Tell me how…

In my previous post, I mentioned that I bought 1 kilo of buah emplam…

…a very sour fruit from the mango family, at the Sibu Jaya market, the ethnic section. I was grumbling all this while that the price kept going up, from RM10 a kg to RM12.00 and then, it went up to RM14.00. I could not believe my ears when the ladies told me that theirs were going for only RM6.00 a kg. and I wasted no time at all in buying the coveted fruit.

Some may prefer to eat it as an ulam,  raw with sambal belacan or with rojak sauce but in my family, we always use it to make this special sambal buah emplam…

*Mary’s photo on Facebook*

…that goes so well with rice. My friend, Mary, had it as a sambal the first time at our dinner here and she loved it so much. That was why when I made some that day, I gave her some and she was so delighted and she asked me to tell her how to make it.

Well, it is actually so very easy to make the sambal. First and foremost, you would have to peel the fruit…

I used to cut it into thin strips and pound a bit to make it just a little mushy so as to get the juices out but I saw my missus doing it using a grater…

…and that looked a whole lot easier. My missus complains that it can be such a strain on the muscles of the hand especially when the fruit is very small and I would say that I do agree but it was all right when I did it, slowly…one by one.

I added a tablespoon of sugar to counter the extremely sour taste of the fruit (you can add more if you like it sweeter and less sour) and once that was done, I had to get the pounded ingredients…

…ready – chili and belacan (dried prawn paste) and I heard from my cousin that day that the ethnic folks would add a shallot so I decided to give it a try. I would want to add a bit more belacan but that was all there was in the fridge – my missus did get some new stock recently but don’t ask me to go and look for it! I probably would have to take everything out and there is the possibility that even so, I will not be able to find it. Sometimes, she can’t find things she has put away herself and she will ask me if I had thrown it away. Hehehehehehe!!!!

Anyway, other than the aforementioned ingredients, I also pounded a handful of udang kering (dried prawns), pre-soaked to soften, and finally, I added everything to the shredded buah emplam…

…and mixed it altogether thoroughly…

There you are! It is so very easy, isn’t it? Once you’ve got it done, all that is left for you to do is to sit back and enjoy eating it. Bon apetit!!!