Alternative…

This is bubuk…

…those tiny shrimps that they use to ferment and make cincaluk, dried and sold in packs of RM2.00 or RM4-5 each for the bigger ones.

It is seasonal and when they appear at our shores, that would be the time when they would start making belacan (dried prawn paste), cincaluk (fermented shrimps) or just dry them for sale and that would be the best time to buy and stock up on these things as they would be very fresh.

With the soaring prices of hay bee/udang kering (dried prawns) these days, going up to over RM100 at times, those straight ones from Igan, this would be a good alternative to use for sambal like what I did when I fried some rice that day.

I soaked a handful in hot water for a while to soften and then, I pounded it, adding a little bit of belacan to it, and I also pounded these ingredients…

…as well.

Once done, I was ready to roll…

I heated some oil in the wok and yes, you may need a bit more than usual as the pounded shrimps (left) may soak up all of it later. Once it was hot enough, I added the pounded ingredients (right) and fried till brown before adding the serai (lemon grass), bruised…

…and then, the rice went in.

I added a sprinkling of salt and an egg and mix it all together thoroughly before dishing it all out…

…and yes, it was very nice…

…just like when frying rice with the regular hay bee/udang kering but when I used it for my sambal buah emplam that day, I could see some tiny black spots in the sambal – those would be the eyes of the bubuk, perfectly safe for consumption.