Tamarind Prawn (Assam Prawn)
Tamarind prawn or assam prawn is a Malaysian-Nyonya recipe, one that I grew up consuming as my late mother produced a killer dish of assam prawn, or “assam heh/亚参虾” (in Hokkien dialect)!
Whilst most Nyonya recipes call for lengthy list of ingredients and tedious preparations, tamarind prawn (assam prawn) is surprisingly straightforward to make and takes only several ingredients: tamarind, sugar, and salt. Despite the simple Recipe, tamarind prawns (assam prawns) are impossibly delicious as the tamarind provides the prawns the bold and tart flavors while accentuating the briny sweet taste of prawns…(get tamarind prawn or assam prawn recipe after the jump)
I extremely suggest this tamarind prawn (assam prawn) recipe in case you adore prawns/shrimps and wish to venture into Nyonya cooking. It’ll the very best prawn dish you might have yet to savor!
TAMARIND PRAWN/ASSAM PRAWN (参虾) RECIPE
Elements:
8 oz shell-on prawns
one 1/2 tablespoons tamarind pulp
four tablespoons drinking water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
three tablespoons cooking oil
System:
Combine the tamarind pulp with 4 tablespoons water. Extract the juice from the tamarind by pressing the pulp.
Remove the heads of the prawns. Devein the prawns by slitting the back. Rinse prawns with h2o and pat dry with paper towers. Add the tamarind juice and pulp, salt, and sugar in to the prawns and mix well with your hand. Marinate for 15 minutes. Get rid of the tamarind pulp before cooking.
Heat up a wok and add cooking oil. As soon as it’s heated, drop the prawns in to the wok and pan fry till cooked and slightly burnt. Dish out and serve instantly.
COOK’S NOTE:
Some recipes call for darkish soy sauce but I constantly do without the dim soy sauce as it is going to make the prawns too darkish in color, and hence less appealing in presentation. It is possible to also leave the heads on, for photography purposes, I had them heads off. You can also pan-fried the prawns with the tamarind pulp in case you wish.
