Singapore Chilli Prawns

Warren Mendez

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp sunflower, Peanut or other vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp soy bean paste (from Asian grocers, substitute miso paste)
  • 1/3 cup tomato sauce (ketchup)
  • 1/3 cup (100g) sweet chilli sauce
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar or white vinegar
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • 1 tbsp of Sugar
  • 18 large (about 1kg) whole prawns
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • Sliced white bread to serve (cheap white bread, no crusts)

For the Chilli Paste

  • 5 long red chillies, plus extra sliced to serve
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 4cm piece (20g) ginger, peeled
  • 2 small purple eschalots, peeled
  • 1 bunch coriander, stalks roughly chopped, leaves reserved

Method:

  1. For the chilli paste, place chilli, garlic, ginger, eschalot, coriander stalks and oil in a small food processor and whiz to a rough paste.
  2. Heat the oil in a wok or large deep frypan over medium-high heat. Add the chilli paste and cook for 5 minutes or until it starts to caramelise. Add the soybean paste, tomato sauce and sweet chilli sauce and continue to cook for a further 1 minute. Stir in fish sauce, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Mix cornflour, sugar with 2 tbsp water and add the mixture with 1 cup water. Stir and simmer for 5-6 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, to clean the prawns, use scissors to cut the back of each prawn and slip out the vein. Add prawns to the sauce and cook, coating with the sauce, for 4-5 minutes until the prawns are cooked through. Season. Reduce heat to low and use a spoon to push the prawns to the side of the pan, creating a gap in the sauce. Add the egg and quickly stir to combine. Remove from the heat.
  4. Serve scattered with coriander, extra chilli and white bread without crusts, to mop up all the sauce.