Healthy…

When I was small, I was told that the seeds in a chili must be removed as they could not be digested and immediately, my over-imaginative mind started conjuring pictures of the seeds germinating and chili plants growing out of my ears and nose and bearing fruit. Gee!!! What a nightmare that was!!!

They also said that the core or the centre part would be the spiciest and once removed, what one cooked would be more easily tolerated as it would not be so hot anymore. Of course, those were the days when I was still small, not into anything spicy but these days, the chilies that I get from the market can be most frustrating as they are simply not spicy hot at all. Unlike in the past, I could just use my fingers to remove the seeds and the core, no problem at all. That is why I always say that they are good mainly for colour and decoration and nothing much else.

Ever so often, we would have to resort to using cili padi or this smaller version of the chili…

…in order that we would be able to have that much-coveted spiciness in whatever we’re cooking.

I would never use a blender to grind my chili as no matter how many times you pulsate, the seeds would still be there, unaffected. So what I usually do is to cut the chilies into small bits like these…

…and pound, making sure that I crush all the seeds to powder…

…while doing so. Once you do not see the seeds anymore…

…the chilies would have been sufficiently pounded already, that’s for sure.

To make sambal belacan (dried prawn paste dip), it is best to toast the pieces of belacan first…

…over a fire in a non-stick pan so that it will be more fragrant and much nicer. I have seen those that have already been toasted on sale at the convenience store at KLIA (arrivals) but I don’t think we can get our simply-the-best Bintulu belacan pre-toasted like that. Ah well, it’s no big matter really as it is very easy to do that and will only take a minute or two – people can be really spoilt rotten these days, it seems.

Once done, put the belacan in together with the pounded chili…

…and pound some more. It may be a bit too dry for a dip so you can squeeze some calamansi lime juice…

…into it, stirring everything together and mixing them well. Use a strainer to prevent the seeds from dropping in – it is bad enough that you may have chili plants growing out of your ears and nose, I’m sure you would not want lime trees sprouting out as well. Muahahahahaha!!!!! Add more lime juice if you prefer it more diluted and add a bit of sugar if you find that it is a little bit too sour for your liking.

The other day, I was preparing this very yummy dip for my ulam (the Malaysian version of the salad)…

…for lunch and I steamed some brinjal for that. There are a host of things that can go well with the dip such as cucumber, raw and cut into bite-size chunks, ladies’ fingers or long beans, lightly boiled, four-angle beans, kangkong, lightly blanched and so on and so forth.

I would say it is relatively healthy eating stuff like this as there is no oil used, no added salt (other than what may be  in the dried prawn paste) and no msg…and the best part, of course, would be the fact that I love it…a lot! Yum! Yum!