It has been quite a long while since I last posted. Feels good to start clicking at the keyboard again. The past month has been pretty eventful not to mention the lack of sleep due to 2 under-the-weather children taking turns to have their ‘go’ at mom. Anyway that’s over now and most importantly I have gulai to share.
My mobile market brought me some very fresh baby stingrays. It has been a while since I last cooked this dish. Memory is blurr but slowly coming back as I imagine the sweetness of the spices, the spicy flavour and the sharpness of the curry.
Ingredients
4Â pcs of 200 gm baby stingrays (chop into 3 portions)
12 dried chilies (soaked in hot water and seeded)
3 medium size lemongrass (cut into 3 inches length and bruised)
1 inch fresh tumeric (skin scraped off and sliced) or 1 Tbsp tumeric powder
15 shallots (skinned)
5 cloves of garlic (skinned)
1 Tbsp toasted fresh belacan
2 medium size ginger flower (one halved, the other sliced thinly)
2 Tbsp assam paste (soaked in 400ml hot water)
3Â ripe red tomatoes (halved)
1 large onion (quartered)
6 lady fingers
sea salt
sugar
oil
Method
- Blend dried chili, fresh tumeric, shallots and garlic together.
- Add oil in a heated claypot, stir the blended ingredients and toasted belacan until fragrant.
- Put in 1 Tbsp of sugar and stir till the oil is separated from the ingredients. Take extra care not to burn the blended ingredients.
- Pour in the strained assam water, stirring constantly. Add the halved ginger flower and lemongrass. Simmer for 10 minutes and add in tomatoes and quartered onion. Simmer another 10 minutes.
- Put in the stingray pieces and simmer for 10 minutes then add lady fingers, bring to boil for 2 -3 minutes. Stir the gulai and season with salt.
- Remove the halved ginger flower and garnish with the sliced ginger flower.
- Serve immediately.
