More on chillies and making sambal belacan

Chillies come in different colours and sizes. The smaller the chilli the hotter it is. For dried chillies, the redder ones are hotter.

I have very high respect for chillies. When I was small, my grandma used to scare us with trashing our lips with bird chillies if we utter a rude or swear word. Up to today, you hardly hear me swear even when my grandma is no longer around to press those chillies on my lips!

I have high respect for chillies not because of its ability to prevent swearing but more on the effects on the tummy after consuming it. However, one may tend to swear if one gets an upset stomach due to taking a lot of chillies. All chillies must be properly cooked if made into sambal or curries. The seeds must be removed as it is the seeds that could be the culprits.

Bird chillies when made into pounded raw sambal with prawn paste (belacan) must be properly washed and only fresh ones are used. One tip handed down from my grandma is to pound the bird chillies together with the stalks that hold the fruit. In this way the 'hotness' is reduced. If using fresh red chillies for sambal, I would remove the seeds before pounding. But for bird chillies, that may be a bit difficult.

The right combination of other ingredients in the sambal (belacan, and tamarind or lime juice or sour fruit such as unripe mango) would  determine its degree of 'hotness'. I normally do not add salt to raw sambal belacan as the belacan is already salty. I also do not add sugar. What is the point of eating sambal if it is sweet. Personally, I think a sambal would only have the oomph if it has a certain degree of 'hotness'. I would however use cool boiled water to squeeze the tamarind juice. As with everything, food must be prepared in clean utensils and a clean kitchen to prevent the food from causing upset tummies. The same goes for sambal belacan. More so when it is not cooked. I have said this often enough.