8
2017
Cook with Ayden: Assam Prawn Recipe
Little Chef Ayden is back in action and this time he will be cooking prawns instead of his usual expertise, the chicken.
Assam Prawn is one of the easiest prawn dish around so it is no surprise that I chose this dish to start Ayden on prawns ‘coz it is also the first prawn dish my mom taught me long time ago.
Nyonya Assam Prawn
The ingredients needed for this dish is also very minimal; prawn, tamarind, sugar and pepper.
Tamarind pulp with seeds (Asam Jawa)
Ingredients:
Prawn (with the shell intact)
Tamarind pulp with seeds
Sugar
Pepper
Method:
Add water to tamarind and press the pulp and seeds to get thick tamarind extract.
Remove the pulp and seeds.
Add sugar and pepper.
Stir well.
Add prawn and marinate for at least 2 hours.
1) Heat a wok with just enough oil.
2) Fry the prawns quickly. Remove from wok.
3) Add the marinate into the wok and let boil until it thickens.
4) Once thicken, taste it. You may want to add some salt if you like. Add some more sugar if it is too sour.
5) When you think you got the gravy right, add the prawns back in and toss until they are all coated with the thick gravy.
6) Dish out and serve with white rice. This tangy assam prawn dish with a mixture of sweet and savory is really appetizing, I just want to lick the prawns and suck the head before peeling them!
If you have a multi-cooker, you can watch Little Chef Ayden cook this dish using his Philips All-in-One Cooker:
I was just talking with a friend yesterday who is returning to the UK about Malaysian food and how she’s going to miss the assam flavour in particular. Really though she could probably follow a recipe such as yours when in the UK.
That’s one true blue Peranakan. Way to go, Baba Ayden!!! Robert & Lilian would be so proud!
Chaf Ayden is so talented. He really can cook.
I never cook any dish with Asam paste, may I know how does the packaging looks like?
I’ve updated my post to include a picture of the asam paste packaging. In malay it is called asam jawa.
Wah, Ayden knows how to cook prawns now too. So pandai! Thanks for the photo of the assam paste used. Now I know which brand to get which tastes good.