Out of all the recipes I have in my head and of all the food I have cooked, this is my most treasured and essential ingredient. I have watched my Aunt make this chilli sauce since I was tiny and now I always keep a supply ready in my fridge.
It is the singularly most versatile ingredient you could use in Singapore / Malaysian cooking and defines the taste of these cuisines. It is used in laksa, numerous curries, fried with meats, sotong (squid), kang kong (morning glory) or eggplant, and even eaten as an accompaniment with rice.
I can always count on it to add flavour and oomph to any dish to elevate it from delicious to amazing! You get the idea about how great I think this is, so if you could cook only one out of all the dishes on this site, choose this one.
There are a few variations to this chilli sauce but the essential four ingredients are searing hot chillies, lots of garlic, onion and lastly belachan.
The chilli is traditionally ground into a paste in the mortar and pestle till most of the seeds have been crushed. Much of the chilli skin would be broken up but remains as flakes. I prefer to put the chilli into the blender as it is much less work but it yields a different (smoother) texture and is more like a sauce as compared to the traditional Sambal Belachan which is a paste you can bite into.
Add to a couple of large handful of chillies a handful of garlic, half a large onion and a thick slice (1.5cm) of belachan. Blend till most of the seeds have been crushed. Add some water to the blender to allow it to blend properly.
Pour the spicy chilli mix into a pre-heated pan with 1/3 cup oil and gently fry the sauce until it thickens up into a paste. Stir well. Add a couple of pinches of salt if it isn't salty enough (I love spicy hot food and I can taste this straight out of the pan but if you can't perhaps keep some rice on the side to put the chilli on). The mixture will absorb the oil as you stir it...keep frying until the sauce turns darker red and the oil starts to come out again.
By thehomefoodcook, Published: April 4, 2012
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 20 servings
How to Make Peranakan Sambal Belachan Chilli
Ingredients:
It is the singularly most versatile ingredient you could use in Singapore / Malaysian cooking and defines the taste of these cuisines. It is used in laksa, numerous curries, fried with meats, sotong (squid), kang kong (morning glory) or eggplant, and even eaten as an accompaniment with rice.
I can always count on it to add flavour and oomph to any dish to elevate it from delicious to amazing! You get the idea about how great I think this is, so if you could cook only one out of all the dishes on this site, choose this one.
There are a few variations to this chilli sauce but the essential four ingredients are searing hot chillies, lots of garlic, onion and lastly belachan.
The chilli is traditionally ground into a paste in the mortar and pestle till most of the seeds have been crushed. Much of the chilli skin would be broken up but remains as flakes. I prefer to put the chilli into the blender as it is much less work but it yields a different (smoother) texture and is more like a sauce as compared to the traditional Sambal Belachan which is a paste you can bite into.
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| image by: tvol |
Add to a couple of large handful of chillies a handful of garlic, half a large onion and a thick slice (1.5cm) of belachan. Blend till most of the seeds have been crushed. Add some water to the blender to allow it to blend properly.
Pour the spicy chilli mix into a pre-heated pan with 1/3 cup oil and gently fry the sauce until it thickens up into a paste. Stir well. Add a couple of pinches of salt if it isn't salty enough (I love spicy hot food and I can taste this straight out of the pan but if you can't perhaps keep some rice on the side to put the chilli on). The mixture will absorb the oil as you stir it...keep frying until the sauce turns darker red and the oil starts to come out again.
This is the most basic version of sambal belachan chilli. It can now be used as an additive to cook further dishes or eaten with rice. From here, this base version can also be adapted into other variations for use with different dishes.
For a curry version of the sambal belachan chilli, add to the base version; turmeric, candle nut, lemongrass, double the onion, galangal (blue ginger), coriander seeds and large dried chilli.
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| image by: avlxyz |
For a laksa sambal belachan, add dried prawns to the curry version.
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| image by: meyannie |
For a sour curry style like fish curry, add assam (tamarind).
If you want more of a dipping style sauce, which is perfect for for eating with cockle shells, sting ray (skate) or other seafood, eliminate the onion from the base version and blend only the garlic and chilli first. Place the belachan slice into a hot dry pan and toast it until fragrant and crumbly. Do not burn it. Add the belachan back into the chilli and blend. If not salty enough, add more toasted belachan. Finally squeeze lime into the mix. This version is not cooked in the pan after this and is ready to serve. I like to eat this by dipping keropok (prawn crackers or bitternut crackers) into it.
I hope you try making this even if you aren't a chilli enthusiast like me. You will find that this will add that extra dimension of authenticity to any Singaporean / Malaysian dish you are cooking. Experiment with the proportions. A little difference can make a significant change to the flavour of the sauce. Also, keep in mind the texture of the dish. How much or little the chilli is blended will affect it's taste greatly. You may want to remove the chilli seeds first to tone down the spiciness and take away some bitterness.
There are many more variations of this out there, for example, add gula melaka (palm sugar) and assam for the version which goes with Nasi Lemak (famous coconut rice dish served with fried egg and fish / chicken). I've already described five versions here, do you know of any more?
By thehomefoodcook, Published: April 4, 2012
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 20 servings
How to Make Peranakan Sambal Belachan Chilli
Ingredients:
- Chilli: 1 handful
- Red onion: 1/2
- Garlic: 1 handful
- Belachan: 1 slice
- Salt: a pinch
- Oil: 3/4 cup
- Dried prawns
- Assam
- Palm sugar
- Lime juice
- Tomato paste