Today I make sambal belacan chilli paste again. The ones I made last week were all gone and I only gave 2 cups worth away. The daughter complained she wanted to eat more.
We happened to go near a Chinese supermarket yesterday so I bought the biggest bag of dried chillies and 3 packets of fresh chillies I think amounted to a kg. I spent yesterday deseeding the dried chillies of as much of the seeds as I could. Took quite awhile but I have breaks for chocolates and coffees so no hardships.
Today daughter is home to help do washing up so she asked me to cook. In return I have to mark a big tub as hers and everyone don’t touch.
The recipe is simple and please adjust to your taste.
NOTE
- How spicy you want your sambal is entirely up to you. Sometimes you just cannot get spicy chillies and at other times they blow your head off – so there cannot be a fixed recipe.
- If the sambal is too spicy add more sugar. I prefer to use brown sugar but it is entirely up to you.
- Chillies seeds do not make your sambal more spicy. Please Google and read or should I say educate yourself. I hate to eat chilli seeds.
- Toasted belacan gives a more umami taste.
- Salt helps to draws out taste of everything so add some.
- Adding vinegar helps in preserving your sambal but hey it never last in my house! You can bottle them, vacuum seal them and they last forever.
- It took me on low heat about 2 hours for this batch discounting the deseeding dried chillies time and boiling time.
- Remember the taste mature the next day and it taste more mellowed.
- Enjoy eating knowing that your sambal is cooked with love and you can eat as much as a jar a day – kekekekeke
- There are so many uses – can add in dried shrimps, ikan billis, onions, garlic and anything you like to it.
Basic sambal chilli belacan – Special
Ingredients
- 800 g Dried chillies
- 1 kg Fresh chillies
- 2 tbsp Belacan toasted
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3 cups Oil
- 2 cups Vinegar
Instructions
- Relax and deseed the dried chillies while watching television whenever you can.
- Wash the dried chillies and leave them to soak in a pot ready for boiling.
- Put the soaked dried chillies to boil. Bring to boil and turn heat on low for an hour.
- Meanwhile remove the seeds from your fresh chillies.
- Toast your belacan.
- Add your oil to wok and start to heat.
- Blend your dried chillies and add to your hot oil. Do the same to your fresh chillies.
- Fry for half hour till the chillies and oil separates and slowly add in your toasted belacan. (adding more or less is up to you)
- TASTE – Add in sugar, more sugar if too spicy
- TASTE – To draw out the taste of everything you really need to add some salt (I know belacan is salty; use the best belacan you can get, they are not too salty)
- TASTE – Add in your vinegar and NO you cannot really taste the vinegar much. Adjust to your taste.
