International dishesSauces and DipsIndonesiaabout 40 minutes
Anyone who loves heat ends up making a jar of dried shrimp sambal to keep on hand. The sauce carries a deep shrimp flavor and a broad heat that never turns harsh.
The difficulty is grinding and cooking things in the right order, since a careless job leaves the raw bite of shallot behind. The pandan leaf is only there for aroma, so it stays in for another 3 minutes before the heat goes off, as longer will turn the sauce bitter.
This batch weighs about 826g, at roughly 142 calories per 100g.
Method
Rinse the dried shrimp and soak them for about 20 minutes until soft, then grind them until very fine.
Peel the shallot and grind it smooth. Chop the red horn chili and grind it, then add the dried chili and grind the two together until even.
Slice the galangal thinly and tie the pandan leaves into a bundle.
Heat 350g cooking oil in a pan and add the ground dried shrimp.
After about 2 minutes, add the shallot, the chili, 70g thick mam tom, the galangal, 30g tamarind paste and 40.5g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, and stir well.
Add the pandan leaves for aroma, stir for another 3 minutes and turn off the heat, as longer will make the sauce bitter.
Let the sauce cool, lift out the pandan leaves and the galangal, and store it in a sealed jar.
Tips
The sauce works for stir fried seafood, fried rice or as a dip for grilled food.
Vietnamese thick mam tom stands in for Indonesian belacan.
Tamarind paste is sold at Thai spice stalls, and ripe tamarind mashed into a thick pulp works in its place.
For less heat, use less dried chili and more red horn chili.
The oil has to cover the surface of the sauce in the container, since any spot left exposed grows mold within a few days.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.