Sambal Nasi Lemak/Dried Anchovies Sambal Recipes

Sambal Ikan Bilis is the main condiment for Nasi Lemak. To me a good Nasi Lemak is all about the sambal.. It can either make or break this popular national dish of Malaysia. I usually prepare a huge batch of sambal and keep them in the fridge and I can use it whenever I want it. I am sure most of you already have your favorite version of sambal but I just wanted to post it here for my own record and also one of my blog reader JS asked for it too. I am not a big fan of having the whole ikan bilis in my sambal as I find them rather chewy after cooking it in the sambal paste. So when I came across the recipe from Ju of The Little Teochew I just have to try it out. She got this recipe from The Sunday Times. The different about this sambal is it has ground ikan bilis in it which I like a lot. I added some tamarind pulp to the dish and double up the quantity.


Ingredients:Here is the recipe adapted from The Little Teochew

140 grm of fresh red chili
2 large onions
12 cloves of garlic
½ cup of cooking oil
160 grm of ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
3 tbsp of tamarind pulp + 3/4 cup of water
Salt and sugar to taste

 

1. Blend chili, onions and garlic into fine paste and set it aside. Soak the tamarind pulp in the water for 15 minutes to soften it up. Then squeeze the tamarind constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice
2. Heat up the frying pan, add in the oil and fry the ikan bilis (anchovies) until brown and crispy. Remove and drain the oil. Ground it into fine powder and set it aside.
3. In the same frying pan and oil add in the blended chili paste and stir-fry until fragrant or until you see oil floating to the top. It will take about 10-13 min.
4. Add in the tamarind juice and the ikan bilis powder. Continue to stir-fry until the liquid evaporated. Add in sugar and salt to taste.