
Posted by: sithi | August 12, 2006 07:44 PM
Jeff: just lookin out for ya.
Gran: I think prawns in the US generally refer to larger shrimp. Not sure though?
Cupcake: mmm, dried shrimp sounds like a great add. I'll try!
KT: yeah, I think for Westerns presentation is not traditionally as important, but perhaps times are changing...
Rokh: I'm definitely going to try them sometime. Can't wait!
Jmom: yeah, they suddenly showed up at the grocery store. Never know around here what will make a rare appearance... good luck with this recipe. Let me know how it turns out.
Sithi: they look exactly like macadamias but darker and they are somewhat toxic, so they can only be used in cooking after you've cooked them to death. Actually, I prefer using almonds and macadamias as a substitute because 1) they're easier to get and 2) I don't worry about not cooking them long enough. One time when I used them I felt so sick... could have been unrelated but who knows?
Posted by: Evil Jonny | August 13, 2006 08:07 AM
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Posted by: Anonymous | August 16, 2006 10:17 PM