Assam Prawns - Version 2

I changed my assam prawn recipe. Although Grandaunt's way of doing it was fragrant and good, but actually the prawns tasted dry. So, I improved the recipe and when I used tamarind paste instead of the pulp, the recipe is more accurate (for others) because one does not need to take into account the amount of seeds the pulp may contain.

Simple and tasty.

500gm prawns (weighed with shells)

½ red onion

2 red chillies

1 tbsp Tamarind paste (Adabi brand)

2 Tbsp sugar

½ salt

4 Tbsp oil

1. Clean prawns, remove shells (but leave the tail) and vein.

2. Finely chop red onions and chilli, or you can use mill/food processor.

3. In a hot wok, put in oil and put in prawns. Spread them around. Flip them when they look curled.

4. Cook prawns until both sides have turned orange/red, not for too long. Lift up prawns and drain excess oil properly back into wok with spatula.

5. On medium low heat, sauté onions and chilli until very fragrant, and half dried. Put in tamarind paste, salt and sugar. Continue to fry until very fragrant and almost dry (like crumbled blue cheese) 

6. Turn heat to high, put in cooked prawns (they should release some water, so don’t worry about being too dry), toss for about 10 seconds or until gravy is thickened and sticking to the prawns.

7. Dish up and serve.