Any fan of Italian food knows pesto, that strikingly bright green sauce traditionally made with fresh basil, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic and extra virgin olive oil, and tossed through pasta for a flavourful meal.

Well, here’s a recipe for a localised version of “pesto”, using common favourite ingredients such as ginger flower (bunga kantan), lemongrass, chillies, garlic and onion. The only thing you’d need to splurge on is some nice extra virgin olive oil and a lemon.

The secret ingredient here is prawn paste, also known as otak udang. If you’re vegan/vegetarian or have an allergy, swap it out for some grated coconut sugar or gula Melaka.

Refreshing, moreish, comforting, deep, a little tangy and with a hint of smoky caramel, don’t be surprised if ginger-flower pesto becomes a regular dish in your household… perhaps even as a unique offering for your festive Chinese New Year meals!

Ingredients

For the pesto

• 2 ginger flower (approximately 135g)
• 2 large red chillies, stems removed
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 cili padi stems removed
• 1 small red onion, peeled
• 2 sticks lemongrass
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 80g prawn paste diluted with equal amounts water
• 250g (1 packet) spaghetti, cooked according to instructions

For the garnishing

• 1 large red onion, peeled
• 20g mint leaves
• 1 large red chilli

Method

• Start with the garnishing. Take 5 to 6 ginger-flower petals and slice into long, thin strips.
• Slice the red chilli and large onion finely. Set aside.
• Cut the rest of the ginger flower, red chilies and red onion into smaller chunks. As
• lemongrass is very fibrous, you’ll want to cut them as thinly as possible so it blends nicely.
• Blend the cut ginger flower, red chilies, red onion and lemongrass along with garlic, cili padi and olive oil until smooth. Use a high-powered or handheld blender to avoid adding water to this mixture.
• Squeeze the lemon and add about half the amount of juice. Blend to mix and taste for tartness. You want the sourness of the lemon to be pleasant while complementing the rest of the ingredients.
• Add the diluted shrimp paste and blend until thoroughly combined.
  Finally, add the salt and continue blending until mixed through. You may want to add half the salt first and adjust the amount accordingly as different brands of prawn paste contain different levels of salt.
• Add your freshly cooked pasta to a large bowl and top it up with the garnishing ingredients.

• Pour the blended mixture over the top.
• Toss all the ingredients together, making sure the spaghetti is coated evenly with the ginger-flower pesto.
• Serve individually or in a large bowl so everyone can help themselves. Enjoy!

Tips

• If you like things super spicy, feel free to add more cili padi.
• Prefer a creamier emulsion? Reserve some of the water used to boil your pasta and add it to the mixture tablespoon by tablespoon during the blending process until you get the desired consistency.
• If you’re serving vegetarian/vegan guests alongside non-vegetarians, opt to serve the shrimp paste and coconut sugar on the side so they can mix it into their pasta accordingly.
• If you have pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and the like, toss a teaspoon or two over your ready-mixed ginger-flower pesto pasta. The texture and flavour complement this dish really well.
• Make the pesto a few days in advance and toss it with some freshly cooked pasta and garnishing when you’re good and ready. Store the pesto mixture in the fridge in the meantime.

This article first appeared in butterkicap.com, a food and culture platform and community that enables anyone to experience Malaysia through stories of its people, food and places.