Sambal Ladies' Finger [Huan Cheo Kak Tau]

One of the popular and common vegetable dish from the Nyonya kitchens.  My mum has her own simple sambal recipe to fry vegetables [see here for her version] which is good at all times.  

This version is from Nyonya Flavours [slight modifications] with more ingredients which is also worth trying.  The sambal dried prawns tasted good and blends well with the lady's fingers [Okra].

Ingredients

4-5 tbsp oil

300 gm lady's fingers - blanched in boiling water until cooked through

2 tbsp water

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 tbsp sugar

Sambal Paste - Blended together

4-5 fresh red chillies - cut small pieces

5 dried red chillies [I used 1 tsp chilli boh]

3-4 cloves garlic - skinned

12 shallots [100gm] - skinned

3-4 candlenuts

1 tsp toasted belacan [5 gm]

2 tbsp dried prawns [20 gm] - rinsed and drained

1. Blend all the paste ingredients [except dried prawns] until fine.  Scoop out.
2. Using the same blender, coarsely chopped the dried prawns.  Scoop out.
3. Heat oil in wok, saute sambal paste until aromatic.  Add water and seasoning.
4. Stir fry and add in dried prawns.  Saute until aromatic.  Dish out to spread over blanched lady's fingers.

Note: My mum will pound all the sambal ingredients and dried prawns together.  The same paste can be used for many kinds of vegetables like brinjals, spinach, sweet potato leaves, huang ti chye, kangkong [water convolvulus], long beans etc.

I'm linking this post to Cook Your Books #2 Event  hosted by Kitchen Flavours