Will Meyrick, of Will St, shares his recipe for a fragrant Indonesian curry loaded with native greens and given heft with juicy Skull Island prawns, grilled for extra flavour. Summer barbecues just got interesting.
80 ml vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of woku curry paste (from Asian grocers)
1 lemongrass stalk (white part only), bruised
2 lime leaves, bruised
50ml chicken stock
400ml coconut milk (thin out your coconut milk 1 part to 2 water to reach required amount )
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
300g Skull Island prawns, butterflied (with shells on), deveined
100g warrigal greens
2 small red chillies
5 cherry tomatoes (roasted for 15 minutes)
1 small bunch of lemon basil or tree basil
1 small punnet of lemon balm
Steamed rice, to serve
Bush tomato butter
50g dried salted fish (from Asian grocers)
50 g dried bush tomato
250g butter, softened
5 finely chopped eschalots
1/2 bunch coriander, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
For the bush tomato butter, blend the dried fish (or pound it with a mortar and pestle) and place in a bowl. Then blend bush tomato and add to bowl. Add remaining ingredients and fold together to make a flavoured butter.
To make the curry, heat oil in a wok or saucepan over medium heat. Add curry paste and bruised ingredients and stir through until paste separates and becomes fragrant.
Pour in the coconut milk, allow for the oil to separate and rise to the top, then pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Add tamarind and season to taste with salt.
Heat a barbecue or char-grill pan to high, add prawns, shell-side down. Grill for 2 minutes, then spoon bush tomato butter onto the flesh and allow it to melt. Once it’s melted, flip the prawns for a few seconds, then remove from heat and rest.
Blanch warrigal greens for 1 minute in a large pot of boiling water, then refresh in cold water. Drain, and squeeze tight to take out any water. Chop the greens roughly, add to curry with chillies and tomatoes and simmer for 2 minutes to reduce. Top curry with grilled prawns and herbs and serve with steamed rice.
