Dried Shrimp Sambal

This is my late dad's recipe & was created out of memory. 

Be warned, if you are not energetic today, don't try. It will take you at least 40minutes (frying - non-stop tossing) to complete, not including preparation.

Ingredients 

1. 650g Dried Shrimps (+/-), rinsed & soaked 
2. 400g Big Red Chilies (+/-), stem removed & each cut into 3 parts, for easy blending
3. 100g Small Red Chilies (+/-), stem removed
4. 100g Onions (I used 2 medium onions), wedged
5. 1 whole Garlic, skinned 
6. 20g Ginger (optional) 
7. 600ml Calamansi + Lime Juice or either ONE
8. 250g / 1 block of Belacan 
9. 4tbsp Sugar (or to taste) 
10. 4tbsp Oil to heat & coat wok + enough oil for the whole process

*Adjust level of spiciness by increasing or reducing amount of Small Red Chilies
*I would say the spiciness of this yield is around 6/10, 10 being unbearably spicy
*The amount of ingredients here yield about 1.5kg (+/-) of sambal. 
*If you need a smaller yield, adjust according to this ratio : (Remember to take note of the Spicy level)

• 100g Chilies:20g Onions:2-3pips Garlic:4g Ginger:120ml Juice:130g Dried Shrimps:50g Belacan = 300g Sambal  
• For spicy level according to the above ratio - 80g Big Chilies:20g Small Chilies 

Method

1. Rinse & soak dried shrimps before preparing other ingredients
2. Juice Calamansi & Lime, set aside
3. Wash, cut, peel, Chilies, Onions, Garlic & Ginger, set aside
4. Prepare belacan by just cutting the block into 1cm thick slices for easy blending
5. Blend all ingredient together, except dried shrimps. Remove from blender & pour into a large bowl
6. Blend dried shrimps by adding blended chili paste. (Divide into batches if amount is larger than the capacity of the blender)
7. Once all ingredients are well blended, set aside
8. In a wok, heat 4tbsp oil
9. Once oil is heated, slowly pour mixture into wok, add in 2tbsp of sugar spoonful by spoonful, adjust according to your preference & fry over medium heat for 20 minutes, tossing frequently & pause for 5 seconds every now & then, allowing paste to dry off at the bottom. Watch out to prevent bottom of paste from being burnt. Pay attention to dryness of the wok. Add oil whenever required. 

   

   3 Minutes into frying. Juice from paste bubbling at the sides.

   
   

   

   15minutes later, no more juice bubbling & paste is starting to dry.

10. After 15minutes, start to reduce & increase fire accordingly, not forgetting to toss & pause. Add oil when base of wok is dried. It will take around 30minutes for dryness to be noticeable. Taste sambal & check sweetness. Add more sugar if you prefer it to be sweeter / according to your preference.

    

    25minutes, dryness is noticeable.

11. After 35 - 40minutes (depending on the heat of your stove), your paste should be 80% dried. If you can, continue for another 10minutes to achieve darker colour. It's more aromatic. Again, watch out for bottom of paste being burnt. 

    

    35minutes later. Paste is almost dried. You can choose to remove from heat at this point.

12. Once you have achieved your desired dryness, remove paste from heat & pour sambal into a bowl, let cool before storing.

    

    Done!

13. Refrigerate to store.

*If you are making large amount, divide into medium containers to store. Make sure the utensils are cleaned & dried when scooping as water / liquid (sauce from spoon) or other food will contaminate the sambal & cause molds.