Yati's Sambal Prawns And Eggs

Before Yulia came to work for us, we had another Indonesian domestic help called Zoe, before Zoe, there was Yati who was with us for 6 years. Yati was a very good cook and she made the best sambal prawns and eggs. I did not learn or note down the recipe because duh why bother when there was someone to cook for you. When Yati went back to Indonesia to start a family with her husband, she taught Zoe how to cook this dish. Hah, so I still did not need to learn.

My luck ran out when Zoe resigned this June. She was going home to get married. A day before she flew back to Lombok, Zoe cooked sambal prawns and eggs for the family one last time. Instead of pinching food from the pan, I was busy scribbling down the recipe and method. Ok, I was doing both but I swear I was eating in the interest of learning how the dish taste at every stage.

Yati's Sambal Prawns And Eggs

Ingredients:
400g small gray prawns (shrimp), feelers and feet trimmed
30 quail eggs or 5 chicken eggs
6 ripe tomatoes, quartered
16 red chillies, seeds removed
6 bird's eye chillies (cili padi), adjust the quantity if unable to take spicy food
4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
10 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 thumb size shrimp paste (belacan), pulverized
2tbsp oil
2- 3 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt

Hard boil and shell quail eggs.

Using a food processor, blend the shallots and garlic. Set aside.

Blend the tomatoes, chillies and bird's eye chillies into a paste.

Heat oil in a wok or a big heavy skillet over a high flame,add shrimp paste and stir fry quickly until fragrant, add shallots and garlic, stir fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and chillies paste, sugar and salt. Once the gravy starts to bubble, lower the flame to medium and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir constantly to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The liquid should be very much reduced. 

While the sambal is simmering, use another pan to deep fry the prawns till the shell is crisp.

Using a toothpick, lightly prick each quail egg at several places to make steam holes. Deep fry the eggs till the skin is crisp.

Add the prawns and eggs to the sambal and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Serve with jasmine rice or noodles, even pasta

This is a versatile sambal that can be used to cook seafood like fish or squid (sotong). On its own, it makes a delicious condiment. As the dish does not contain coconut, it can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days but in my family, it is usually all gone by the second day.

Comments

[Reid]

Hi ST,

Ooooh, this looks so good! I'm going to have to try this. Thank you so much for sharing and I'm glad you got the recipe! =P

[Reid]

Sorry...ST. =(

I was looking at 2 blogs at the same time. LOL! Remind me never to do that again. Can you please correct the above post? Thanks.

[fish fish]

Wei ST, I missed the sambal egg so much. Used to hv this when I was studying in UKM in Malaysia. Now in Japan, need not to mention sambal egg, want to find sambal oso very headache liao. Hey, making me hungry seeing those eggs.

[ST]

fish fish, u mean you cannot get belacan in Japan?

Reid, no worries, I am gulity of looking at 2 blogs or more at the same time too. Glad to share the recipe. I hope you like it.

[MrsTweety]

The sambal prawns and eggs look so deli..!!! Now.. i've gotta go find some sambal..!!

[stephanie]

Hi, I just came across your food blog and I have to say that I think it's great! What type of digital camera do you use to take your photos?

[toru]

u think this recipe would work with mackerels? otherwise I am thinking of doing just this dish with eggs. prawns are mighty expensive in the UK

[ST]

Thanks,Mrs Tweety, I hope you found your sambal.

Hi stephanie, welcome to my blog and thanks for the thinking it is great. I love my canon ixus i. It is small and very user friendly.

Hi toru, I think mackerels will work but I will not fry the mackerels first and not doing it with eggs. Eggs alone for the dish is fine too. If you do not want to use prawns, you can use fishcakes or fishballs.

[Veronica]

I would like to make the sauce (less spicy) and serve it with prawns, eggplant and green beans. What do you think of that combination with the sauce?

[ST]

Hi Veronica, I have used the same sauce on eggpalnt and I think it should go well with green beans too.