Spicy Prawn Curry (Gulai Udang)

This is one of those sinfully delicious dishes. Not because of the prawns -- contrary to common belief, prawns  contain more good fat than bad fat, and are good for your health. No, this dish is sinful because of the coconut milk, which is the base of the sauce. It's cooked for a long time until it has a very thick consistency, studded with spices and very rich in flavor. Part of the coconut milk will be turned into coconut oil, which will be red in color from the chilies. Although you won't think it, this red oil is actually very flavorful -- just a bowl of hot steamed rice slicked with this oil and the curry sauce is heavenly, but you can take it up a notch by using it to make fried rice!

I grew up visiting my maternal grandparents every other weekend. My grandma would cook up a storm in her tiny kitchen every time we would come over. She had several special dishes up her sleeve that she made over and over, and this dish is one of them. Her version also contains stinky beans and hard-boiled quail's eggs, which really take the dish over the top. Mine is the simpler, student-kitchen-in-the-Netherlands version. 

I often wonder what life would be like had my grandma not passed away when I was young. I loved having a grandma, and she was everything a grandma was supposed to be. She was sweet, loving and tender. She completely adored me and was never mad at me. She was such a lady -- her gray hair was always neatly pulled up into a bun, she had the best smell, and she always wore such pretty colours. She tended to her rose garden so carefully, only to have her roses plucked and chopped up by me when they bloomed. I remember looking up at her from my toy kitchenette, her roses completely butchered up on my toy kitchen counter, me grinning the naive grin of a child who didn't understand the time and labor that went into those delicate flowers. "These are the chilies," I said, pointing at the rose petals. She'd grin back at me. 

She'd then feed me the fried chicken that she made especially for me, the best one in the world. She'd tell my mother not to get angry at me for ruining the roses again. She'd bring me in for a nap when the heat and the humidity had gotten the best of me. She'd fan me with a magazine when the rackety air-conditioning would be making too much noise again and disturbing my sleep. Sunday afternoons at grammy's were the one of the highlights of my childhood.

Even to this day, one of the most vivid memories I have of my childhood is of my grandma, sitting on her small kitchen stool, chopping up vegetables and grinding spices, her back turned towards me. Although I never had the chance to learn about cooking from her, I feel like when I make this dish, I may be continuing her cooking legacy. Who knows, maybe it even tastes quite similar to hers.

Spicy Prawn Curry (Gulai Udang)
For 4 people

4 large handfuls prawns, cleaned (it's up to you to keep the shells intact or not)
5 kaffir lime leaves
juice of 1/2 lime
1 lemongrass, stalk bruised, or 1 tsp powdered lemongrass
chicken/vegetable stock cube
salt and sugar to taste
500 ml coconut milk

To be made into a spice paste:
7 shallots
5 garlic cloves
10 chilies
1 tbsp coriander seeds

With a blender, a food processor or a pestle and mortar, make a smooth spice paste using the spice paste ingredients. Add oil or water to make it easier to blitz everything into a smooth paste.

On a hot wok, heat up some oil (less if you've added some to the blender) and sautee the spice paste with the lime leaves until everything is fragrant and cooked.

Add the lime juice, lemongrass, coconut milk, stock cube and sugar. Once it comes to the boil, lower the heat and add the prawns. The reason why we're not adding salt at this point is that the sauce will be cooked until it's reduced, and once it's reduced, you may find that the stock cube was enough to salt the curry.

Keep cooking on a low heat until the sauce is reduced to a very thick consistency. The curry is done when red oil starts to surface. Taste and add salt if needed.

Serve with hot steamed rice.

Indonesian Mild Curry (Opor)

Opor, one of the most beloved curries in Indonesia, is very versatile. The original version calls for chicken, but it works very well with other mild-tasting protein like tempe (soy bean cake), tofu and hard-boiled eggs. It's also wonderful with vegetables -- snake beans and mushrooms are my favorite. I actually like the vegetarian version of opor better. The tofu soaks up the rich sauce very well, as does the tempe, and since this is a milder type of curry, it doesn't mask the subtle taste of the vegetables. And if you've never had  a curry with boiled eggs before, don't turn up your nose -- just keep reading and you'll see why!

Although this is one of our milder curries, it's bursting with flavors. The coconut milk sauce is enriched with an array of spices, and the palm sugar adds an almost coconut-y sweetness to the curry, which balances out the savoury note provided by the chicken broth. It's best eaten with a lot of rice to mop up the sauce!

Start with an obscene amount of spices...And chop up all your ingredients.

Blitz the spices using a blender, and dump on a hot wok with some oil.

After the spice paste becomes slightly yellow and very aromatic, add the coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients, except for the mushrooms.

The tofu is fried before hand, so that it's soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. The hard-boiled eggs are fried briefly until they develop a thin, crackly skin that's very scrumptious. There's something about the creamy egg yolk, the satiny smooth egg white and the crispy skin that pairs very well with the curry.

This recipe also uses snake beans, tempe and enoki mushrooms. These mushrooms retain a good bite even after cooking, which works very well with the sauce. 

Cook the curry on medium heat. Don't worry if the curry looks very pale at this stage, because the color will get darker later.

Let all the flavors marry...

Once the curry comes to a boil, add the mushrooms, and turn down the heat so that the curry is just simmering. Your curry is done after it's been simmering for about 10 minutes and it has no more hint of bitterness. This means that all the spices have been cooked thoroughly.

Indonesian Mild Curry (Opor)

For 8 people

1 block of tempe (soy bean cake), cut into thick strips

2 large blocks of tofu, cut into thick triangles

1 large bunch of snake beans, cut into 4 cm pieces

2 bunches of enoki mushrooms, bottom part chopped off and cut into chunks

8 hard-boiled eggs, skin peeled

1000 cc coconut milk, mixed with 250 cc water

Spice paste:

18 garlic cloves (I'm not kidding with my blog title)

15 shallots

12 candlenuts

3 tbsp coriander seeds

5 heaping tbsp palm sugar, shaved

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 lemongrass stalk, bruised

2 bay leaves

2-3 chicken/vegetable stock cube

white pepper, sugar and salt to taste

Deep-fry the tofu and boiled eggs until they form a thin skin. Drain on kitchen paper.

Grind all the spices for your spice paste using a blender or a food processor until smooth. Add some oil to the blender if it's difficult to blitz everything into a smooth paste.

Heat some oil in a large wok. Add the spice paste and sautee on medium heat until aromatic and the paste turns yellow.

Add the coconut milk that has been thinned with water to the wok. Add your eggs, tofu, tempe, snake beans, ground ginger, ground cumin, lemongrass stalk, bay leaves and stock cube as well. Stir well.

Bring everything to the boil, and then lower the heat until the curry is just simmering. Season with salt, sugar and pepper to your liking. Add the mushrooms and simmer for ten more minutes until the curry sauce doesn't have any hint of bitterness.

Serve with steamed rice.