Star chef Luke Nguyen (Red Lantern, Botanic House, Vietnam House and Fat Noodle) says the key to an impressive dish is balance.
“I love flavour, but it needs to all work well together,” says Nguyen. “The most impressive dish that stands out for me has all these complex flavours … balanced really well.”
Nguyen has always combined influences in his recipes – particularly across Southeast Asian and French cuisines – and this recipe is no different.
“We’re looking at, from Vietnam, galangal and lime leaf,” he says. “Then we’re getting the chillies from Indonesia and spring onion and that shrimp paste with coconut sugar, and [then] bringing that French element of butter as well.”
It’s a straightforward recipe, which makes it ideal for special occasions where spending time with guests trumps camping out in the kitchen. You can even get the sambal butter sorted up to two days before. Just blitz your aromatics in a blender or with a mortar and pestle, then place in a pan on medium heat.
“Wait until all the water starts to evaporate. When that happens, add your shrimp paste and coconut sugar,” says Nguyen. “After 10 minutes or so, it becomes like a jammy consistency – and it’s done. That’s your sambal.”
As for the prawns, fresh is best. “If the head is getting a little bit dark then you know that it’s already a day or two old, so always look for beautiful, consistent colour with the prawns,” Nguyen advises. If you’ve prepared the sambal butter in advance, all that’s left to do is butterfly and grill the prawns.
“Turn the prawn on its shell and just cut directly through the middle without going straight through the prawn and then you’re just squashing it down and making a flat prawn,” says Nguyen. “If you’re not comfortable with a sharp knife then scissors are the way to go for first timers.”
Luke Nguyen’s split king prawns with chilli sambal butter
Serves 2
Prep time: 15–20 minutes
Cooking time: 2–5 minutes
Ingredients:
12 large king prawns, butterflied
½ cup vegetable oil
Chilli sambal
3 large red chillies, seeded and sliced
1 tomato, seeded and sliced
2 bird’s eye chillies, sliced
10g galangal, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Asian shallots, chopped
100g butter
20g shrimp paste
20g coconut sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lime leaf, sliced
Garnish
Sliced long chilli,
Sliced spring onion
Sliced lime leaf
½ lime
Method:
To make the sambal
In a hand blender, blitz all chilli sambal ingredients except the butter, shrimp paste and coconut sugar. Gradually add vegetable oil until smooth.
Once everything is blended well, cook on medium heat until the water starts to evaporate.
Add the shrimp paste and coconut sugar and cook for about 10 minutes until everything is dissolved, with a jam-like consistency. Once the oil begins to separate from the sambal, it’s ready.
Remove the sambal from the pan and allow to cool. Reserve some of the oil. Once cooled, combine mixture with soft butter.
To make the prawns
Spread sambal butter on top of each prawn. Bring a pan to medium-high heat, add vegetable oil and cook the prawns flesh down for one minute.
Turn prawns and cook for a further 30 seconds before deglazing with a squeeze of lime.
Transfer to a plate and add the reserved sambal oil. Garnish with shallots and chilli. Serve.
