Prawn betel leaf wraps (miang kham)

This popular Thai street food can also be found in Laos. Designed to be eaten in a single bite, each wrap contains a sweet, salty, sour, spicy and crunchy filling of tamarind sauce, chopped raw onion, ginger, chilli and crushed peanuts. This dish is sometimes also presented deconstructed for people to make their own wraps. There are versions with dried prawns or chopped fried fish, but we’ve used cooked prawns.

Ingredients

• 1lime, white pith removed, rind reserved
• 70 g(1 cup) shredded coconut, toasted
• 75 g(½ cup) unsalted roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 300 gcooked school prawns, peeled
• ½small red onion, finely chopped
• 3 cm-pieceginger, finely chopped
• 3red bird’s-eye chillies, finely chopped
• 12betel leaves (see Note)

Sweet coconut sauce

• 70 g(1 cup) shredded coconut, toasted
• ½red onion, chopped
• ½ tspshrimp paste (see Note), roasted
• 1 tbsptamarind purée
• 110 g(½ cup) caster sugar
• 60 ml(¼ cup) corn syrup
• 1 tspground galangal or 3 cm-piece galangal or ginger, cut into 3 slices 

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Instructions

Serves 4 as a starter

To make sweet coconut sauce, process coconut, onion, shrimp paste, tamarind purée, 80ml water and 1 tsp salt in a food processor to a paste. Add another 330ml water and process until smooth. Transfer to a pan and stir in sugar, corn syrup and galangal. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 12 minutes or until reduced by two-thirds. Discard galangal, then set aside. The sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month.

Finely chop lime flesh and rind. Place lime, coconut, peanuts, prawns, onion, ginger and chillies in separate piles on a platter. Transfer sauce into a small bowl, add to platter with betel leaves, then serve for everyone to make their own. To assemble, place a little of each onto centre of leaf, wrapping tightly to enclose.

Notes

• Betel leaves are from select Asian food shops.

• Shrimp paste is from select supermarkets and Asian food shops. To roast, wrap in a piece of foil and place in an oven heated to 200°C for 10 minutes. Cool before using.

Photography Brett Stevens

http://www.sbs.com.au/

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