Sambal String Ray

Went for cooking lessons as part of a team bonding workshop at Sunrice, a culinary academy at Fort Canning. Learnt 3 Singaporean favourites - Sambal Sting Ray, Laksa and Popiah. Never knew it was so easy!

Ingredients (serves 4)

600g sting ray
5g salt
Oil to baste

Sambal chilli tumis
20g dried prawns
75g shallots (about 2)
3 cloves garlic
15 dried red chilli - deseeded and soaked
1/2tsp prawn paste (balachan)

Method

1) Marinate the sting ray with salt and set aside.

2)Pound all the ingredients for the paste together to obtain a fine paste. Start with prawns, garlic and shallots, then chilli and lastly, balachan. To make it easier, you can chop the ingredients up first before pounding.
3) Heat the 4 tbls oil in a pan. Add the paste and stir fry until fragrant. It will turn dry, so keep adding water slowly tsp by tsp and fry until the mixture becomes wet and 'shiny'. The paste should be moist but not like a gravy!
4) Spoon the sambal over the sting ray and pat down, ensuring that the whole surface is covered.
5) Heat a grill and grill the sting ray on each side for 5 mins or until cooked.
6) Alternatively, put sting ray on banana leaf and bake at 180 degrees for 15 mins or until cooked.
7) Garnish with lime and serve hot.