Spicy Prawn Sambal

Name: Spicy Prawn Sambal
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 C dried chilies; 1 medium size brown onion; 5 garlic; 5 candlenuts; 2 thumb size Belacan / shrimp paste / terasi; 1 thumb size Tamarind paste; 2-3 tbsp water; 46 g coconut sugar or palm sugar - grated, crushed or shaved; 1 tbsp sugar; 1/2 tsp (or to taste) chicken seasoning powder; ~ Asian groceries sell variety of Dried Chilies that are packed in different sizes. It ranges from mildest to hottest. We usually get two big bags, the mildest and the hottest; ~ In most of my Asian recipes, i combine these two types, 1/3 of the hottest ones and the rest is the mild type. Adjust your preferred heat accordingly. Experiment and know your chillies; ~ The mildest one is needed for the paste and the hottest one is, of course, for the heat; ~ It’s best to check the label before buying. Most labels do include the level of heat of their packed chillies from mild to EXTRA HOT; ~ Tamarind is available in most, if not all, Asian groceries. It comes in a block of pulp with either seeds or seedless and also in a jar/container of concentrated thick paste; ~ We prefer the seedless tamarind paste that comes in a block. Soak a thumb-size in hot water, then push the pulp through a sieve and discard any fibers and broken seeds; ~ Coconut sugar is added for its flavour. It’s available from Asian groceries and labeled as Coconut Sugar; ~ A packet of Pure Coconut Sugar comes with small blocks that usually weigh around 46g - 50g; ~ Unlike Palm Sugar, a block of Pure Coconut Sugar melt easily when expose to heat and it’s fairly easy to crush, shave or grate

Pinkblanket's Kitchen @pinkblanketskitchen

Houston Texas

Easy spicy seafood. You can use squids 🐙 or baby octopus in placed of prawns. Ingredients can be found in most Asian grocery stores. Do click on the links at the end of this recipe to check out our sambal-based recipes as well.

#prawn
#prawnsambal
#sambal
#chili
#spicy
#seafood
#breakfast
#dinner
#lunch
#udang
#sambaludang
#pedas
#asian
#southeastasian
#terasi
#belacan
#shrimp
#shrimppaste
#paste

Pinkblanket's Kitchen @pinkblanketskitchen

Houston Texas

#prawn
#prawnsambal
#sambal
#chili
#spicy
#seafood
#breakfast
#dinner
#lunch
#udang
#sambaludang
#pedas
#asian
#southeastasian
#terasi
#belacan
#shrimp
#shrimppaste
#paste

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Ingredients

A. 1 kg Prawns
B. Blended
1 Cdried chilies
1medium size brown onion
5garlic
5candlenuts
2thumb size Belacan / shrimp paste / terasi
c
1thumb size Tamarind paste
2-3 tbspwater
D. Seasonings
46 gcoconut sugar or palm sugar - grated, crushed or shaved
1 tbspsugar
1/2 tsp(or to taste) chicken seasoning powder
Notes on Dried Chillies
~ Asian groceries sell variety of Dried Chilies that are packed in different sizes. It ranges from mildest to hottest. We usually get two big bags, the mildest and the hottest
~ In most of my Asian recipes, i combine these two types, 1/3 of the hottest ones and the rest is the mild type. Adjust your preferred heat accordingly. Experiment and know your chillies
~ The mildest one is needed for the paste and the hottest one is, of course, for the heat
~ It’s best to check the label before buying. Most labels do include the level of heat of their packed chillies from mild to EXTRA HOT
Notes on Tamarind:
~ Tamarind is available in most, if not all, Asian groceries. It comes in a block of pulp with either seeds or seedless and also in a jar/container of concentrated thick paste
~ We prefer the seedless tamarind paste that comes in a block. Soak a thumb-size in hot water, then push the pulp through a sieve and discard any fibers and broken seeds
Notes on Coconut Sugar:
~ Coconut sugar is added for its flavour. It’s available from Asian groceries and labeled as Coconut Sugar
~ A packet of Pure Coconut Sugar comes with small blocks that usually weigh around 46g - 50g
~ Unlike Palm Sugar, a block of Pure Coconut Sugar melt easily when expose to heat and it’s fairly easy to crush, shave or grate

Saved

Steps

1

Prep all the ingredients. Clean the prawn but leave the shells on. Soak tamarind paste in 2-3 tbsp of hot water. Then use your finger to mash until it 'dissolves' and you have a light brown thick juice or sauce. Keep aside. Soak and soften cut dried chillies in hot water. Blend softened dried chillies with the rest of the ingredients in B.
2

Cooking the prawn sambal - Heat 1/3 cup of cooking oil in a wok or big deep pan. Add B (blended ingredients, cook and stir for 5 minutes over high heat until the paste is separated from the oil. Stir in C and then add A (the prawns). Turn to medium heat and simmer for a minute.
3

Season with D. Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly. Add few tablespoons of water if necessary. The sambal, however, should be thick. Once the prawns turn to bright pink or red, the prawn sambal is ready. Avoid over cooking the prawn. Remove from the heat and dish up.
4

Check our Squid 🐙 Sambal

Squid Sambal
5

Chicken in red chili sauce 😋

Chicken in Red Chilli Sauce
6

Our simple egg sambal🥚🍳

Simple Eggs Sambal
7

Our chinese version Sambal

Hakka Dried shrimp Sambal
8

Specific Sambal for Malaysian Famous Coconut Rice 🍚

Nasi Lemak - A Malaysian Story
9

Another eggs sambal

Eggs in Red Hot Chilli Sauce
10

Red Hot Squid Sambal

Red Hot Squid
11

Simple Sambal served as accompaniment to noodle 🍜 😋

Malaysian Nyonya Curry Laksa At Home

Linked Recipes

Squid Sambal

Chicken in Red Chilli Sauce

Simple Eggs Sambal

Hakka Dried shrimp Sambal

Nasi Lemak - A Malaysian Story

Eggs in Red Hot Chilli Sauce

Red Hot Squid

Malaysian Nyonya Curry Laksa At Home

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Cooksnaps

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Pinkblanket's Kitchen @pinkblanketskitchen

on November 14, 2020 10:34

Houston Texas

A 🇲🇾 born Dayak's Personal cookbook fr Australia 🇭🇲 Now in Houstan 🇺🇸Texas. Modern Nomadic Family.

Mish @eatswithmish

December 26, 2025 15:36

What a lovely recipe and a gorgeous looking dish! I haven't heard of candlenuts before what are they and what can we use for substitutes if any? Thank you!

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Spicy Prawn Sambal

Spicy Prawn Sambal

Ingredients

Steps

Linked Recipes

Cooksnaps

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