I love dried prawns and I cannot live without chillies. Put these two ingredients together, add some magic and voila! You have Sambal Udang (shrimp sambal).
Now I used to make my own sambal udang from my mother’s recipe, spending hours standing over a hot wok stirring the mixture till dry and putting them into bottles or freezing for future use (as I certainly wasn’t going to do that too often!). I even used to take packets with me on my travels, especially for trips to the West when the craving for salivary excitement calls.
To save myself the tedious labour and hoping to find it commercially available, for years I have scoured the supermarket shelves in Southeast Asian countries for that inimitable taste but to no avail.
They were either too sweet, too salty, too oily, or simply “TOO” not appealing to my palate. And too many had oodles of preservatives as well as MSG, my nemesis.
Until lately.
When I discovered SAMBAL UDANG by Sambal Aunty Homemade, I was overjoyed.
Crispy, spicy, prawny, not too sweet, not too oily, NO preservatives, all natural deliciousness held in a bottle.
I now declare myself an addict. Addicted to this particular sambal udang. I sprinkle it on bread, on eggs, on noodles, on congee, on EVERYTHING!
And the wonderful news is that this is an Ipoh product, the brainchild of Tommy Woo, an Ipohite.
Not only does the packaging jump out at you, but the bright red label screams, “Try me. Try me” —or at least that’s the message I got when I saw this! So try I did and not only was I not disappointed as I have been with many other products, I also found myself proclaiming to all within earshot: “I want to eat this every day.”
There is also a paste that is great with vegetables, either spooned on top or fried with it. A little goes a long way with this paste as it is quite fiery.
This Sambal Udang may be purchased from any one of the locations and outlets listed on the Sambal Aunty Homemade Facebook page.
Prices are as below:
- 80g for RM10.90 (small jar)
- 100g for RM10.90 (packet)
- 120g for RM13.90 (dry shrimp)
- 240g for RM14.90 (oil shrimp)
- 120g for RM15.90 (premium)
They are also available on Shopee and Lazada. There are gazillions of sambal udang on the online shopping sites so do make sure you recognize the right label as per the pictures shown.
They can also deliver to your doorstep. Just WhatsApp 019-3288 600.
Try a bottle. Wet or Dry version, you won’t regret it.