Sambal Hae Bee or Sambal Udang Kering is one of the most delicious condiment as it is made from tasty dried prawns and the aromatic spices. It is sweet, salty, mildly sour and very fragrant. It is best eaten with white rice. However, I like to eat it with bread - sandwich it with cucumber. Sambal Hae Bee can also be used as fillings for bread and pulut panggang.
Ingredients:
- 125 g dried prawns
- 10 g dried chilies
- 100 g fresh red chilies
- 125 g shallots
- 40 g garlic
- 5 g fresh turmeric
- 50 g lemongrass
- 5 pieces of kaffir lime leaves
- 5 g belacan
- 30 g tamarind juice
- 100 g cooking oil
- 35 g brown sugar
- 4 g salt
Method:
- Wash, soak and pound the dried prawns. (It is not advisable to use the blender as the dried prawns would be too fine. It is best to use the mortar and pestle to pound the dried prawns so that they are slightly coarse.)
- Wash and soak the dried chilies. Cut them into small pieces when they have softened.
- Wash and cut the fresh red chilies into small pieces
- Peel and wash the shallots. Cut them up coarsely.
- Peel and wash the garlic. Cut them up coarsely.
- Remove the skin of the turmeric.
- Wash and slice the white part of the lemongrass finely.
- Wash the kaffir lime leaves. Remove the midrib and petiole. Slice the leaves finely.
- Take a knob of tamarind, add water and extract 30 g of tamarind juice.
- Toast the belacan.
- Weigh out the brown sugar and salt (may add or reduce them - to taste).
- Add dried chilies, fresh red chilies, shallots, garlic, turmeric, lemongrass and belacan into the container of the blend. Blend till they are fine.
- Heat up the wok with cooking oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the blended ingredients to the oil.
- Saute till they are aromatic.
- Add the pounded dried prawns and continue to fry them for another 7-8 minutes.
- Add the finely cut kaffir lime leaves.
- Add the tamarind juice, sugar and salt. Taste test and add more tamarind juice, sugar or salt according to your taste.
- Stir for another 5 minutes or so and your sambal hae bee is ready.