Chili Char

This is by far one of my most favorite Nyonya dish. I learned this dish from my good friend Shereen when I visit here in NZ. She is such a great cook and all her dishes were so delicious. This is not the only dish I learned from her but a few more and I will be sharing it here with you. With only this dish I can eat 2 bowls of rice. It is that good. It might looks like a very simple dishe but trust me, they were packed with great flavors. Please give it a try if you can get some nice good green chilies that are not too spicy.

Ingredients:

15-20 fresh green chilies with the stalk on
200 gram shallots (blend till fine)
60 gram of dried shrimps/udang kering
1 tsp of thick soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce

1. Trim a little bit of the chilies stalk but do not remove them completely (see picture).
2. Slit the chilies into halves and remove the seeds. If you like some heat in your chilies, leave some seeds near to the stalks.
3. Wash the prepared chilies under some cold running water. Leave aside.
4. Put a little bit of oil into the wok and fry the dried prawns until fragrant but not burnt. Scoop it out from the wok onto a kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Blend it until fine. In the same wok, fry the blended shallots until fragrant and slightly crispy. Add in your blended dried prawns and all of the green chilies. Stir well.
5. Add in thick soy sauce (this is only for color, add more if you prefer your gravy to be darker and less if you like the gravy to be lighter in color), light soy sauce (according to taste) and about 1 ½ - 2 cups of water.
6. Give it a stir and cover the wok. Cook until the green chilies are soft and have turned into light green color.
7. Serve with rice.

Note: The consistency of the gravy should not be too thick but also not watery. If you have added too much water, continue cooking uncovered until the water has evaporated. This dish improves with time. I always cook a bit more and freeze the extra. To reheat, simply thaw and zap it in the microwave