Prawn Bai Cha with Crispy Garlic and Tuk Trey Dipping Sauce

Method

1. Make the tuk trey dip: stir the palm sugar into the fish sauce and lime juice until dissolved, then add the thinly sliced chillies and finely chopped garlic. It should taste salty, sour, sweet and hot in balance.

   Add in this stepFish sauce (for the dip) 1½ tbspLime juice (for the dip) 1½ tbspPalm sugar or sugar (for the dip) 1½ tspBird's eye chillies 1Garlic cloves (for the dip) 1

2. Crispy garlic: finely chop the garlic and put it in a cold 30 cm wok with the oil. Set over medium-low heat and stir constantly for 5 min, until pale gold, then pour straight through a sieve set over a heatproof bowl. Spread the garlic on kitchen paper, where it crisps as it cools; the strained garlic oil is what you fry the rice in. Garlic browns and turns bitter in seconds, so strain it a moment early rather than late.

   Add in this stepGarlic cloves (for crispy garlic) 8Vegetable oil 60 ml

   medium-low heat

3. Mix the soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar and pepper in a small bowl. Break up the rice with your hands, slice the sausage 3 mm thick on the diagonal, slice the spring onions and beat the eggs.

   Add in this stepLight soy sauce 1 tbspOyster sauce 1 tbspFish sauce 1 tspSugar ½ tspWhite pepper 1 pinch

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of the garlic oil in the wok over medium-high heat, stir-fry the sausage for 1 minute, then add the prawns and stir-fry for 3 min in total, until the prawns turn pink, opaque all the way through and just curled. Lift everything out.

   Add in this stepChinese sausage (lap cheong) 80 gRaw prawns, peeled and deveined 100 g

   medium-high heat

5. Add another tablespoon of garlic oil, turn up to high heat and when it just smokes, pour in the eggs. Stir in big folds for 30 sec, until softly half-set, and lift them out.

   Add in this stepEggs 2

   high heat

6. Add most of the remaining garlic oil and, over high heat, spread the rice across the wok, leave it for 10 seconds, then flip, and repeat for 3 min, until the grains hop and smell toasty. Pour the sauce around the hot edge so it sizzles, then toss in the sausage, prawns, egg and spring onions. If it says 1 batch, cook half the rice, sauce and other ingredients at a time. Keep any leftover garlic oil in the fridge and use it within 2 days.

   Add in this stepCooked jasmine rice, a day old and chilled 400 gSpring onions 2

   high heat

7. Pile onto plates and shower with the crispy garlic. Serve with cucumber, lime wedges and the tuk trey dip to spoon over each bite.

   Add in this stepCucumber 100 gLime ½