Sambal Brinjal Ladies Fingers Eggplant Okra

Posted 2014-06-16 by Antoinette Tan ⇒ follow

For Father's Day this year, Dad had a special request for his home-cooked meal, which is part of our family tradition: he wanted more vegetables. So we planned a menu that incorporated both leafy and non-leafy vegetables.

This sambal brinjal and ladies' fingers recipe uses a "cheat's method" of creating the base of spicy shrimp paste. Back when our grandmothers used to make this, they had to tediously pound away at the mortar and pestle. But today, with the help of a food processor, and with the invention of belacan (or belachan) powder, this sambal paste is good to fry in under 5 minutes, and a Father-pleaser to boot!

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients
1 large brinjal (eggplant/aubergine)
250g ladies' fingers (okra)
1 cup dried shrimp
1 tablespoon belacan (belachan) powder
2 fresh red chillies (adjust to your preference of spiciness)
3 tablespoons oil

Method

Soak dried shrimps in hot water for 10 minutes then rinse.