California girl prawn curry with sambals

Growing up on the ‘So Cal’ coast, it was normal for us to have enchiladas, sukiyaki or ‘authentically British’ fish and chips for dinner, but a curry? Sally-Mom would make a curry from scratch – including all the sambals – when we had company. The scent of a curry cooking was mysterious but alluring to us kids and we knew those little dishes – ‘sambals’ – of coconut, toasted chopped peanuts, diced bananas, cashew nuts, olives, pineapple, golden raisins, jars of Major Grey’s, with ‘Sunday-best’ spoons placed carefully aside, would soon appear on the table. What a treat! We would pile plates high with rice, a little curry, mild chutney and lots of our favourite sambals.