Prawn skewers with macadamia satay sauce

Ingredients

• 12 large raw king prawns, peeled, and deveined (heads and tail-on)
• 2 ½ tbsp fish sauce
• 50 g coconut sugar
• ½ quantity curry paste (see Note)

For the curry paste

• 25 g dried shrimp
• 15 g dried chillies, soaked in hot water until softened, then drained
• 30 g long red chillies, roughly chopped
• 30 g belacan (shrimp paste), wrapped in foil and briefly toasted in a dry pan
• 100 g red eschallots, roughly chopped
• 25 g garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ground anise myrtle
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon myrtle
• 15 g ground coriander
• 25 g native lemongrass, roughly chopped
• 15 g native ginger, roughly chopped
• 15 g young galangal, roughly chopped
• 2 cm x 2 cm piece fresh turmeric, roughly chopped, or ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 50 ml vegetable oil

For the satay sauce

• ½ quantity curry paste (see Note)
• ½ cup (125 ml) vegetable oil
• 25 g raw sugar (or brown sugar)
• 2 cups (500 ml) water
• 30 g native tamarind pulp
• 220 ml macadamia milk
• 155 g roasted macadamias, coarsely ground
• Fish sauce, to taste

Marinating time: 1 hour

Instructions

1. To make the curry paste, place the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blitz to a smooth paste.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the prawns, fish sauce, coconut sugar and ½ the quantity of the curry paste and toss lightly to combine. Refrigerate for 1-4 hours.
3. To make the satay sauce, combine the remaining curry paste and oil in a medium saucepan and fry over medium-low heat for 5-8 minutes, or until fragrant. Add the sugar and water and stir, to dissolve the sugar. Allow to cook over until it ‘splits’: a rich, spicy oil should begin to seep out of the mixture. At this point, stir through the tamarind pulp, macadamia milk, and ground macadamias and cook until thickened. Season to taste with fish sauce, it should be sweet, salty, sour, and spicy.
4. Skewer the prawns onto bamboo or metal skewers (reserving the remaining marinade in the bowl) and cook on a chargrill pan or barbecue, basting with the reserved marinade, for 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through.
5. Serve the prawn skewers with the macadamia satay sauce on the side.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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