Noodle Salad And Fried Shrimp: Mandy Yin’s Recipes For Malaysian Home-style Prawns

The 14 states of Malaysia are located connected a peninsula to nan southbound of Thailand and connected nan land of Borneo, truthful it is nary astonishment that we perfectly adore seafood. Prawns are my seafood of prime astatine home, and I thin into store-cupboard staples to bring together easy, speedy meals for my mini family. Today’s glorious noodle crockery is cleanable for summer, not slightest because it’s a elemental assembly job, while nan 2nd recipe, if you make a small effort to devein immoderate shell-on prawns, rewards you pinch nan astir magnificent sheet of them that you’ll ever eat.

Spicy solid noodle and prawn crockery (pictured top)

Kerabu is an umbrella word successful Malay denoting a vibrant crockery of vegetables and herbs, dressed pinch a fiery sambal, shrimp paste and lime to bring everything together. The dressing is spicy, crisp and smells awesome from each nan herbs. You mightiness besides find kerabu noodle salads. This is my very easy version, cleanable for basking days, because it doesn’t impact immoderate cooking. I’ve substituted tinned anchovies (use nan champion you tin afford) for nan shrimp paste to debar having to toast nan paste. Coincidentally, erstwhile I blitzed up nan first trial of this dressing, it smelled very overmuch for illustration cincalok, different Malaysian speciality of fermented krill mixed pinch shallots and chillies. A accepted kerabu salad will ever see laksa leaves (AKA basking mint), but these are tricky to find successful nan UK, truthful I person utilized a substance of herbs much commonly recovered successful British supermarkets, not slightest because I find that nan basil goes a small measurement towards nan fragrant pepperiness of basking mint.

Prep 25 min
Soak 10 min
Serves 4-6

For nan dressing
2 caller reddish chillies, seeds and all, stalks discarded, soma finely chopped
1 banana shallot, peeled and astir chopped
4 caller makrut lime leaves, stems removed
50g tin anchovy fillets, not drained
Juice of ½-1 lime, to taste
1 tbsp acheronian brownish sugar
3 tbsp chilli sauce (I make my ain herb sambal (see look below), but I besides for illustration Maggi’s ail chilli sauce aliases sriracha), positive other to serve
1 tbsp food sauce
1 tsp tamarind paste, aliases Worcestershire condiment (I usage Lea & Perrins)
3 tbsp extra-virgin oliva oil

For nan salad
150g mung legume solid noodles, aliases atom vermicelli noodles, soaked successful just-boiled h2o for astatine slightest 10 minutes
30g bunch caller basil (Thai, beatified aliases regular), leaves picked
30g bunch caller mint, leaves picked and astir chopped
30g bunch fresh coriander, astir chopped, stems and all
300g cooked and peeled mini cold-water prawns (defrosted if frozen, and immoderate excess h2o mildly squeezed out)
¾ cucumber, deseeded and trim into 1cm cubes

Put each nan dressing ingredients successful a mini nutrient processor and blitz to a soft puree.

Drain nan soaked noodles and put them successful a ample bowl. Roughly tear nan basil leaves into nan noodles.

At slightest 15 minutes earlier you want to serve, to springiness each nan flavours a chance to travel together, put each nan remaining ingredients and nan dressing into nan noodle bowl, operation thoroughly and group aside. That said, if you’re making this good successful advance, don’t adhd nan cucumber until 15 minutes earlier serving, because it releases h2o aft a while, which will make for a very bedewed salad. Serve pinch other sambal aliases chilli condiment connected nan side.

Tomato sambal

Mandy Yin’s homemade herb sambal.

This superb sambal is simply a cleanable equilibrium of spicy, saccharine and tangy, and I’ll return it immoderate time complete sriracha and moreover my beloved Maggi ail chilli sauce. The champion point is that it comes together highly easy and quickly, and keeps for months successful nan fridge.

Prep 5 min
Cook 15 min
Makes 300g

150g fresh reddish chillies, stalks discarded, soma astir chopped
3 ail cloves, peeled and astir chopped
60ml vegetable lipid
3 tbsp herb puree
1½ tsp array salt
4½ tbsp acheronian brownish sugar

Using a instrumentality blender aliases a high-speed blender, blitz nan chillies, ail and lipid to a good puree. Put a small, nonstick saucepan connected a mean heat, adhd nan chilli-garlic substance and stir-fry for 10 minutes; if it starts to splutter excessively much, move down nan power a little. Add nan herb puree, salt, sweetener and 80ml water, stir-fry for 2 minutes, conscionable to dissolve everything, past return disconnected nan power and time off to cool. Once cool, decant into a sterilised jar, seal and shop successful nan fridge.

Greg’s spicy fried prawns

Daddy’s girl: Mandy Yin’s spicy fried prawns are inspired by her father.

This is an fantabulous crockery from my dad’s repertoire. It is based connected a crockery he utilized to person arsenic a kid successful a Chinese edifice successful Malacca. We cognize it arsenic har lok fried prawns. Yes, it’s a spot fiddly, because it requires you to devein shell-on prawns, but that’s conscionable astir nan only existent activity involved. Frozen, whole, earthy jumbo prawns from nan supermarket freezer aisle are mostly cheaper than caller ones, truthful by each intends usage them instead. The magic of nan prawn-infused condiment comes from nan tomalley released from nan prawn heads and shells.

Prep 5 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4

1kg large shell-on prawns, defrosted if utilizing frozen
4 tbsp rootlike oil
2 caller reddish chillies, finely sliced
4 outpouring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
3 tbsp ray soy sauce
110g ketchup – I usage Heinz
¼ tsp chilli powder

Devein nan prawns by sticking a toothpick done nan 2nd ammunition associated from nan tail and pulling up done nan flesh. The vein will go loose, truthful each you person to do past is to propulsion retired nan remainder of it. Use scissors to trim disconnected each prawn’s 2 agelong feelers and snip disconnected nan very crisp extremity of nan prawn’s head.

Put nan lipid successful a ample nonstick wok connected a precocious heat. Add nan chillies and half nan outpouring onions, stir-fry for a minute, past adhd nan prawns and stir-fry for 5 aliases truthful minutes, until astir each nan shells person turned agleam pinkish – time off nan wok unsocial for 20 seconds astatine a clip betwixt stirring, truthful nan prawns navigator through.

Add nan soy sauce, ketchup and chilli powder, and stir-fry for a further 2 minutes, until nan condiment thickens. Spoon connected to a platter, garnish pinch nan remaining outpouring onions and eat immediately.

• These recipes are edited extracts from Simply Malaysian: Everyday Dishes to Cook astatine Home, by Mandy Yin, published later this period by Quadrille astatine £27. To pre-order a transcript for £24.30, spell to guardianbookshop.com

• The Guardian intends to people recipes for sustainable fish. Check ratings successful your region: UK; Australia; US.