Sambal Udang Pete

When I was a teenager and living with my grandmother, I could tasted dishes complimented with petai at least once a week. My grandmother could cook them in different varieties of dishes and they were all absolutely delicious and addictive. They could be added to curry, stir fried, deep fried, steamed, braised and fried chilli. But my absolute favourite is the young petais which are still in their pods sliced very thinly, then deep fried until crunchy. They then stir fried with sambal chilli and deep fried ikan teri (also known as ikan bilis or deep fried anchovies).

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find fresh petai in Australia, at least not that I know of. All I could get is frozen petai or petai in can. I usually buy the frozen one, however when they are defrosted, they become soggy and you couldn’t really achieve how the petai should be taste like in a dish, if you know what I mean. My aunt actually suggested me to use the can one instead of the frozen one because she said they are crunchier and taste fresher. Well next time I’ll definitely give a can one a go.

I believe not everybody will love petai because of its distinct smell, and if your toilet could complain, it will reject you from doing your things there. The smell will remains for quite sometimes in the bathroom. To prevent you from curiosity, have a go with cooking something different for your dinner tonight, then you will understand what I meant.

Ingredients

• 1 kg prawns, head off , shell off and vein off but keep the tail
• 500 gr potatoes, cut into cubes and deep fried
• petai also known as Sator (could be found in Asian groceries store, frozen or canned in brine)
• 1 tomato, wedges
• 1 tbsp garlic puree
• about 1 cup of chilli puree
• 1  tsp salt or according to your preferences
• 2 tbsp vinegar (different brand might have different level of sourness, so don’t add everything at the same time)
• 3 tbsp sugar or according to  your preferences
• 1 1/2 tbsp tomato sauce
• oil for stir frying