Prawns With Padang Sauce (Shrimps)

Roll up your sleeves and dive into a plate of Prawns With Padang Sauce. Prawns are served with corn in a huge puddle of sweet, spicy, tangy, and savory sauce thickened with egg.

What Is Padang Sauce?

Padang Sauce is one of the popular ways to serve seafood in Indonesia. It comes from the city of Padang in West Sumatra, which is famous for bold and spicy flavor dishes.

The sauce is often paired with seafood. The taste of Padang Sauce is similar to Singaporean chili crab sauce, but it uses richer spices so the sauce has a more complex flavor.

Ingredients You Need

• Prawns – You can also use shrimps. Deshell or leave the shell on depending on your preference.
• Corn – This ingredient is optional. You can omit corn and add more prawns or another type of seafood.
• Egg – Egg is used to thicken the sauce. If you prefer a thinner sauce, you can omit the egg.

Blended Spices

• Shallots – Shallots used in Southeast Asian cuisine tend to be small with a red exterior and white interior. Unlike western shallots which tend to be larger, Indonesian shallots are small and sweeter in flavor. The individual cloves resemble garlic cloves with pointed tapered ends.
• Garlic – For aromatic flavor and aroma.
•  Ginger – It gives a warm, sweet aroma and a hot, biting flavor to the dish.
• Red chili peppers – This recipe uses a combination of mild curly red chilis and hot bird’s eye chilis. You can adjust the amount depending on your spiciness tolerance. Don’t omit the red chili peppers completely because they are the crucial ingredients to make the sauce red in color.
• Vegetable oil – To fry the blended spices.

Aromatics

• Lemongrass – Gives a citrus-like aroma to the dish and removes fishiness from the prawns.
• Kaffir lime leaves – They are used to add earthy citrus flavors to the food. It also helps removing fishiness from the prawns.
• Ginger – It gives a warm, sweet aroma and a hot, biting flavor to the dish.
• Onion – Add sweetness and texture to the sauce.
• Green onion – For garnish and add contrasting color.

Seasonings

• Saus sambal – Saus sambal is an Indonesian chili sauce, a staple in Indonesian kitchens. It has a similar consistency like ketchup but has a sweet hot taste.
• Ketchup – It adds tanginess to the sauce.
• Oyster sauce – It adds a rich, savory, umami flavor.
• Tamarind water – It adds a tart, sweet, sour taste to dishes. To make tamarind water, pour boiling water over the tamarind pulp and leave to soak for 10-15 minutes. Break the pulp and strain the mixture.
• Other ingredients – Salt, sugar, chicken stock powder

Variations

You can add or substitute the prawns and corn with other seafood, such as squids, clams, crawfish, and some firm fish meat. You can also omit the egg if you want a thinner sauce.

How to Make Prawns With Padang Sauce

1. Trim the pointy parts of the prawns using a kitchen scissor and devein using a toothpick. Set aside.
2. Grind the blended spices in a food processor or spice grinder into a smooth paste. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, add the seasoning ingredients except the tamarind water. Mix until combined. Set aside.
4. Add the blended spices to a big frying pan and stir fry using low heat until fragrant. Add lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and ginger. Stir fry until the spices are cooked.
5. Add corn and seasoning mix. Bring to a boil. Add prawns and cook until they are cooked. Add onion, green onion, and tamarind water. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Slowly drizzle in the beaten egg and mix until the sauce thickens.
6. Best served hot.

Prawns with Padang Sauce (Shrimp)

5 from 1 vote

Author: Taste of Nusa

Prep: 40 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr

Course: Main

Cuisine: Indonesia

Difficulty: Intermediate

Dietary: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free

Servings: 4 -5 servings

PRINT RECIPE PIN RECIPE RATE & REVIEW

Roll up your sleeves and dive into a plate of Prawns With Padang Sauce. Prawns are served with corn in a huge puddle of sweet, spicy, tangy, and savory sauce thickened with egg.

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

 

0.5x1x2x

• ▢ 1.1 pounds (500 gr) prawns/shrimps
• ▢ 1 ear corn, husked and chopped into 2-inch/5 cm pieces
• ▢ 1 egg, beaten, optional

Blended Spices

• ▢ 8 shallots
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic
• ▢ 1 inch (2.5 cm) ginger, peeled
• ▢ 10 curly red chilis, roughly chopped
• ▢ 4 red bird's eye chilis
• ▢ 1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil

Aromatics

• ▢ 1 stalk lemongrass, use the lower part only, bruised
• ▢ 10 kaffir lime leaves, 5 joined leaves, torn
• ▢ 1 inch (2.5 cm) ginger, bruised
• ▢ 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• ▢ 1 green onion, cut into 1.5 inch/4 cm

Seasonings

• ▢ 3 tbsp saus sambal/Indonesian chili sauce
• ▢ 3 tbsp ketchup
• ▢ 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1 tsp sugar
• ▢ 1 tsp chicken stock powder
• ▢ 1 cup (240 ml) water
• ▢ 3 tbsp tamarind water

Instructions

• Trim and devein the prawns – Trim the hard spine above the head, front legs, and the pointy part of the tail of the prawns using kitchen scissors. Insert the toothpick on the joint between the shell segments about 1-2 mm into the prawn. Gently pull the toothpick upward to hook the vein and pull it out.
• Rinse the prawns with clean water. Set aside.
• Mix the seasonings except the tamarind water in a small bowl. Set aside.
• Grind the blended spices to a smooth paste using a spice grinder or blender or mortar and pestle.
• Stir fry the spice paste with aromatics – Transfer the spice paste to a big frying pan or wok. Heat on low heat and stir fry until fragrant. Add lemongrass stalk, kaffir lime leaves, and ginger. Stir fry until the paste is fully cooked or the oil separates from the spices for 5-7 minutes.
• Add corn and seasoning mix. Turn up the heat to medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
• Add prawns and cook until the prawns and corn are cooked.
• Add onion, green onion, and tamarind water. Cook until onion softens. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
• Drizzle in the beaten egg slowly and mix until the sauce thickens.
• Discard lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and ginger.
• Serve with steaming white rice along with some side dishes.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 367kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 198mg | Sodium: 1666mg | Potassium: 879mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 1565IU | Vitamin C: 178mg | Calcium: 134mg | Iron: 3mg

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Leave a comment below or tag @tasteofnusa on Instagram