Chili Prawn and Chili Kangkong

My trip to Singapore definitely influenced my recent cooking experiments. One of the dishes I came up with is this Chili Prawn, inspired by the famous Singapore Chili Crab. I tried cooking Chili Crab earlier using Belacan (solid shrimp paste) I bought in Singapore, but my I didn't like the results too much. I decided to try again, this time with prawn, and using a local shrimp paste called Bagoong Alamang.

Chili Prawn Recipe:

1 kilo prawns, peeled and deveined
1 big white onion coarsely chopped
5 birds eye chillies coarsely chopped
1 medium sized green bell pepper chopped
1 medium sized red bell pepper chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons Bagoong Alamang
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
chopped green onions or kinchay for garnishing
Cooking oil

Procedure:

In a blender, blitz the onion and bird's eye chillies together for 30 seconds or until the mixture becomes a somewhat chunky paste. Saute this in oil, add the bagoong alamang and cook for a couple of minutes or so.

Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, and vinegar. Stir and allow to boil for a couple of minutes.

Add the bell peppers, then add the shrimp. Cover and allow to boil until the shrimp is cooked.

Garnish with chopped green onions or kinchay when serving.

The amount of bird's eye chilli is really up to you. In my original recpie I used 7 chillies, which was a mistake because the dish became a little too hot. The next time I would go for around just 5.  But I think I got a good balance of ingredients which made for a really nice tasting sauce.

At the same time I did this, I also did some Chili Kangkong.

Chili Kangkong Recipe:

5 bunches Kangkong (this measure is based on the bunch that's available for purchase at the local market).
1 bulb onion finely chopped
5 pcs Bird's Eye Chillies finely chopped
2 tablespoons Bagoong Alamang
1 tablespoon toasted garlic for garnishing

Procedure:

This is my approximation of the Kailan Sambal recipe I tasted in Singapore. I tried to make it less spicy, with simpler ingredients, and using a local equivalent of kailan.

In a wok or large deep pan, saute chopped garlic in oil and let cook for a bit (do not brown). Add the bagoong alamang and chillies and mix well. Add the kangkong. Lower the heat and cover for 5 minutes to allow the kangkong to cook and settle in the steam.

After 5 minutes, take off the lid and mix thoroughly until the garlic and chillies are well distributed throughout the kangkong.  This is pretty much done.

Garnish with toasted garlic upon serving. I usually get my toasted garlic from the local market where they sell siomai. I can do it myself, but it's time consuming, and sometimes I don't really get the best results.