India didn’t have a lot of a packaged sizzling sauce tradition after I was rising up there within the Nineteen Nineties. For true warmth, my household and I ignored the clotting, barely used bottle of Tabasco on the dinner desk in favor of the pantheon of contemporary and dried chiles, chile powders, pickles, and Indo-Chinese language sauces at our disposal. In order an alternate scholar in Singapore, I used to be overjoyed to find chile belachan, a bright-orange shrimp paste-based Southeast Asian condiment that I rapidly anointed it as my platonic excellent of a sizzling sauce. Not solely is it the most well liked factor to ever enter my mouth, nevertheless it’s additionally among the many tastiest.
I wasn’t actually a fan of fermented shrimp paste till I attempted it within the type of chile belachan, which is also referred to as sambal terasi. Sambal is an umbrella time period for the chile sauces and pastes indispensable to Singaporean, Indonesian, and Malaysian cooking. Together with chiles and aromatics like garlic and shallots, they typically embody belachan, or fermented shrimp paste. Some two dozen variations of sambal abound all through the area; its many flavorings embody tomatoes, tamarind, kecap manis, dried fish, lemongrass, and fermented tempeh. When it’s mixed with a sinus-clearing quantity of chicken’s eye chiles, fermented shrimp paste transforms right into a delightfully funky and fiery taste bomb.
By the point I moved to america, I had someway managed to overlook about my beloved condiment. However that modified throughout a go to to my nook bodega, the place I noticed a jar of Huy Fong sambal oelek. Huy Fong is the model that pioneered Sriracha; its sambal oelek bears the identical trademark rooster. However after I tried it, my pleasure rapidly waned: the concoction tasted nothing just like the full-throttle sambal I had as soon as recognized and liked..
For too lengthy, sambal oelek, which is essentially the most fundamental sambal and a basis for different sambals, has remained the poster little one for this complicated household. It isn’t that it’s horrible; it’s simply that I discover its vinegary taste one-note and boring, so to me, it’s to sambal what what Sriracha is to the legions of “sizzling sauce” from Asia. I made a decision that I deserve higher sambal, and also you do too.
I searched Chinatown excessive and low for chile belachan, solely to discover a fun-sized jar from Taho within the hinterlands of Amazon — the place it’s considerably satirically known as “Southeast Asia’s model of Sriracha.” Its taste begins with a burst of acidity and saltiness, adopted by a gradual construct up of habanero-like warmth within the middle of your tongue. It ends with a contact of richness and the yuzu-like sweetness of calamansi. And whereas it resembles Thai curry paste or gochujang in look, chile belachan tastes like nothing else on the planet. At practically $15 a pop, the six-ounce jar will not be cheap, because of the pop-star remedy it receives by being flown from Singapore to the States. I haven’t seen it at Southeast Asian grocery shops right here both. That stated, just a little goes a good distance (one jar lasts me months) and it’s price each smidge.
Chile belachan pairs effectively with nearly all the pieces savory: it really works equally effectively as a ramification for grilled cheese and combined with three components mayo for egg salad, or as an alternative choice to harissa in a pita. I’ve made chile belachan noodles, dumplings, curries, fried rice, and Thai-style meatballs; I’ve used it to marinate roast rooster, salmon, eggplant, and chickpeas. I’ve combined it with yogurt for a nori ranch, a success amongst even essentially the most spice-averse.
After I added chile belachan to buttermilk brine, I ended up with the very best fried rooster I’ve ever made. Mellowed with tahini and honey, the fruity freshness of calamansi makes for an eye-popping salad dressing on kale and shaved carrots, and in addition works as a aromatic dipping sauce. And whereas I haven’t used it in desserts but, a tiny dot to switch the gochujang in these caramel cookies feels like a baker’s dream.
Auria Abraham, MasterChef alum and the founding father of Auria’s, a homegrown Malaysian condiment model, remembers studying a 2016 article that talked about that the phrase sambal solely appeared on one p.c of U.S. restaurant menus in 2015, however swelled to 50 p.c the next yr. “The panorama has positively modified,” says Abraham, who goes by the Sambal Girl on Instagram. She added, “Now most individuals know what I’m speaking about after I point out sambal.” Together with sizzling chile sambal, Auria sells a lime leaf taste. In Los Angeles, Evie makes a medium-hot belachan sambal, whereas Homiah, which is accessible nationally, sells a vegan model punctuated with seaweed.
If you happen to’re nonetheless not satisfied, take it from a professional: in 2022, as a really inexperienced author, I interviewed Madhur Jaffrey, the exalted cookbook creator who’s extensively often called the primary girl of worldwide Indian cooking. She recounted attempting belachan within the Nineteen Eighties (made by the previous Singaporean Prime Minister’s mom, no much less), so I despatched her a jar of Taho. Days later, Jaffrey known as to thank me. She talked about how a lot she loved it, and added that she relished it on home made burgers.
Chile belachan is a wonderful ambassador for cuisines from this small speck of the world. Attempting to substitute it will be a idiot’s errand, so don’t trouble. As an alternative, use it cautiously, and know that it doesn’t matter what you’re cooking, deliciousness is shut.
Mehr Singh is a meals and tradition reporter based mostly in New York. Her work seems in Bon Appétit, Food52, MR Journal, and different publications.
