Okra with Prawn Sambal
I love okra or Lady’s Fingers but cooking it can be a pain. My husband used to hate it because, wrongly cooked (my fault), okra turns any dish into one slimy mess.
To reduce the oozing, I’ve read numerous techniques: breading, deep-frying, sauteeing, cooking with acids (eg tomatoes) etc. The easiest easiest and most practical way is to sautee the okra pieces with little oil until the pieces turn brown and dry prior to cooking the okra with anything else. It takes a while with lots of tossing but the result is worth it. The okra is tender but not mushy. Most importantly, the dish is not gooey.
My favourite is to cook okra with lots of sambal ala Muslim stalls in Singapore’s hawker centres. This is a rendition of the dish, using whatever leftover I have in the fridge.
Ingredients:
200 g okra, top removed, cut into bite-sized pieces.
200 g tofu, cubed
100 g stinky beans or pete, halved
2 red shallots, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small cubes of salted fish, crumbled
2 tbsp bottled prawn sambal
Oil for sauteing
1/4 cup of water
To grind (or use any kind of tomato-and-garlic-flavoured chili sauce):
1 small tomatoes
2 tbsp ground chilies
2 cloves garlic
Directions:
In a food processor, grind the tomatoes, ground chilies, and garlic. Set aside. (I keep this concoction - perfect for any sambal base - in the fridge. For the bottled version, the ingredients except for the garlic, are steamed first before blending).
Pour about 1 tbsp of oil on a pan. When hot, add the cut okra and fry until the skin is mottled and the edges are crisp, about 15 minutes. Toss the pieces from time to time to prevent scorching. Set aside.
Pour another 1 tbsp of oil and sautee the tofu and stinky beans until the tofu is golden brown and the pete beans are cooked. Set aside.
Pour about 2 tbsp of oil and gently fry the shallots, garlic, salted fish, prawn sambal and ground tomatoes and chilies until the shallots and garlic wilt and oil seeps through the edges of the spice mixture. Add the okra, tofu, and pete. Stir well.
At this stage, when the mixture is rather dry, add water to moisten. We want moist mixture not a soup so pour the water in batches to ensure control. You may not need all of the prescribed amount.
The dish is best served the next day with plenty of rice.
