KANGKONG BELACAN
Sunday, 6 September 2009 | By Mike | Category: General, Malay, On The TableBrunei was home to me for about a decade and a half. And if there is anything I miss a lot — it’s the food.
During a recent visit to Manila, my good friend Anyati Orcullo (or Mama Ann as we fondly call her), one of the most successful Pinays in Brunei, brought home an interesting pasalubong I never expected — a block of belacan, a Malay variety of shrimp paste, made from fermented ground shrimp, sun dried and then cut into fist-sized rectangular blocks.
The belacan (pronounced as belachan or blachan) is also one of the main ingredients of my favourite Malay dish — Kangkong Belacan, which I have been craving for the longest time since leaving Brunei three years ago. Kangkong Belacan is a spicy dish of stir-fried kangkong (water convolvulus or water spinach) with belacan or shrimp paste.
While preparing this dish to pair with Daing na Bangus and Lechon Kawali for one of our weekly lunch meetings in the orphanage, it suddenly occurred to me that even though this is one easy dish to prepare, I never really cooked it at all while I was still in Brunei!
KANGKONG BELACAN
Ingredients:
500 grams kangkong
50 grams belacan
5 bulbs shallots, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 medium-sized tomato, diced
4 – 6 red chilies
4 tablespoons cooking oil
Method
Heat oil in a wok over high heat and saute garlic, shallots, chilies, and tomatoes. Add belacan and cook until dissolved and blended well with the saute mix.
Add kangkong and stir briskly. Add a little water if you prefer the dish to come out with a bit of sauce. Remove from heat once the kangkong is slightly limp.
Mike,
This is really good! So simple and a quick… Once in a while I get to order this in a Malaysian restaurant by the Phladelphia China town. Good and healthy recipe!
Kiko
Philadelphia, USA
Kiko, thanks for dropping by . . . now I’ve got your email addy . . . I’ll add you na in the e-group :-)
This sounds delicious! Since I love kangkong with bagoong I’m sure I would love this too :)
Napaglaway mo naman ako, Mang Mike!
@ Joey – I’ve no doubt you’ll love this one! Thanks for dropping by . . . ;-)
@ Manang – You should try this some time . . . May belacan ba dyan sa inyo? :-)
When I went to Indonesia, some Indonesian ladies here in Athens asked me to bring some belacan for them
I bought a lot much shock to our Indonesian driver