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Abby Lee, instantly recognisable by her tangerine and violet hair, is standing at her kitchen island in Hackney, east London, chopping some long red chillis. “Don’t bother deseeding them,” she says, chucking the slices in a big silver bowl. “They are quite mild, but we have dried chillis to provide the heat.” The Malaysian chef and founder of the openkitchen concept Mambow in Peckham, southeast London, is demonstrating how to cook the sambal for her steamed okra and prawn floss dish (you can find the recipe below). “It’s comforting,” she says, recalling how her auntie would have it ready and waiting for her after school. “It reminds me of home.”

Filming and Editing: Edmund Cook
Production: Hannah Phillips
Graphic Design: Tom Young

Abby’s recipe for steamed okra with sambal and prawn floss
“This tastes so good alongside other homestyle dishes and piping hot rice.”

Serves 4

For the rempah paste
1 small red onion
85g lemongrass, green tops removed halfway (reserve for flavouring rice or tea)
100g long red chilli
6g belacan (shrimp paste)
½tsp ground turmeric

For the sambal
100ml vegetable oil, or any other neutral oil
8g fine sea salt
12g granulated sugar
45g tamarind concentrate, the light brown SouthEast Asian version

For the prawn floss
20g dried shrimp, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes
10g vegetable oil
Crispy shallots/onion
½ lime

350g okra

Roughly chop the onion, lemongrass and chilli for the rempah. Blend in a food processor with the belacan. Mix in the turmeric well.

Now make the sambal. In a saucepan, heat up the oil to medium heat. Add the rempah, stirring regularly, until the oil separates. This process requires a bit of patience, as it could take up to 2530 minutes. If the rempah is caramelising too fast, turn the heat down. Once the oil has separated, add the salt, sugar and tamarind. Taste and season accordingly, depending if you prefer things more sweet, salty or sour. Balancing those flavours is key.

While waiting for the sambal to cook, make the prawn floss. Drain the dried shrimp well and blend till crumbly in texture. Put a frying pan over a low heat, add oil and blended shrimp and stir until lightly caramelised and dry.

Steam the okra for 58 minutes and check for tenderness with a fork. Serve with sambal, prawn floss and crispy shallots on top. Squeeze over the juice of half a lime for an extra zing!

00:18 Kitchen design and brief
01:33 Sustainable design tips
02:37 Tools
04:58 Steamed okra with sambal and prawn floss recipe
05:11 The sambal
07:10 The okra
07:42 The prawn floss

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