Recipe of the week: Lara Lee’s sambal prawns with coconut and cashews

This Indonesian-inspired recipe shows you how to use a handful of kitchen staples to create a spectacular dish bursting with warmth and salty sweetness, says Lara Lee. Good-quality frozen prawns are one of the greatest emergency freezer-raid ingredients, but you can make it vegan by replacing them with slices of marinated firm tofu, patted dry and pan-fried until golden.

Ingredients: serves four

• 25g desiccated coconut
• flavourless cooking oil (sunflower, grapeseed or coconut)
• 20 medium raw prawns, peeled, tails on, defrosted
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed, or 2 tsp garlic paste
• 4 long red chillies, deseeded and finely diced
• 200g green beans, trimmed and cut into 5cm lengths diagonally
• 1 tbsp kecap manis
• ½ tsp coconut or brown sugar
• large pinch of fine sea salt
• 60g roasted salted cashews

Method

• Toast the coconut in a wok or large frying pan over a medium heat for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan frequently, until golden. Transfer the coconut to a plate.
• Wipe out the pan and heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the prawns in a single layer and cook for 1-2 minutes each side, or until they are just cooked through.
• Remove and set aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
• Heat another tablespoon of oil in the wok or pan, still over a medium heat. Add the garlic and chillies and cook, stirring continuously, for 3-4 minutes, until the chillies have softened and are starting to wrinkle.
• Add the green beans along with 1 tablespoon water, the kecap manis, sugar and salt. Cook for another 3 minutes or so, stirring regularly, until the green beans are just cooked through with a crunchy bite.
• Stir in most of the toasted coconut and cashews, reserving a little of each for garnish, and return the prawns to the pan. Toss everything together.
• Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle with the remaining coconut and cashews.

Recipe from A Splash of Soy: Everyday Food from Asia by Lara Lee, published by Bloomsbury at £22. Photography by Louise Hagger. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £17.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.

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