The Best Sambal Belacan Recipe

The Best Sambal Belacan Recipe

What type of sambal do you like best? What do you think is they key ingredient for the fiery-kick tasty sambal?

And preparing sambal traditionally - with a mortar - what's the difference if you use a food processor machine?

Or do you even like sambal... I know some people don't! But if you're truly Malaysian... No matter what your background is, sambal's the favourite!!

Originated from the Malay circle of food - one cannot eat rice without a touch of chili. So comes the various preparation of spicy condiments in the Malay food. My god mother simply have no appetite to eat rice, if there is no chili! - As she says, even fresh bird's eye chili will do.

I have a friend who makes sambal kicap - lots of extremely fiery green chili padi, blended and cooked in sweet dark soya sauce. It is nice, bu seriously - too spicy for my stomach.

And comes to my mother's version of Sambal Belacan...

The key ingredient to my mother's Sambal Belacan is the belacan (shrimp paste). Choose one that is slightly "fair" and smells good. Never buy those that are very dark and smells a bit too... oh how do I explain this, when belacan basically smells almost the same... anyway, as long as you have it, here is what you need to do with it - you just need a small little portion, about 1 tablespoon of belacan, and lightly toast it on fire till it is aromatic.

And lemon - juice up 2-3 small lime and add in the sambal after preparing it, and stir. This adds the fresh zest to the sambal.

:: Ingredients ::
3 big red chili, break to 3 pieces
1 big green chili, break to 3 pieces
10 cili padi
1 tablespoon toasted belacan
juice of 3 lime
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

With a stone mortar, start pounding the chilis hard - crush and crush them. Be careful not to let the juice get to your eyes - you might not stop crying... As the chilis mash up, add the belacan and pound it. Add a little bit of water if it is too dry, to ease the pounding. Once you get a ''gravy'' sorta texture, stop, add the lemon juice in, combine.

Transfer to a small bowl, and serve with rice, fried fish, fish curry, or any other dish such as fried rice, and noodles.

http://myfoodilicious.blogspot.com/2008/04/best-sambal-belacan-recipe.html