Prawn Toast With Tuk Trey Sauce Recipe

Take a walk through Singapore’s Telok Ayer neighbourhood and you’ll see bits and pieces of the island’s history: the Thian Hock Keng Temple, the remnants of the lives of fishermen who used to reside there, and stunning shophouses filled with tourists. But take a turn to 179 Telok Ayer Street, and you might discover something new – a New York-style deli, taking Singapore’s food scene by storm.

Park Bench Deli (PBD) brings the archetype of the American sandwich with a delectable, distinctive edge. Their motto? Do it big and do it right. The sandwiches are, in fact, big. Their concoctions are often bursting at the seams, with whatever new combination of ingredients the PBD chefs have ingeniously come up with.

There’s the Peanut Butter Jelly breakfast option, a childhood classic coated with cornflake crusted milk and mixed berry jam. There’s the Fried Chicken, combining buttermilk fried chicken with garlic aioli and potato roll.

For vegetarians, PBD has incorporated Impossible Foods Patty – a plant-based substitute for meat – into a variety of options. Take the Mushroom Melt, an aptly-named meal that hosts a crowd of roasted portobello, shimeji, and button mushrooms, offset with balsamic cream and mozzarella. Or there’s the Impossible Taco Salad, which fuses garden-variety vegetables with dried cranberries, impossible foods meat, and pumpkin seeds.

Yet despite the American deli-style it embraces, it also has some delectable sandwiches that are true to rich Asian flavors. One of their specials, the Halloween “Dark of Darkness” burger merges chicken with traditional Malaysian spices.

It’s safe to say PBD isn’t your average neighbourhood deli. And with its cult sandwiches comes a cult following, which explains how busy the store gets, not only during lunch-hour, but every weekend come brunch-time. Their formula: a quintessential amount of cold cuts and traditional meats placed with the bold, the tangy, and the stuff of foodie dreams.

For the aspiring at-home chefs, Park Bench Deli has shared an exclusive three-part recipe with VICE: The PBD Prawn Toast with Truk Tey sauce. This, just in time for the holidays.

for the prawn toast:
200g prawn, peeled and deveined
1pc garlic cloves
5g peeled ginger
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 egg white
1⁄2 tsp white sugar
20g chopped scallions
20g sesame seeds
Sesame oil for brushing
Sliced white loaf bread
Panko bread crumbs
960ml canola oil
Kewpie mayonnaise, to taste
Sriracha sauce, to taste

for the tuk trey sauce:
30ml (2 tbsp) palm sugar
30ml (2 tbsp) fish sauce
30ml (2 tbsp) lime juice
65ml water
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
10ml (2 tsp) chili paste
100g roasted peanuts, finely chopped

for the coleslaw:
1⁄2 leek, thinly sliced
1⁄4 white cabbage, thinly sliced
1 carrot, shredded
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1⁄4 cup tuk trey sauce

• Make the tuk trey sauce: Put all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until sauce is incorporated.
• Put the prawns, garlic, ginger, egg white, sugar, and soy in a food processor and blend to a paste consistency. Stir in the chopped scallions. Scrape into a bowl, cover, and chill for 30 mins.
• Brush one side of each piece of bread with sesame oil. Spread the prawn mixture on top, taking it right to the edges of the bread.
• Dip in beaten egg mixture carefully, until all sides are coated then pat all sides with panko bread crumbs.
• In a small pot, over high heat, bring the canola oil to 180°C. Deep fry the prawn toast for 1 1⁄2 minutes then rest in a rack to drain excess oil.
• Make the coleslaw: Mix leek, white cabbage, carrots, and shallots together and toss with tuk trey sauce.
• Cut fried prawn toast into four triangles and place on the bottom of the serving plate. Drizzle kewpie mayo and sriracha over the toast.
• Garnish with the tuk trey coleslaw on top of the prawn toast.

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