Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Stir-fried Asparagus with Sambal Belacan

We had some friends over for lunch last weekend, and as usual (by popular demand), G prepared chicken rice and I prepared a side dish of Sambal Asparagus. It was my first time making it after many years, and I was afraid that I might have forgotten what it should taste like. Well, fortunately it turned out pretty well, although next time I would probably add more chilli to it :)

Sambal Asparagus

2 bunches asparagus (approx 400g), woody ends trimmed
2 tbsp dried shrimp, washed and left for 15 minutes to soften
6 shallots
3 cloves garlic
2-3 tbsp chilli paste (made from dried chillies)
2 tsp belacan (fermented shrimp paste)
1/4 cup oil

Seasoning:
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Method

Cut the asparagus into 5cm lengths. Blend/pound the dried shrimp, shallots and garlic until almost fine. Heat oil in wok and fry the blended ingredients, belacan and chilli paste until fragrant for about 3-4 minutes or until caramelized into a deep red colour. Mix in seasoning. Then add asparagus and stir-fry on high heat for about 3 minutes. Check for seasoning. Dish out and serve with white rice.