SLOW-FRIED FERMENTED SHRIMP PASTE CHILLI (sambal tumis belachan)
A key chilli paste in Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine, it can be served on the side – smeared over fried eggs or carrot cake (see here) – or used as a base for all manner of stir-fried vegetables, seafood, noodles or rice: see sambal aubergines (here), sambal clams (here), nasi goreng (here). What’s unique about this chilli paste is belachan, a block of potent-smelling fermented ground shrimp. I still remember my English flatmate’s face turning green the first time I cooked with it. Once cooked, though, the smell mellows, and what you get at the end of the slow-frying process is a chilli that’s spicy, sweet, salty, tangy and smoky all at once.
- 30 dried chillies
- 3 tablespoons tamarind pulp
- 2.5cm off a block of belachan (fermented shrimp paste)
- 400g shallots
- 4 large fresh chillies (not too spicy)
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 3 stalks of lemongrass, white part only
- 100ml groundnut oil
- a 2.5cm slice (4–5 tablespoons) of gula melaka (unrefined dark palm sugar)
- sea salt, to taste
- Put the dried chillies into a sieve. Using scissors, snip the chillies and shake the sieve vigorously to remove most of the seeds. Soak the chillies in warm water until soft, then drain, discarding the water. In another bowl, soak the tamarind in 6 tablespoons of hot water for 15 minutes, until softened. Massage and squeeze to get the juices from the pulp, then strain and discard the pulp.
- Open your windows. Toast the belachan in a dry pan for about 5 minutes, chopping at it with your spatula to break it up, until aromatic and powdery. You can also do this in the oven for less fuss/fewer complaints from next door.
- Blend or pound the toasted belachan, shallots, chillies, garlic and lemongrass until you get a smooth paste.
- Heat your wok and add the groundnut oil. Fry the paste over a medium-low heat, stirring to make sure it doesn’t stick or burn. After 20 minutes, add three-quarters of the tamarind paste, followed by the gula melaka, allowing it to slowly melt into the hot sambal. Keep stirring. The chilli is cooked when you see the oil separating from the mixture. It usually takes at least 30 minutes. Taste and adjust with more sugar, salt or tamarind paste if needed.
- The sambal will keep for 3 weeks in the fridge, as long as you always dip into it with clean spoons and keep submerged under a layer of oil. Or spoon the hot sambal into hot jars and seal tightly before sterilizing in boiling water.