Name: Tamarind Prawns
Yield: Serves 2 as a main course, 4 as a starter
Ingredients: 1 small red onion, or 2 shallots, roughly chopped; sea salt; 12–16 fat prawns, shelled and cleaned; a small handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped; 2 teaspoons tamarind paste; 2 tablespoons coconut cream; 1–2 teaspoons jaggery or muscovado sugar; 1 fresh red or green chilli, deseeded; 1 tablespoon coconut or groundnut oil; 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 1 finger of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

Preparation info

Serves
2
as a main course

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Spirit & Spice

By Ghillie Basan

Published 2019

About

In parts of Sabah and Sarawak, the staple diet of some of the communities is centred around hunted meat, fish, jungle ferns, sago pearls which are boiled into a porridge consistency, and the plump sago grubs which are stir-fried. A good substitute for the grubs are snails – there are plenty of those prepped for the pot on the island of Barra – or prawns, which are much easier to find and prepare. Ginger and tangy tamarind are the key notes in this dish which balance well with the fruit and