When Penangites move to Kuala Lumpur, one thing they usually won’t be able to get used to is the taste of sambal.

In the KL region, sambal is often a pretty sweet affair as it is prepared with oil, galangal, turmeric and sugar. On top of that, it involves a bit of cooking.

What Penangites are more familiar with is a version that’s ultra simple and requires only two or a maximum of three ingredients.

This sambal is superb as a condiment with fatty foods such as tau eu bak and can also be used as an ingredient for other recipes such as sambal fried rice.

Well, without further ado, here’s what you need to do to recreate that authentic, Penang-style sambal at home:

Method:

• Toast two tablespoons of belacan in a frying pan until dry and fragrant.
• Cut a dozen red chillies (seeds removed) into small chunks.
• Pound chillies with pestle and mortar until crushed.
• Keep chillies in fridge until ready to serve with belacan.
• Squeeze a bit of calamansi when serving, so the sambal belacan will instantly be “fresh”.

Good luck, stay safe and happy cooking!

This recipe was first published here.

Trying to influence your cravings since 2005, Kar Yeong was Guest Judge on Versus 1001 Rasa Baba’s 2018, R.AGE Food Fight Judge 2015 and NTV7 Foodie Blogger 2014. To read more about Kar Yeong’s food journeys, visit his blog at KYspeaks.com.