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Sambal Belacan
A bottle of homemade sambal belacan (belachan) is surely a handy condiment to have in the fridge. You can add some at the side to any local dish such as fried bee hoon and fried rice. As a condiment, it makes any dish taste better. I swear I will be happy eating plain white rice with only sambal belacan! :)
Note: The more belacan (shrimp paste) you use, the darker the colour of the sambal chilli. To suit my personal tastebuds, I used more than the stated quantity in the recipe, hence the darker shade. I love adding more belacan when making this chilli for stir-fries. If using it solely as a condiment, I use less belacan, i.e. the actual quantity stated in the recipe.
You can use sambal belacan for stir-fries (pictured above), or fry it with some dried shrimps, garlic and shallots for a more Chinese version of spicy dried shrimps, or more commonly known locally as hae bee hiam. Making your sambal belachan is really easy since there is no cooking involved (except for toasting the belacan beforehand). It stores in the fridge for slightly more than a week.
What a coincidence! I just made my very first Indonesian version of Sambal Belacan yesterday. A lot of frying and oil involved in ours. Very messy. I will try yours.
Wow…this looks addictive! Would be so cook to cook with everything and eat with everything!
Ah dui! Nothing like home-made sambal and better still if it’s done by pestle and mortar.
Wow! Sambal Belachan…. our Malaysian all time favourite! I must have this with my nasi lemak! :)
I think nasi lemak belachan chilli has a slightly different concoction though you can use this too :)
Hi, I am a noob at cooking, so how do you toast belacan in a dry pan?
Hi, you could also toast your belacan in a microwave for less than a minutes on medium temperature. At least by doing it this way the whole house won’t be so smelly especially in a cold climate place whereby kitchen window are closed
Thanks so much for sharing the tip Nancy, good to learn a new way of toasting the belacan. I’ll try it out!
Nur, for toasting it in a dry pan method – I heat up a pan, then place the belacan on it. Let it warm up for a few minutes. Some people also fry it till it crumbles and flakey, for me I just warm it.
I only recently discovered sambal belachan – I wish I had discovered it sooner! It is indeed a lovely condiment – I am not sure if I would have ever considered making this at home but what you said about not going back to store bought has definitely inspired me.
It sounds easy. I should make my own sambal belachan next time. I wonder where I can get belachan here.
Thisis very interesting and looks tasty. Thisis new to me and I must try it. Thank you!
I would have to try this real soon!
This condiment is great, it’s always good to have something readily available in the fridge and homemade of course.