A Cool Female Chef Shares 3 Recipes & A Fun Cooking Playlist

Remove the shell of just the body, leaving the tail end and the head. Devein the prawns.

Soak the tamarind pulp with hot water for 10 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, use your hands to really squeeze the pulp and water together to create a smooth paste.

Add the tamarind puree to a bowl with the prawns, sugar, dark soy, light soy and salt. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

Remove the prawns from the marinade and strain it. In a wide pan or wok, heat enough oil to shallow-fry over medium heat, sear both sides of the prawns until lightly caramelised, and set aside.

Add the marinade and reduce it slightly to get sticky. Have a taste at this point to see if you’d like it sweeter or saltier; I usually add more sugar.

Finally, get the prawns back in to properly coat each one, until all of them are sticky and caramelised. Serve.

Make the spice paste first. Roughly chop the red chilli, shallot and ginger. Thinly slice the lemongrass and galangal. Add all of these to the food processor and blend until smooth. Stir through the turmeric.

Make the curry next. Heat 1cm of oil to medium heat, and fry the spice paste until the oil has separated from the paste. This could take around 30-45 minutes. Turn the heat down slightly if it starts catching. Stir occasionally.

Add the sugar and a big pinch of salt. Let the paste caramelise for another 5 minutes. Stir in the water, kaffir lime leaf and tamarind. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. In the meantime, cut your squash into wedges, season lightly with salt, pepper and olive oil, and roast in a 200 °C oven until tender and slightly charred, for about 20-30 minutes.

Stir the coconut milk into the curry. Check the consistency: it should be rich and thick so if not, reduce it further. Taste to see if you’d like more salt and sugar, or even more coconut. Serve with your charred squash wedges, a squeeze of lime and crispy onions.

Make the marinade first. Roughly chop the red onion, red chilli and galangal. Blend this with the belacan until smooth.

Add this to a pan with the rest of the ingredients, simmering on a low heat for around 20 minutes or so, until slightly thickened. Season at the end with more salt and sugar to taste. Let it cool. Mix this with the chicken pieces and let them marinate for at least an hour. Skewer the chicken pieces and heat a pan, a 200 °C oven or a barbecue. Grill until cooked through, basting with any remaining marinade as it cooks.

Lightly sprinkle some flaky salt over to finish. I like wrapping the skewers in banana leaves to rest the chicken and absorb its aromas. Use a thin strip of banana leaf to tie them up.

Make the tamarind sauce by bringing the tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar and water to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer for 10 minutes. Break up the tamarind pulp as much as you can. Let the sauce cool before adding the chillies and red onion.

Pour over to serve.