Sambal Belacan is a Malaysian chili condiment with chilies, shrimp paste and lime juice.
It probably doesn’t need any introduction to South-East Asians at all. Especially Malaysians never leave the house without it. It adds so much extra flavour and zest to your rice and noodle dishes!
In this special variety of Sambal Belacan, Terung Asam (sour eggplant) is added for extra flavour.
Terung Asam is a tiny, yellow fruit with a hairy skin. It looks a bit like a cherry tomato, but tastes completely different.
This is the ultimate Sambal Belacan recipe. Hardly any meal is prepared in Malaysia without Sambal Belacan. You need to taste this!
- 5 pieces bird's eye chilies
- 3 pieces red chilies (seeded)
- 4 pieces terung asam (sour eggplant) (remove the hairy skin)
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp belacan (shrimp paste) (fry it in an oiled frying pan for a few minutes)
- 1 splash of lime juice
- 1 pinch of salt
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Cut the bird’s eye chilies, red chilies, belacan and the terung asam in pieces and put them into a kitchen processor of blender
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Process for 5 minutes until you have a smooth paste
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Add the sugar, salt and the lime juice to it
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Process for another 2 minutes
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Taste and finish with more salt and/or lime juice
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ENJOY!
