RECIPE: VG'S CHEAT SAMBAL NYONYA

I am sick and tired of eating 'soft food' cos I have been crook for the past few days. Well, I could not take it anymore and if it plays havoc with my tummy, so be it! I need some heat in my food. But as I am still not 100% well, I was not going to make sambal from scratch today. So, it's time to raid the pantry and pounce on the ever faithful jar of sambal chilli nyonya. Below is how I use it. Do you use it any other way????

VG’S CHEAT SAMBAL NYONYA

Ingredients
1 jar ‘Glory’ brand ‘Anchovy Sambal Chilli Nyonya’ or plain ‘Sambal Chilli Nyonya’. [Don’t get the prawn version….in our opinion, it does not taste nice….unless someone can tell us how to spice it up]

2 to 3 tbsp (or more if you can’t take hot food) tomato sauce but don’t add too much as it will be too sweet and defeats the purpose of having sambal in the first place!

3 tbsp Chinese light soy sauce

Seafood of your choice such as prawns, squid or dried ikan bilis (Asian dried anchovies). I used 500g fresh green prawns, tail and head left intact.

1 red onion – sliced neither too thin nor thick

1 small tomato – cut into wedges (optional)

4 to 5 cloves garlic – minced.

Petai (a type of Malaysian bean that looks similar to broad beans but with very different after effects and taste, wink! wink!) – Optional, of course. I used frozen petai this time. You can buy it in brine (‘Ayam’ brand) from Asian supermarkets. The ‘Hub Asian Supermarket’ in Canberra (Gungahlin and Tuggeranong) sells frozen petai.

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method
Heat oil in a wok. Add in garlic and fry for 30 secs.

Add in sambal paste, tomato sauce and soy sauce. Mix well and stir fry over medium heat for 1 minute.

Add seafood and petai. Cook for 3 to 5 mins, depending on what medium you are using. You don’t want to cook seafood for too long as it will get rubbery and tough.

Before lifting, add in onions and tomato. Turn off heat.

Serve with plain rice or coconut rice (we were being health conscious today, so only plain rice with the sambal) hard boil egg, peanuts (or cashews) and sliced cucumber with onion. Could not be bothered going to the Asian grocer to get kangkong, so I made pak choy belacan instead as an accompaniment to the sambal.