I bought these huge prawns sometime ago, before the RMCO, if I am not mistaken, but we never got round to cooking them…
No, they did not come cheap – RM55.00 a kilo. I think pre-COVID-19, we could get them this big for much less, RM45.00 a kilo. These are hard times, people do not have much money and the irony is the prices of everything are shooting up even though many can ill-afford them.
Anyway, I decided to take them out of the freezer that morning and cook and I was wondering what we could do with them. We had curry prawns not too long ago, tom yam goong prawns…and prawns with pineapples so we would like something different. I remember how my girl loved the claypot fish with yam at the restaurants…
…and I felt we could cook our own nicer version of it with the prawns instead of the cheap fish fillet…and a whole lot of yam.
That was why I went in search of some yam that morning and found a lady selling these pi nang variety…
…supposedly of a better quality when it comes to the tuber. She said it was RM12.00 a kilo so I asked for two. She weighed them and calculated how much that was and when she told me it was over RM18.00 but she would let me have them for RM18.00, I almost fainted. I couldn’t believe those two could be so heavy and indeed, they were! Well, my mind was made up so I bought them, anyway and I also grabbed some tofu puffs, a bit of leek and daun sup (Chinese celery) and headed on home.
I told my missus that we had some canned mushrooms in the pantry but she said she did buy some fresh ones that she could use. She also added a couple of potatoes and some carrot and this…
…was what we had for our lunch and dinner that day, our one-pot meal of claypot prawns with pi nang yam.
My missus said that one would have been enough, two would be too much so she used one for the above dish and cooked bubur cacar…
…with the other one and there was still enough left over for some yam fritters. Come to think of it, it wasn’t all that expensive actually.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
The prawns can last that long? I mean for months even in the freezer?
By the way the dish looks delicious. And the prawns…they are very big for sure. 😀
Yes, buy only when the seller who can be trusted tells you they have just arrived. Clean and devein (or you can do it when you want to cook them) and keep in the freezer, do not take out…which is more than what I can say about those at the sellers. They take out today and defrost for sale…and if unsold, they will freeze again overnight and defrost again the next day…and when they do it again and again, the prawns will not be fresh anymore, not sweet and even the texture is no longer succulent – you can taste the difference.
Would be good to fill the container of prawns with water so they will be frozen in ice – can last forever, fresh as on Day 1…and besides, the RMCO isn’t that long ago, a few weeks only, not months.
I love bubur caca,we have an equivalent dish to that called ginataang halo halo. Nice and heavy snack
I guess all of us in the ASEAN region share a lot in common.
I like the bubur Bubur cha cha most. Best if gula Melaka is added. Wonder if the prawns still taste sweet after being in the freezer for that long.
Yes, if you do not take it in and out…and there’s no blackout, no electricity, best if you fill the container with water, frozen in ice – like the tiger prawns exported from Sabah. You can taste the sweetness and how succulent, so very QQ the fresh prawns are. Sometimes I buy from the market, cook and eat right away – not so sweet, not so succulent, can tell right away, not so fresh. The seller must have taken it in and out, defrost for sale and when not sold, freeze it again.
Wow, the claypot dish looks so good… and thumbs up for the dessert as well! Yummy, one dish like this is enough for me!
Yes, no need to cook too many dishes, just one balanced dish with protein, veg and carbs would be enough.
The two yams look so small hee..hee.. but so heavy! Your missus’ dish must be delicious. I bet I’d have a second plate of rice with that hee..hee… Not bad, enough yam to make bubur cha cha too!
Ummmm…what are you thinking about, small but heavy? Muahahahahahaha!!!! Yes, we loved the claypot dish and all the rest!
I’ve heard chefs complain that ingredient prices are shooting through the roof but customers are looking for cheaper meals. It’s a no win for the poor chefs caught in between supplier and consumer.
The sign of the times. This COVID-19 sure is a thorn in the flesh, the price increase can’t be avoided. Hopefully, it will come down when things get better.
That’s pretty good price if you’re in KL!
Ya, I guess it is worse there – city prices.